Dancing with the scandals. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the headline-grabbing controversies that have rocked “Dancing with the Stars” over the years.
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00:00This is live TV, right? This is the craziness of live TV.
00:03Welcome to Nia's Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the headline-grabbing
00:09controversies that have rocked Dancing with the Stars over the years.
00:14You know, we didn't have a good time when the show has been highly documented.
00:18Number 20, Erin Andrews' supposed eye roll.
00:22In the semifinal of season 20, decorated US soldier and motivational speaker Noah Galloway
00:28proposed to his then-girlfriend Jamie, live on air.
00:32Longtime co-host Erin Andrews' peculiar reaction drew lots of viewer backlash.
00:38I, first of all, I have to say I am with you a thousand percent.
00:42The viewers accused her of rolling her eyes at the proposal.
00:46However, Andrews took to social media to clear up the confusion.
00:50She responded by saying she just made an awkward, ugly cry face at the worst time.
00:56Viewers decided to leap to the harshest possible conclusion.
01:00Felt like I was getting misty, and so I made an eye roll.
01:04Yeah, I got chills.
01:04That's how you felt?
01:05I was just like...
01:06People were mad, right?
01:07Oh, pissed.
01:08Galloway defended Andrews the next day,
01:10calling accusations that the co-host was trying to ruin the moment completely off-base.
01:17I mean, Erin Andrews is amazing. So yeah, when I woke up this morning,
01:21people were saying that social media and all these people, I was like, they're crazy.
01:25That is not Erin.
01:26Number 19, Vote for Jerry.
01:28Daytime TV show host Jerry Springer and his partner, professional dancer Kim Johnson,
01:34were consistently among the lowest-scored season three duos week to week.
01:39It was mainly the audience votes that saved them from elimination.
01:43They lasted a good seven weeks before they were eliminated.
01:47And I kept saying, everyone and the people who saw the show will vouch for it.
01:51I said, please stop calling.
01:54Get me out of here.
01:55The influx of votes for Springer was generally
01:58attributed to controversial radio hosts Opie Hughes and Anthony Cumia.
02:03They began plugging his appearance on the show,
02:05encouraging their listeners to keep Springer in the competition, regardless of his performance.
02:11Let's just say he wasn't the lightest on his feet.
02:15Oh, Annie, I'm not your daddy.
02:25At least he had fun.
02:26Number 18, Season 1, Dance Off.
02:29When General Hospital actress Kelly Monaco and her professional partner,
02:34Alec Mazzo, won the very first season of the show, the fan reaction was swift.
02:39Season 1's runner-up John O'Hurley had scored consistently higher throughout the first season.
02:45The judges said Monaco had simply bested him in the final round.
02:50The actress was inundated with criticism,
02:52and the integrity of the show was questioned by a vocal minority.
02:57The more I think about it, the more I've just got to remind myself it's a dance show and it's fun
03:01and I'm going to go out and have a good time. I'm going to try and not put that pressure on myself.
03:06The controversy led to a rematch a few months later.
03:09The rules were changed to only account for the audience's vote, which made O'Hurley
03:14and his partner Charlotte Jonsson the winners by a narrow 1% lead.
03:19But overriding its own finale result wasn't a good look for the show.
03:24A rematch hasn't been staged since.
03:27I'm dancing every night on Broadway, either on Broadway or somewhere around the country,
03:32in Chicago, so I still have my chop.
03:3617. Huff Dynasty
03:38Brother and sister Derek and Julianne Huff are giants on the dance floor.
03:43The pros have had their share of glory on Dancing with the Stars,
03:47so when Julianne became a permanent judge on the panel in season 19, it seemed like a solid choice.
03:53Except for one small hiccup. Derek Huff was still in the competition.
03:58I'm nervous because, you know, judging is a strange place to be in.
04:07The ethics of siblings judging siblings became a hot topic as some,
04:11including fellow pro dancer Karina Smirnoff, questioned the newest addition to the panel.
04:17Accusations that Julianne was favouring her brother continued throughout the season,
04:22although Huff herself wholeheartedly denied this.
04:2616. Jaleel White's Rehearsal Behavior
04:39Usually, when you step on someone's foot, you apologize.
04:44Apparently, season 14's Jaleel White had a very different reaction.
04:5617. Jaleel White's Rehearsal Behavior
05:04Reports that he unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse on his professional partner Kim Johnson
05:10spread like wildfire. White, most known for playing Steve Urkel on Family Matters,
05:16was allegedly insulting Johnson for reacting when he stepped on her foot during rehearsal.
05:22Johnson's fellow pro, Mark Ballas, also got involved.
05:26White downplayed the severity of the incident, but didn't outright deny an argument happened.
