The popular dance competition show Dancing with the Stars, featuring the world’s favorite celebrities paired with the world’s best pro dancers, just ended its 34th season. This season attracted new viewers with the impressive variety of celebrities competing. The partnerships of celebrities and pros were Baron Davis and Britt Stewart, Jen Affleck and Jan Ravnik, Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy, Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach, Corey Feldman and Jenna Johnson, Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten, Robert Irwin and Witney Carson, Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, Hilaria Baldwin and Gleb Savchenko, Andy Richter and Emma Slater, Danielle Fishel and Pasha Pashkov, Scott Hoying and Rylee Arnold, Lauren Jauregui and Brandon Armstrong, Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas. Wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin’s older sister, Bindi Irwin, won the mirrorball, the trophy for the winners, on season 21 in 2015. Robert was even featured in an episode where he said that he would love to go on Dancing with the Stars, and ten years later, that came true for him.
Every week, the couples are given a theme for their dance, and they decide on a dance style and a song that fits within the theme. The pro dancers are in charge of the choreography for their dance and teach their celebrity partner how to dance. The majority of the time, the celebrity has no dancing experience whatsoever, but that was not really the case this season, and some viewers felt that it was a little unfair, which played a big role in their voting each week. Every week, when the couples perform their dances, they are judged by a professional panel of judges, and then the celebrity is given critiques to work on. These critiques are one of the most vital parts of the show, since most of the celebrities do not have dance experience, meaning week by week, the celebrities should hopefully be improving. This encapsulates what the show is about: seeing these dancers’ drastic improvements after not having any experience. Two of the biggest controversies stemmed from these systems. First, celebrity Whitney Leavitt, known for starring in the reality TV show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives”, had a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. She trained for many hours a week in various styles like modern, ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. Another celebrity, Hilaria Baldwin, known for being an American yoga instructor, author, and entrepreneur, also had dance experience. As a student at New York University, she competed on the school’s ballroom dance team. Although there is no rule against celebrities having dance experience, it heavily weighed viewers’ decisions when voting came around. When the viewers vote every week for their favorite dances and celebrities, it counts for 50% of the total weight in eliminations, the other 50% coming from the judges’ scores. Every week, one couple gets eliminated from the competition. However, sometimes the show enacts double eliminations and possibly a no-elimination round.
The second controversy was about the win itself. Robert Irwin and his pro partner, Whitney Carson, took home the mirrorball on finale night, despite social media influencer Alix Earle and her pro partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, having the best scores from the judges, and most fans arguing that Alix had the best freestyle dance. While it was heartwarming to see Robert Irwin win the mirrorball after his sister did, and after the hardship of his father Steve Irwin’s passing away, it can be argued that Alix Earle should have won, especially after showcasing the improvements she had made since week one. Some feel that Robert did not apply his critiques from the judges week after week, and Alix, and even celebrity Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles did a better job at making improvements week after week.
Despite these controversies, this season of Dancing with the Stars was arguably one of the best in history, and gave the show a lot more viewership momentum going into future seasons.