Connor Wood is speaking out as emotions surrounding Dancing With the Stars Season 35 continue to intensify following the unexpected elimination of Taylor Hanson and Britt Stewart.
The comedian and podcaster, who is competing this season alongside professional partner Rylee Arnold, admitted that the growing amount of commentary and criticism surrounding the competition has started to make the experience feel much more serious than he expected.
Connor addressed the situation on the October 1 episode of Brooke & Connor Make a Podcast, which he co-hosts with Brooke Averick.
The episode was recorded one day after Taylor and Britt were eliminated during Yacht Rock Night, a result that immediately triggered strong reactions from viewers and members of the DWTS cast.
Taylor and Britt had earned 18 out of 30 for their foxtrot to “What a Fool Believes,” placing them above some couples who remained in the competition. Their elimination is determined by a combination of judges’ scores and viewer votes, but the result still caught many fans off guard.
Britt appeared visibly emotional following the announcement, while several fellow professionals expressed disappointment about seeing the partnership end after only a few weeks.
Ezra Sosa was particularly open about his frustration, while fans flooded social media with comments arguing that Britt and Taylor deserved to remain in the competition longer.
The reaction became even more emotional when Taylor later discussed his partnership with Britt and revealed just how much winning with her would have meant to him.
During an appearance on the official Dancing With the Stars podcast, Taylor became emotional while praising Britt and explaining that he had wanted her as his professional partner before the season began. He described losing the opportunity to continue their journey together as his biggest disappointment.
Amid all of those intense reactions, Connor offered a very different perspective.
“What did we come to do?” he asked while discussing his own experience on the show. “We came here to have fun.”
Connor admitted that Dancing With the Stars has started feeling like “so much pressure” because of the constant discussion surrounding every dance, score, elimination and contestant.
He also pointed to the huge number of people online analyzing the competition, joking that it sometimes feels as though “everyone’s an expert.”
His comments weren’t an attack on viewers who care about the show. Instead, Connor appeared to be encouraging fans — and perhaps the contestants themselves — not to lose sight of what initially made the experience exciting.
That attitude also matches the advice Connor received before joining Season 35.
Former DWTS contestants including Alix Earle, Dylan Efron, Joey Graziadei and Olivia Jade Giannulli reportedly gave him essentially the same advice before the season: enjoy the experience and have fun rather than becoming consumed by the pressure surrounding the competition.
That may be increasingly difficult as Season 35 progresses.
Taylor and Britt’s elimination has already sparked renewed debate over viewer voting, the treatment of certain professional dancers and whether the show should bring back the Judges’ Save, which previously gave the judging panel an opportunity to rescue one endangered couple.
Meanwhile, contestants remaining in the competition are dealing with weekly scores, fan voting and enormous amounts of instant reaction across social media.
For Connor, however, the message appears simple.
There will always be scores, eliminations and disagreements on Dancing With the Stars — but he doesn’t want the pressure surrounding the competition to overshadow the reason many contestants agreed to step into the ballroom in the first place.
And after one of the most emotional eliminations of Season 35 so far, his reminder to simply enjoy the experience may be arriving at exactly the right moment.