05:32I've definitely been feeling a lot of stress this week and it's taken its toll on me.
05:36Wrong foot.
05:39Oh my gosh.
05:41But Kim's been there for me and she's been giving me as much encouragement as she possibly can.
05:46You have to pretend that you are, think like a ballroom dancer at this point.
05:51Shop, shop, shop, shop, shop, shop.
05:55If there was lingering tension, though, it didn't show on the dance floor.
06:00The two were a great pair.
06:0215. Bristol Palin Stays In It
06:05Sometimes, a celebrity outstays their welcome on a season
06:09simply because of the controversy their appearance drums up.
06:13Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaskan governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin,
06:18is a perfect example of that phenomenon.
06:21I've never gotten a 10 before in any of the dances.
06:24I'm probably the only one that's ever gotten to the finale with no 10s.
06:27She was a big get for the show.
06:29Her mother's VP run and her own teenage pregnancy were controversial enough.
06:34Accusations that Palin's spot was less about her dancing
06:38and more about the politics plagued her run on the show.
06:42Despite her consistently low scores, she ended up placing third.
06:47It got under enough viewers' skin to get some pretty heavy media coverage.
06:52Our partnership, like, I swear to God, I feel like you want to go home.
06:56I've never once not stuck up for you or been by your side every step of the way.
07:01Number 14. Celebrities With Previous Dancing Experience
07:06Were you always into dancing and just...
07:08Yeah, I've actually, I've been training in dance since I was three.
07:11I actually started competing when I was five.
07:13One of the biggest ongoing controversies surrounding DWTS comes up season after season.
07:20Do stars who have more dancing experience ruin the spirit of the show?
07:25Winners are especially vulnerable to this criticism.
07:29Season 19 winner and Fresh Prince star Alfonso Ribeiro began his career in a Broadway musical.
07:36Jennifer Grey, star of Dirty Dancing, won season 11.
07:40Jojo Siwa was a runner-up on the 30th season,
07:44but first came to prominence in the Dance Moms franchise.
07:48The point of the show was supposed to be watching these stars discover a new talent,
07:53or lack of talent, as the case may be.
07:56Some viewers think that a background in dancing
07:58should disqualify a celebrity contestant from competing all together.
08:04It was like, oh, you think you're going to be a star?
08:06Humble pie.
08:08Big old slice.
08:09Big old slice of humble pie.
08:11Number 13, Tonya Harding's casting.
08:14Season 26, also known as Dancing with the Stars Athletes,
08:19pitted professional athletes against each other.
08:22ABC filled the cast with everyone from Olympic medalists to major league players.
08:27A scandal erupted, however, when it was announced that former
08:31Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding was among the celebrity contestants.
08:36Sasha's got his hands full.
08:38A lot of full hands on this show.
08:41Going into this season.
08:42Full hands.
08:42Harding's infamous connection to the 1994 attack on her skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan,
08:49found her banned from the sport and stripped of her U.S. championship win.
08:54While the show didn't seem to linger on the sordid detail,
08:57her inclusion sparked another round of media scrutiny around her
09:02in the wake of the Oscar-winning biopic, I, Tonya.
09:06Still, the criticism didn't stop her from achieving a third-place finish.
09:11She was dancing as if her life depended on it.
09:14I'm gonna nail this dance if he's going to kill me.
09:20And you did it.
09:21Number 12, conservative backlash against Chaz Bono.
09:26Season 13 started off with a bang.
09:29Upon the cast release, some critics called for a boycott over the inclusion of Chaz Bono,
09:35a transgender activist and the son of pop superstar Cher.
09:39The backlash was almost immediate.
09:42Unfortunately, message boards and comment sections were ablaze with
09:46internet users swearing they'd never watch the show again.
09:50It was gratuitous rudeness and I just pissed off.
09:57I was just really upset.
09:59Over a decade on, it didn't seem to have much impact on the show's success.
10:04Instead, Bono was largely celebrated for his appearance,
10:08and millions tuned in to watch him make it roughly halfway through the season.
10:14The press attention may have even drawn more eyes to the season.
10:18I mean, I thought it would be fun and, yeah, physically challenging,
10:24get me in better shape, and I thought that it would be
10:26a way to kind of reach more people than I have thus far.
10:31Number 11, Cheryl Burke and Drew Lachey Rumors
10:34Gossip swelled around this Season 2 partnership,
10:38whose steps were so in sync it led them all the way to the coveted mirror ball.
10:43But that wasn't the only big headline the 98 Degrees member Drew Lachey
10:48and his pro Cheryl Burke pulled during the show.
10:52Part of that was because you all were so great to watch dance, especially you two.
10:57It wasn't just that you're wonderful dancers, but it was very sexy.
