The beloved reality show “Dancing with the Stars” is about dance professionals pairing with celebrities to compete against other couples to win the show’s staple Mirrorball Trophy. Each week, three judges score the couples’ dances on a scale from 1-10, with 10 being the best. Viewers of the show can also vote for their favorite couples via text message and abc.com, and they can vote up to 10 times per couple on each platform.
It is hard to believe that a pair who has consistently scored sixes for multiple weeks in a row would make it all the way to the quarterfinals, but it happened during this season with Andy Richter. The only explanation is that Richter received an overwhelming number of fan votes which kept him in the competition. Celebrities that were better dancers and received higher scores were eliminated before Richter since his fan vote rate was so high. He was eventually eliminated at the end of the quarterfinals, but he never should have made it there in the first place. The first few weeks of the season should’ve been used to weed out the weaker dancers. By week six, couples were awarded nines and 10s, while Richter scored straight sixes.
This is not the only notable time something like this has happened on the show. In the finale of Season 27, Milo Manheim placed second overall, despite being an extremely better dancer than radio personality Bobby Bones, that season’s Mirrorball Trophy winner. Manheim received two nines during week two, while Bones consistently received sixes, sevens and eights throughout the entire competition. Like Richter, Bones received an overabundance of fan votes that kept him on the show despite his low scores, and he ended up winning.
The show’s eliminations should be more centered around the couples’ actual scores and the stars’ dancing ability, rather than fan votes. Voting does not need to be taken away, and it should still count toward whether a couple is in jeopardy of going home or not, but its weight needs to significantly decrease. Voting is helpful when pairs get scored similarly and there might be a tie on the leaderboard. It also shakes up the scores to help make the show less predictable, rather than just sending the bottom scorer home.
At the end of the semifinals for this season, influencer Whitney Leavitt tied for second on the leaderboard but was ultimately eliminated. She was a much better dancer than content creator Dylan Efron, who placed last and made it to the finals. At the end of the day, the show is called “Dancing with the Stars,” and only the best and most improved stars should move on to the finale.
It does not help that judges were giving out inflated scores during the early weeks. For example, Richter was receiving straight sixes by week three, putting the judges in a corner for the rest of his time on the show where he is supposed to improve. Moving forward, they could only really give him scores of six through 10, even when his actual dancing ability deserved lower scores.
The show should be more faithful to its title and focus on the dancing ability of stars. Fan votes should not be the difference between a deserving couple winning the Mirrorball Trophy or being sent home.
