For years, fans have argued about what the point of Dancing With the Stars actually is, without adjudication from ABC or Disney. Is it a show meant to weigh the progress and improvement of the contestants? Is it a popularity contest? Or is the best person and dancer meant to win?
Watching Summer House‘s Ciara Miller be eliminated from the show on Tuesday during Mariah Carey Night was not only a shock, but an eyebrow-raising moment; Miller — who was the first contestant to be announced for Season 35 after the Amanda Batula and West Wilson drama blew up on social media — was an easy fan-favorite choice, especially since being labeled an “It Girl” in the culture. Which is why users on platforms like Instagram and TikTok felt blindsided when Miller and her pro partner, Brandon Armstrong, were the ones who were sent packing just four weeks in. It’s a tough blow, but an especially gut-turning punch for the show’s fans of color, who watched the show’s one and only Black female pro, Britt Stewart, leave the competition with her partner, Taylor Hanson, last week.
It has long been alleged that Dancing With the Stars has an issue with race; it took 10 years for Keo Mostepe to become the first Black male pro on the series and another six years after that for Stewart to get the opportunity (only after six seasons of dancing in the troupe, that is). That info aside, it’s clear that certain contestants face more of an uphill battle than others coming into this competition. Which is why we come to the question: what is this show actually about?
For two weeks in a row now, we’ve seen two dancers who were consistently improving — in Miller’s case, Tuesday night’s jazz routine to “Emotions” yielded her highest score of the season and the dance that the judges said was her “best dance yet” — get sent home and have their journeys cut short. That would be at least understandable if a large part of this show’s fanbase didn’t argue that’s what the whole show is for. More and more, however, it feels like the show is just about the audience randomly choosing favorites and riding hard for them. This is an argument made even stronger when you remember that fans on the West Coast have no way to watch and vote based solely on the night’s dances. More often than not, fans who live in Pacific Standard Time are blindly sending in votes for whichever couple they like, not even knowing if that person’s dance was awful in the new episode… which goes right back into the popularity contest theory.
Each week, they say that it’s the judges’ scores combined with the viewer votes that result in a single couple being booted, but if the votes from viewers at home are as weighted as they clearly are — Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s Guillermo Rodriguez has consistently been at the bottom and has yet to receive higher than a “5” from any single judge — then what is the point of even having the judges give a score? And how far out are we from contestants coming in fully strategizing to dance terribly but come off endearing since it appears to be a winning formula… well, if you’re a man, that is.
Two seasons in a row — Andy Richter in Season 34 and now Rodriguez in Season 35 — the fanbase has infantilized dancers who they find “adorable,” only to push them through the competition while other dancers who are steadily improving or are outperforming them are eliminated. Even in this season, some fans begged other viewers to remember that Giada De Laurentiis was actually the oldest competitor, not Rodriguez, but that didn’t move the needle much as she was the third person and second woman to go home.
There is clearly a different metric for male contestants and female contestants on this show.
Outside of the different treatment from the fans, even the judges have moments where it feels like they’re speaking a different language to the men and the women. As often pointed out by Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli, in the ballroom, the women are meant to be the focal point of most dances, which sets a much higher standard for their performance than for their male counterparts. Of course it’s impressive when Sharna Burgess or one of the other pros is lifted out of the splits by her male partner, but if you’re going to score the man as high as a female contestant who does the move, the math starts to look a little wonky. Look no further than Inaba handing Amber Glenn a “7” on Tuesday for a visually stunning and flawless rumba to “Hero,” which ignited the fanbase instantly, as many called out giving her the same score as Bachelorette alum Tyler Cameron.
“Next sponsorship is Warby Parker & the judges wear the glasses for the whole show,” one fan commented on Dancing With the Stars‘ post of Glenn and Pasha Pashkov’s dance.
The issue does speak to the topic of scoring inconsistency, which seems to be a problem that the fans mention daily. From performance to performance, it seems like the judges forget what they handed out to another contestant for a dance of lower quality and caliber, which leaves viewers scratching their heads looking back at the end of the night. Is there a solution to that? Maybe, maybe not. Some fans have suggested that judges should have to wait to lock in their scores for each couple until all competitive dances have been completed, allowing for a more accurate ranking and scoring in retrospect. Many also think that should go hand in hand with a results show on a second night that allows West Coast viewers to fairly weigh in and cast their votes for the couples they want to support. Given that it could be a logistical nightmare to make all of those changes, though, it’s not something we’re expecting to see anytime soon.
That said, if the show really is about the audience finding their favorite contestants and championing them for the season ahead, 16 Mirrorball Trophy hopefuls is too many. Bigger is not always better and seeing as the show had to split the first week up into men vs. women for the first week and eliminate one from each crop of contestants, it feels like we’ve maxed out how many people the series can handle. Some argue that 12 feels like a good number, but even 10 would allow for the show to really introduce each person during the premiere, have non-elimination weeks, and bring back the judges’ save, which should be standard, as too many great dancers have been sent home over the last few years for one silly reason or another.
This is all in service of the idea that Dancing With the Stars, since reclaiming its spot as one of the hottest reality shows around, can be the best version of itself and finally subdue the question that fans ask every single season. What is the show really about? It can be a popularity contest, a project of progress, and a competition that highlights some of the best dancers and routines around, but it just has to figure out some of its current kinks.
Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays on ABC at 8/7c. Episodes stream the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
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