Janel & Val Have to Win 'Dancing With The Stars'

Voting for a winner at the Dancing With The Stars finale should be the hardest yet for fans of the dancing competition, but if you ask me, Janel & Val should win DWTS Season 19. We lost YouTube sensation and third runner-up Bethany Mota during the Finals, which was only surprising until I realized who was left: The three TV stars remaining are completely unique in their dancing styles and are undeniably close competitors given their performances thus far.

Fresh Prince of Bel Air's Alfonso Ribeiro has had his ups and downs as one of the oldest males on the show, but he is a crowd-pleaser when it comes to his dancing and a warrior in overcoming his injuries. Duck Dynasty's Sadie Robertson is the dark horse because she snuck her way up from the bottom to the top of the leaderboard in the last few weeks of competition. But Pretty Little Liars' Janel Parrish was the one to beat throughout Season 19 and now she might just get Val Chmerkovsky his first win.

Forgetting for a second that I've been 'shipping Janel and Val since day one (even is some folks think they're faking it), I have to believe that it's Val's turn to win the Mirrorball trophy. He's been taking a back seat to his brother Maks for many seasons and has made it this far twice before, but he has never been able to take the title. With Maks gone and a palpable connection to his Season 19 partner, Val deserves to win this time and nothing would make me happier than to see him do it with Janel.

If Janel and Val take home the trophy it'll be for these three reasons:

THEIR FAN BASE

Half the battle in this competition is getting the votes, and though I hate to say it, many of those votes depend on the contestant's celebrity status. In other words, someone like the witty and amazingly talented but not-so-great dancer Tommy Chong got as far as he did based solely on the fact that his massive fan base must have been voting — because he certainly wasn't going to get through on scores alone.

Janel Parrish is known as one of the major villains of this generation for her ABC Family role as Mona Vanderwaal on Pretty Little Liars, so most of us knew she'd be getting major votes from the beginning. But to top it off, she got lucky with one of the most well-known and well-loved pros as a partner. Some people watch Dancing because their favorite celebrity was cast, but there will always be those diehard fans who vote for their favorite dancer and Val Chmerkovsky is certainly one of them.

THEIR MAKS AND MERYL STATUS

Potentially even more loved by his fans was Val's dancing brother Maks, who took home the trophy with his partner Meryl Davis last season. Meryl might not have been as recognizable as Janel, but the undeniable chemistry between the two put Maks and Meryl on the top of the leader board from week to week. Months later, fans are still shipping the winning couple and secretly hoping they get married and have beautiful dancing babies together — much in the same way we do to Janel and Val now. Janelsky has a similar chemistry, takes the same risks and showcases the endless trust the couple has toward each other, which is admirable to say the least. For Maks and Meryl it was the key to success and it should be for Janel and Val.

THEIR DWTS JOURNEY

Fan votes and shipping aside, the couple has had consistently high scores throughout the competition. Janel came into the game with more experience than most of the other contestants, and when you add dancing experience to partner chemistry, it's usually the recipe for a spot in the Finale. Of course, everyone loves an underdog story, but in my eyes the three contestants left deserve to be there for their own reasons. Of the three, Janel has been the most consistent dancer and is also one half of TV's most adorable couple.

With or without the trophy, Janelsky's Dancing journey has been no less than a major and likely life-changing success.

Images: Giphy