“Dancing With the Stars” Season 35 has barely begun, but controversy is already following the competition. Some viewers are accusing the show of being “rigged,” with much of the criticism centered on contestants who entered the ballroom with previous dance or performance experience.
One of the biggest talking points is Jenna Dewan. Long before becoming widely known as an actress, Dewan worked professionally as a dancer, including performing with major music artists. Her background immediately led some viewers to question whether she entered the competition with an advantage over celebrities starting from scratch.
Dewan has pushed back against that argument. She acknowledged that knowing choreography and having performance experience can help, but explained that ballroom dancing uses a very different technique from the styles she previously trained in. She described learning ballroom as essentially having to learn a different language with her body.
Harry Shum Jr. has attracted similar attention because of his extensive dance background. Other Season 35 celebrities—including Julia Stiles and several contestants with varying levels of movement or performance experience—have also contributed to the debate over how much prior training should be acceptable on the show.
The controversy became stronger because of some of the professional pairings. Dewan was paired with three-time Mirrorball champion Val Chmerkovskiy, while Harry Shum Jr. was partnered with another highly accomplished pro, Jenna Johnson. Some fans argued that combining experienced celebrities with successful veteran professionals created an especially strong starting position.
However, celebrity-pro partnerships aren’t determined by simply giving the strongest dancer the strongest professional. Casting director Deena Katz and executive producer Conrad Green ultimately make the pairings, although celebrities can make requests. Factors such as height, personality and chemistry have historically played roles in creating partnerships.
Jackson Olson faced another version of the same criticism even before the season began. Because the Savannah Bananas player regularly participates in entertainment routines with his baseball team, some viewers suggested he would have an unfair dance advantage. Olson responded humorously by sharing clips of himself dancing, essentially suggesting that his previous experience shouldn’t automatically be mistaken for ballroom expertise.
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba has also addressed the larger debate. She argued that previous training doesn’t necessarily make ballroom easy because dancers sometimes have to unlearn techniques their bodies already know before mastering ballroom’s different posture, weight placement and movement.
Then came another source of controversy: the judges’ scores. Season 35 opened with unusually tough scoring, including 3s and 4s. Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson received just 10 out of 30 for their premiere cha-cha, with Carson later publicly criticizing the result.
The tougher judging affected the entire cast rather than just one couple. Emma Slater, partnered with Jackson Olson, described the premiere scoring as “stingy,” while Derek Hough defended the judges’ approach and indicated that they wanted to leave room for contestants to improve as the competition progressed.
There is also an important distinction between fan accusations and evidence that the competition is actually fixed. The reports describe viewers raising concerns about casting, experience, pairings and scoring, but they do not establish evidence that Season 35’s outcome has been predetermined. “Rigged” in this case is an accusation being made by some fans, not a demonstrated fact.
Season 35’s results also depend on more than the judges. Viewer voting is combined with judges’ scores when determining who remains in the competition, meaning a celebrity with weaker scores can survive if they receive enough public support. That has already contributed to results that don’t simply mirror the judges’ leaderboard.
So while the “rigged” accusations have become an early storyline of Season 35, the underlying debate is really about what makes “Dancing With the Stars” fair. Some viewers believe extensive dance backgrounds and certain pro pairings create too much of an advantage, while contestants and judges argue that ballroom presents an entirely different challenge. With the season only beginning, that debate is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
