Why Woz needs to exit Dancing With the Stars soon

Steve Wozniak's appearance on ABC TV's Dancing With the Stars is what drew me to watch the show for the first time. How could an uber nerd hoof it in competition with an Olympic gymnast, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, an NFL legend and others who have, shall we say, a bit more experience training their bodies for competition?

It turns out that Woz is energetic, fun to watch in an offbeat sort of way, and clearly trying very hard. He's turned into a great role model for the idea that you don't need to be great at something in order to make an effort and get joy out of your attempts.

I suspect the judges are harder on him because he doesn't, um, have the toned body of an athlete. Or maybe it's because he's marshalling techies across America to vote for him each week and, essentially, overturn their decisions. (The show's rules say judges' scores count for 50% of a dancer's total and viewer votes count for the rest. Anyone can vote multiple times each week based on the number of competitors left, plus people can vote from their phones and on the Web. To say this isn't a scientific sampling of viewer opinions is rather an understatement.)

For those reasons, I've been dutifully voting for Woz each week. So, apparently, have many others, since he stayed on the show despite very low scores. He's more enjoyable to watch than some of the other dancers on the show who might do the steps a bit better. And I like the idea of nerd doing well in a competition meant to measure physical prowess and beauty.

But I draw the line at the idea that Wozniak should win the overall competition.

Dance, like many other disciplines, is difficult to do well. Hard work is important; but talent, aptitude or whatever else you want to call natural ability matters too.

It's just not reasonable to expect you can be the best at everything. While Steve Wozniak was blessed with many gifts, the ability to be an outstanding dancer does not appear to be among them.

"With enough internet organization we can win the whole thing and speak for a type of person who isn't well respected in this world of beautiful people getting all the attention and respect," Wozniak wrote in a message shared with his Facebook fans.

Well, that's one way to look at it. But Woz isn't the only competitor trying hard and pleasing fans. Is it really right for Wozniak, an inferior dancer, to prevail over others who are working just as hard and are more competent, just because he has more (technically sophisticated) friends/fans? That's just another version of junior high anti-nerd discrimination, even if this time the victims and beneficiaries are reversed.

I'll keep voting for Woz as long as there are mediocre and/or less-than-compelling dancers on the show. But if it comes down to Woz and the top-tier competitors, I'm done. Ultimately, I'm a fan of meritocracy.