Not every celebrity contestant was thrilled with where they placed while competing on Dancing With the Stars — and some even accused the show of being rigged.
DWTS pairs celebrities with professional dancers to perform ballroom and Latin routines, often incorporating other genres including contemporary, hip-hop, jazz and more. Every week, each couple competes for judges’ points and audience votes. The pairing with the lowest combined total of a score and audience votes is eliminated until only the winners remain.
Over the years, there have been quite a few surprises on DWTS, which premiered in 2005. There have also been contestants who didn’t make it to the end, which has resulted in them and the audience accusing DWTS of being rigged.
Executive producer Ryan O’Dowd previously shut down the claims.
“We take that very seriously. We have never, nor would we ever do anything to manipulate the votes,” O’Dowd told Deadline in May 2025.
O’Dowd explained that the show “really needs to be” credible. “It needs to allow the viewers to have a voice and to really be the voice of who deserves to win,” he continued. “So we have never nor would we ever want to manipulate that in any way.”
Keep scrolling to see who has questioned the authenticity of DWTS in the past:
Alexa PenaVega
In a clip from an October 2026 episode of her “LEXLOS” podcast with husband Carlos PenaVega, Alexa recalled a conversation she had with fellow contestant Hayes Grier when they were competing on season 21 of the hit ABC show.
“For instance, Hayes is only 15 years old and he’s the sweetest kid. He’s back there with us and I just remember all of us being in the bottom and he’s like, ‘Man, I think this show’s rigged. I have more votes than anybody,'” she recalled Grier saying at the time.
Alexa, however, disagreed with Grier’s assumption that votes from viewers didn’t matter, adding, “I’m like, ‘I know you have more votes than anybody here because of the millions and millions of followers. 100 percent, it is so easy for them to send in a little text.'”
She continued: “This is what I always tell people. I think the votes matter. I do. But the show’s also produced.”
In the comments section, cohost Alfonso Ribeiro weighed in on Alexa’s video.
“No chance. We want everyone who’s popular to stay on,” he replied. “It’s basic logic.”
Alexa urged Ribeiro to watch the entire clip from her podcast for context, writing, “The clip picks up mid story and then goes back to the top. Watch the whole clip and episode. I’m telling a story about sweet Hayes.”
Keep scrolling to see who else accused the show of being rigged:
Sean Avery
The season 18 contestant, who was paired up with Karina Smirnoff, claimed in 2014 that he was eliminated during week 2 because of an alleged disagreement with a producer, he told Good Morning America at the time, “I was upset at the package that they had brought in the week previous, and it was a very tacky attempt to show me as the bad boy of DWTS.”
Avery explained: “And I think in reality TV or some sort of competition, if you have a disagreement with the producers, then generally that seals your fate quite early.”
Kyle Massey
After finishing after Jennifer Grey in season 11, Massey recalled the experience on Cheryl Burke‘s podcast in 2024.
“In my season, you know, one of the other contestants [Jennifer] had a mishap in the finale. And because my mom lives on the East Coast, and the East Coast live is actually live, and then the West Coast is a recording of that live that’s edited,” he said. “So the East Coast, the mishap was there, and then on West Coast, it was a clean performance. It was edited out, perfect 10s.”
Massey, who was paired with Lacey Schwimmer, called the “mishap” a “misstep [like] when you trip, but you don’t actually fall.” He claimed DWTS “completely edited it out of the entire thing” when the episode aired on the West Coast.
Matthew Lawrence
Burke’s ex-husband previously claimed on his podcast that he saw how the show was “rigged” while in a relationship with the pro. Matthew’s brother Joey Lawrence weighed in as well after taking part in season 3.
“I feel that there was always a lot of debate as to how much finagling was going on behind the scenes,” he said. “You know, whether the audience vote and the judges’ votes, then the producers. I mean, there was certainly a scenario there that played out.”
