Seems to me you only had two spectators to contend with and they were in your way all the way.
I can't see much difference between the two edits except for the eye position. The second one may be more of a glamour effect but I suspect the first one is more natural.
Your PS8 edits are good real life action shots.
Yes, that background looks good as it is.
In fact it looks so natural that I would be tempted to try a closer crop and lose the speakers etc from the bottom.
very nice image and yes just as challenging as BIF