11:00Rumors circulated online and in the tabloids
11:03that there was a genuine spark between them on and off stage.
11:08Both denied rumors of an affair.
11:10It was a particularly thorny situation, given that Lachey was married.
11:15She's been so supportive throughout the whole thing,
11:17you know, even coming to practices, just checking us out.
11:19Did you feel self-conscious about it at all?
11:21In the beginning, a little bit.
11:23Even years passing after their win didn't stop the media attention and speculation.
11:28Burke would later admit to having had romances with three of her celebrity partners,
11:33but only mentioned Season 10's Chad Ochocinco Johnson by name.
11:38One. Yeah, that was one. That was one and done.
11:42Really?
11:42One and done. I've learned my lesson. Never do it again.
11:4410. Disgraced Chef Paula Deen
11:48While a possible appearance had been rumored for years,
11:51the former Food Network star was announced as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars'
11:5621st season. Many saw it as a desperate grab for headlines
12:01and an attempt to rehabilitate the disgraced celebrity chef's image.
12:06These are the good kind.
12:08The ones with no calories?
12:09I've cut the fat.
12:11Paula Deen cuts the fat as I eat the brownies.
12:14Just two years earlier, Deen landed in hot water over her admission
12:19to the continual use of a racial slur and allegations of discrimination.
12:24She lost her shows and several of her brand deals as a result.
12:29Deen was still seen as persona non grata when she was extended an invitation to appear on Season 21.
12:36And what I hope I'm going to get out of this is a bunch of new friends,
12:43and maybe lose some weight and a little better body.
12:479. Carole Baskin's Casting
12:50Netflix's outrageous and unexpected early COVID-era success Tiger King kept us all
12:57glued to the TV. It also ignited a firestorm of hatred from Carole Baskin,
13:03Joe Exotic's sworn enemy in the world of big cat conservation.
13:07There's nothing that I really want to say to any of these people.
13:11I know that the only reason that they are saying the things that they're saying
13:16is because they see me as a threat to their livelihood and to their ego.
13:20The documentary is full of accusations that Baskin was somehow responsible
13:24for her missing ex-husband's disappearance.
13:27Thus, there was immediate outrage over her appearance on Dancing with the Stars' 29th season.
13:34The family of Don Lewis, Carole's missing ex, even paid for an attack ad to run during the show.
13:41But as it usually does, if anything, it brought more eyes to the season.
13:46Baskin would only make it to the third week before getting the chop.
13:50About half the people will tune in to see me fail miserably, and the other 50% will tune in to see
13:56me succeed. So I think we have a pretty good audience out there of people that both love and
14:01hate me.
14:018. Heather Morris' Elimination
14:04Most famous for her role as an airheaded cheerleader on Glee,
14:08Heather Morris was no stranger to dancing professionally. This led to a bit of a
14:14pre-season controversy in itself, with some suggesting her professional experience gave
14:19her an unfair advantage. But the former backup dancer for Beyonce wasn't safe from the public
14:26vote.
14:26You're gonna hear, you know, them criticize you a little bit more about your footwork and your
14:31posture, which is like, it's totally accurate. I understand because if I'm already trained,
14:36it's like, it's just something that they need to, you know, pick on and look at.
14:41Even after repeatedly getting great scores from the judges,
14:45she was unexpectedly and controversially eliminated on the Dancing with the Stars'
14:5024th season. In fact, the week she was eliminated, she and her partner,
14:55Maxim Zhmakovsky, were the only duo to get a perfect score.
15:00Something happens, maybe votes, like people forget to vote. Maybe people think that she's
15:06so good that it doesn't, you know, she'll be fine, that type of stuff. So, I don't know.
15:10Number 7. Season 16 voting glitch
15:14Long before she was burning up the screen in Dune, Euphoria, and Challenges,
15:19Zendaya was mostly known for her work on the Disney Channel. She took part in Dancing with
15:25the Stars' 16th season and nearly won the entire thing.
15:30We got three tens because of a ten right here.
15:33Oh, stop it.
15:34Bam!
15:35Bam!
15:36Brrrrrrr!
15:39A voting glitch during finale week led to fan voting via ABC.com being unavailable.
15:46Country singer Kelly Pickler emerged the winner.
15:49Many fans argued Zendaya and her popular partner,
15:53Valentyn Zhmakovsky, would have won if not for the voting mishap.
15:57It's hard to say if that's true, as Pickler and her partner Derek Hough absolutely slayed
16:03the finale performance, but the season 16 finale will always be a sore spot for many
16:10fans.
