An ABC executive is weighing in on the theory that Taylor Swift fans played a role in Harry Jowsey’s Dancing With the Stars elimination.
Robert Mills, the Vice President of Alternative Series at ABC Studios, took to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, November 21, to share a screenshot of a U.S. Sun headline that read, “Taylor Swift fans vow to vote Harry Jowsey off ‘DWTS’ after reality star ‘betrays’ singer on social media.”
Mills wrote alongside the screenshot: “I actually wonder if this is what happened.”
Mills’ comment came minutes after Jowsey, 26, and his pro partner, Rylee Arnold, were eliminated from the reality series. Despite finding himself at the bottom of the leaderboard throughout the competition, Jowsey was repeatedly saved by fan votes until Tuesday’s episode.
Ahead of this week’s elimination, Swifties noticed that Jowsey follows Scooter Braun on Instagram. Some fans saw this as a betrayal given Swift’s public feud with Braun, 42, ever since his media company, Ithaca Holdings, acquired Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group — and therefore Swift’s first six albums — in 2019. (Braun sold Swift’s master rights to Shamrock Holdings for $300 million in 2020.)
One X user took to the social media platform on Monday, November 20, to discourage fans from voting for Jowsey due to his connection to Braun.
“Attention swifties there is a contestant on dwts who is a scooter braun fan and follower,” the user wrote before encouraging fans to instead cast their votes for Charity Lawson, Jason Mraz or Xochitl Gomez. The post got more than 1,000 “likes” and more than 200 shares.
While accidentally incurring the wrath of Swifties, Jowsey joined his fellow DWTS competitors in dancing to music from the singer’s songbook on Tuesday. He and Arnold, 18, performed a Rumba to “August” from Swift’s album Folklore and received the lowest score of the night.
“It’s been so special. I can’t believe we’ve made it this far,” Jowsey said after the elimination results were revealed. “For Rylee’s first season, it’s so incredible to see her live out her dreams.”
Arnold chimed in: “I’m so happy with how everything went and I’m so grateful I was paired with Harry … I’m just so proud of him. It was seriously so enjoyable the whole time.”
The pair sparked dating rumors during their time on the show due to their palpable chemistry. In October, a TikTok video of them holding hands at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Palladium went viral.
“That video does look pretty wild but we got pushed into a corner. We were trying to get out of this concert,” Jowsey subsequently told Page Six of the clip. “We’re just focusing on the dance and just enjoying being together and if something happens, something happens.”
Despite shutting down the romance speculation, Jowsey gushed about Arnold on several occasions.
“She’s just so sweet and understanding and patient with me,” he told DWTS cohost Julianne Hough of his partner during an October episode. “She’s just beautiful and amazing.”
Five duos remain on Dancing With the Stars, which airs Tuesdays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
