Hope Solo: Weekly Improvements Keep Her on Track to Win "DWTS"

Don't look now, but Hope Solo is slowly but surely getting to be a better dancer.

The U.S women’s soccer player-turned-Dancing With the Stars contestant is one of the favorites in the competition with the way she has been performing as of late.

After a rough first week and an even worse second week that saw her in danger of getting eliminated, Solo has gotten much better.

Her chemistry on the dance floor with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy has clearly gotten better, and it's shown in their results.

Last week her score of 24 points was her highest of the season and a big increase over the previous week where she scored a 19.

It was only a matter of time until the best athlete not named Ron Artest would start to show off her athletic prowess.

As the B-list celebrities slowly get kicked off, it's time to put Hope next to impressive performers like Ricki Lake.

The former talk show host has served as the spokeswoman for how exercise can make you lose weight, and it has made her one of the most popular contestants.

Yet Solo was able to counter that with her spread in the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine.  

It wasn't just any issue—it was the "Body Issue," meaning the athletes posed nude, exposing almost everything. Zennie Abraham of the San Francisco Chronicle talks about the boost in popularity the magazine has been for the budding star:

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"Now that Solo’s much-anticipated nude pictures are out, will it help her get more Dancing With The Stars votes? The release of the magazine on Friday caused her Google search intensity to 'rise' from .5 to 4.00. By contrast, Ricki Lake’s Google search intensity currently rests at .75, and only increases to around 4.00 during the Dancing With The Stars telecasts."

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This show is a popularity contest just as much as a competition. Now that Solo is improving on the dance floor and posing nude in magazines—her star is getting brighter by the day.