Noah Galloway might surprise everyone by snagging the special gold mirrorball trophy that Dancing with the Stars is offering up for its 20th season. For evidence of Noah’s massive popularity, all you have to do is take a look at the DWTS YouTube page.
The Dancing with the Stars YouTube page is a good indicator of how far couples are going to go on the show. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Alfonso Ribeiro had the most-watched dance during last season’s show, and he ended up winning the competition. Some DWTS viewers were likely surprised that Duck Dynasty star Sadie Robertson was the runner-up, but the YouTube numbers didn’t lie — sometimes Sadie’s dances scored almost ten times as many views as those of her competition.
Right now Noah Galloway’s first dance has 256,969 views. Surprisingly, his closest competition is Derek and Julianne Hough’s cousin, musician Riker Lynch. Riker’s jive currently has 94,420 views. According to the judges’ scores, Rumer Willis is the current frontrunner, followed closely by Riker Lynch and Nastia Liukin.
There’s a reason Noah’s YouTube numbers are so high. A lot of fans probably had no clue who the war veteran was before the show aired, but his gripping story of survival might have moved them to learn more about him. As they researched Noah, they discovered that he’s a pretty inspirational guy.
According to Western Journalism , the September 11 attacks inspired Galloway to enlist in the army. He enjoyed being a soldier, but a roadside bomb forced him to give up the life that he loved in 2005. He lost an arm and a leg, but it wasn’t just the physical healing that was difficult — he battled depression, and he turned to the bottle in an attempt to escape the bad place he found himself in. However, Noah eventually turned his life around. Now he’s a personal trainer and motivational speaker who competes in CrossFit competitions and Spartan races. He also does charity work and tries to help other veterans who are struggling to readjust to civilian life.
BuddyTV believes that the double amputee is a dark horse because he appeals to a few different groups of DWTS voters.
“He certainly has a lot of voting blocs locked up, from the conservative American Sniper -loving crowd to the sympathy voters to the ‘We love hot dudes’ supporters.”
Noah Galloway was actually supposed to go hunting with Chris Kyle, the subject of American Sniper , but Kyle was killed before their trip. Galloway’s connection to America’s most prolific sniper should not be underestimated — as the Inquisitr previously reported, American Sniper is now the highest-grossing war movie of all time. Noah will also score votes from members of the military and their families, as well as CrossFit fanatics.
It’s definitely a challenge for Dancing with the Stars pro Sharna Burgess to come up with routines that her partner is capable of performing — Noah physically won’t be able to do most of the fast footwork that his competitors can. However, he’s actually strong enough to perform lifts that some of the other male celebrities won’t be able to pull off. He’ll simply have to play up his strengths and use his personality and inspirational story to win over DWTS fans. It also helps that Noah’s cute kids were so enthusiastic and excited during last week’s show — they actually managed to steal the spotlight from famous audience members Demi Moore and Bruce Willis.
Noah Galloway wants to be an inspiration, but he’s not on Dancing with the Stars just to make viewers weep tears of admiration — he also wants to have fun. According to Just Jared , this Monday Noah and Sharna will be doing an upbeat samba to Darius Rucker’s “Homegrown Honey.”
Do you think Noah Galloway should win Dancing with the Stars ?
[Image credit: ABC]