16:11Start to some things that I'm going to be doing, you know, it's just the beginning and
16:14I feel like, you know, you never look at it as the end or something that's negative, you
16:17know. It's just a platform for me to continue my music and, you know, everything else that
16:22I have set up, so I think it's, you know, a great start.
16:25Number six, Adrian Peterson's casting. The producers behind the show came under fire
16:31when they announced former NFL running back Adrian Peterson was joining the cast. It wasn't
16:37his football background that gave viewers pause, it was his past legal issues.
16:42Yet another star NFL player is benched after being indicted on an abuse charge.
16:47In 2014, Peterson was charged and pleaded no contest to reckless or negligent injury
16:54to a child. The ensuring scandal caused legal friction with the NFL and tarnished his public
17:00image.
17:01Many people, like former cast member and professional dancer Shana Burgess, were vehemently opposed
17:07to his casting. Producers framed his appearance on the show as a way of giving the former
17:12player another chance. Whether it worked or not remains to be seen. Peterson only lasted
17:19four weeks.
17:21Number five, Maxim Shmakovsky vs. Hope Solo. Some partnerships on the show are like matches
17:28made in heaven. Others are like matches made somewhere else.
17:32Backside together, forward side, then you started talking in the middle.
17:42I barely said anything today.
17:44In her memoir, professional soccer player and Season 13 contestant Hope Solo detailed
17:50the unpleasant and adversarial relationship she had with her dancing pro, Maxim Shmakovsky.
17:57Describing his rough and unforgiving approach, Solo notably accused him of slapping her during
18:04rehearsals. The pro reportedly denied these allegations. He only added fuel to the fire
18:10when he later was asked to F, marry, and kill three of his former partners on the show.
18:16Three guesses who ended up in the kill slot. Their feud only became more public, with both
18:22having since made it very clear just how much they can't stand each other.
18:28She's not somebody I talk about. I don't like her, and that's the end of it.
18:33Number four, protesters rushed the stage. Swimmer Ryan Lochte had only just returned
18:39from his scandalous Rio escapades when he appeared on Season 23. The gold medalist
18:46landed in hot water when he lied about being the victim of an armed robbery. He and his
18:52teammates mischaracterized an incident of disorderly conduct that occurred while they
18:58were in Brazil for the Olympics.
19:00The version we're hearing now is much more about a negotiated settlement to cover up
19:06some dumb behavior. And that's why I'm taking full responsibility for it, is because I over-exaggerated
19:14that story.
19:15Lochte's involvement on Dancing with the Stars only added fuel to the fire. During
19:20the season premiere, a pair of protesters rushed Lochte on stage, calling the swimmer
19:26a liar for his conduct abroad. The incident was obscured on the live broadcast, but was
19:32widely reported afterward.
19:35Number three, Tom Bergeron fired. After steering the ship at the show's helm for 28 seasons,
19:53the longtime host was shockingly dismissed after disagreements with the producers. Indeed,
20:00he and co-host Erin Andrews were let go before Season 29. Bergeron claims his firing was
20:07due to his advocating for non-political contestants. He thought the producers agreed with him,
20:25but then when the cast of his final season was announced, he made his displeasure known
20:30in as professional a way as possible. This left a bad enough taste in the producers'
20:36mouths that he was let out of his contract early, and the show hired Tyra Banks to replace
20:42him. Banks got mixed reviews at best. Viewers couldn't help but miss Bergeron's well-practiced
20:48and stalwart presence on the program.
21:05Number two, Bobby Bones and Shana Bergers win. People always have their favourites in
21:11the contest, but sometimes the public chooses massive popularity over dance skills. That
21:18was what clearly happened when media personality Bobby Bones and his professional partner Shana
21:24Bergers were crowned the Season 27 Mirrorball champions. The duo consistently got low scores,
21:37even as the season came to a close, which made many question the importance of dancing ability
21:43at all. Critics, fans, and commentators felt the show had finally jumped the shark. During
21:50DWTS' next season, viewers assumed an overhaul to the elimination process was a direct result
21:57of Bones' win over more deserving performers.
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22:20Number one, Sean Spicer's casting. In the fall of 2019, the 2020 election was already
22:27shaping up to be a contentious one. And that was before COVID-19 was even a thing. Casting
22:34the controversial former press secretary for the Trump administration didn't do much to
22:39help matters. In fact, it caused an uproar on social media, and even host Tom Bergeron
22:45couldn't hold back his displeasure at such a political contestant.
23:03But Spicer's stint, which ended week nine, was just as controversial. Trump himself tweeted out
23:09to his followers that they should vote to keep him in. His lackluster skills, constant low scores,
23:16and success in the public vote made sure he overstayed his welcome in the competition.
23:30Did we miss any Dancing With The Stars scandals? Let us know in the comments.
23:39Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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