All the Rules and Secrets You Didn’t Know About ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

All the Rules and Secrets You Didn’t Know About ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Secrets from the ballroom! Dancing With the Stars premiered in 2005 and has been employing celebrities and entertaining audiences ever since. The ABC competition series matches stars with professional dancers. Casting producer Deena Katz revealed that production “100 percent” decides the couples. "There are some celebs that have wishes, and we always say we can't guarantee it. That's why we meet all the celebrities and know all the dancers because some celebs think they know better,” she told Glamour in 2015. “We are never ever going to try to pair people that we think won't get along. We always want the best pairing because we know them so well." While some duos work well together and develop friendships (or romances), other pairings end up at odds. Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Hope Solo, for example, didn’t click on season 13 of the show. “She’s just a s—ty person,” Chmerkovskiy said on the “Allegedly With Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss” podcast in 2015, two years after they competed together. “People can be bad or good or whatever. You can have a s—ty life growing up. You can have a tough upbringing. You can have a history. You can have whatever. But, if you are just a bad person, you know what I mean? There’s no excuse for that.” [sendtonews type="float" key="00kzBzy9xT-2834943-14453"] Katz told Slate in 2016 that the drama is usually fueled by the actual act of dancing. “Sure, people get frustrated. but they are never fighting with each other. They are just angry they aren’t learning their quickstep,” she said. Regardless of any tension, the show must go on — and must remain live. "On live TV, there's no second chances," producer Joe Sungkur told Business Insider in 2018. "There's a total state of excitement, adrenaline is always running throughout veins throughout the show. Some of the most exciting things that happen are the ones you can't predict and so we're always looking to those special moments that people will be talking about the next day. Those few hours of high-octane live TV is why we do the job. We thrive on it and love it. That atmosphere is why we keep going." Scroll through for all the rules of DWTS:

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

All the Rules and Secrets You Didn’t Know About ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Secrets from the ballroom! Dancing With the Stars premiered in 2005 and has been employing celebrities and entertaining audiences ever since. The ABC competition series matches stars with professional dancers. Casting producer Deena Katz revealed that production “100 percent” decides the couples. "There are some celebs that have wishes, and we always say we can't guarantee it. That's why we meet all the celebrities and know all the dancers because some celebs think they know better,” she told Glamour in 2015. “We are never ever going to try to pair people that we think won't get along. We always want the best pairing because we know them so well." While some duos work well together and develop friendships (or romances), other pairings end up at odds. Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Hope Solo, for example, didn’t click on season 13 of the show. “She’s just a s—ty person,” Chmerkovskiy said on the “Allegedly With Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss” podcast in 2015, two years after they competed together. “People can be bad or good or whatever. You can have a s—ty life growing up. You can have a tough upbringing. You can have a history. You can have whatever. But, if you are just a bad person, you know what I mean? There’s no excuse for that.” [sendtonews type="float" key="00kzBzy9xT-2834943-14453"] Katz told Slate in 2016 that the drama is usually fueled by the actual act of dancing. “Sure, people get frustrated. but they are never fighting with each other. They are just angry they aren’t learning their quickstep,” she said. Regardless of any tension, the show must go on — and must remain live. "On live TV, there's no second chances," producer Joe Sungkur told Business Insider in 2018. "There's a total state of excitement, adrenaline is always running throughout veins throughout the show. Some of the most exciting things that happen are the ones you can't predict and so we're always looking to those special moments that people will be talking about the next day. Those few hours of high-octane live TV is why we do the job. We thrive on it and love it. That atmosphere is why we keep going." Scroll through for all the rules of DWTS:

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

How They Pick the Celebrity Pairings

Former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015 that they pair the celebrity with their pro partner “based on height, build and personality and compatibility.”

He explained: ”We don't pair people who aren't going to get on. It's too intense. It's not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn't do that. That would just be a miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don't want to see two people who don't like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn't get on so well."

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

Whether the Pro Gets a Say in Their Partner

Mark Ballas told E! at the time that the pros don’t get any say in their celebrity match, confirming “height and size” are a major factor.

“They also try and make us compatible based on personality, and what they think will work well,” Ballas said. “Each one of the pro dancers has a different way of teaching, choreographing, and also just different personalities, as well as time-stamps on patience. They kind of try to pair us accordingly."

Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

Sometimes There’s Last Minute Switch-Ups

Producer Katz told Glamour in 2015 that stars have dropped out before the season begins shooting.

“Vincent Pastore was the guy from The Sopranos and was rehearsing with Edyta Sliwinska but had heart issues, so that's when John Ratzenberger joined. And Mark McGrath dropped out and Rocco DiSpirito came in," she recalled.

Katz added that they had Kill Bill's David Carradine waiting in the wings during season 2 because they were worried Master P wouldn’t show up every week, explaining, “I had another celebrity in a trailer that had been rehearsing for a week. He had wardrobe and everything just in case."

She added, ”Leah Remini was supposed to do the show about three seasons before she did, so when she signed on eventually, you still had that fear because you're afraid."

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

How They Pick the Music for Dances

Former pro Kym Johnson revealed in a 2014 fan Q&A that the pros can suggest songs for their dances, but producers ultimately pick the music (and themes) every week.

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

The Salaries for the Stars

Variety reported in 2019 that DWTS contestants earn $125,000 for their rehearsal period and the first two weeks the show airs. As the competition continues, they earn additional income and max out at $295,000. 

Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

The Salaries for the Pros

The funds for the professional salaries range. According to reports, popular pros make up to $5,200 per week while newcomers start out with lower weekly wages.

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

The Hair and Makeup (and Spray Tans)

Producer Katz told Glamour in 2015 that the celebrity cast is not allowed to bring in their own glam.

“Our team is award-winning and fantastic. Kirstie Alley had a really hard time with it and really fought it,” she said. “Now Kirstie uses our makeup artist for her. I get that fear, but they just have to take a leap with all of it. We promise they're going to look great."

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

The Dress Rehearsal Rules

Dancing With the Stars tapes (and airs) on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET, but celebrities arrive at the studio at 10:45 a.m. ET (7:45 a.m. local time). The duos hear the band, do wardrobe fittings and get their hair and makeup done before dress rehearsal begins at 1:15 ET.

"We give a range of notes from lights, there might be a performance that is too dark, or it may be a straightforward wardrobe note that we hate the color of that tie, should we give him a different tie? It can be any range of things, but it's the final chance to really hone in on the creative and make sure that everybody's on the same page so you know what to expect when it comes to the live show,” executive producer Sungkur told Business Insider in 2018, noting that “sometimes the band's arrangement will be a little different from the track” so it's “a constant collaboration between all the technical departments to make sure that we are presenting these performances and all the elements in the show to the best of our abilities."

Credit: ABC

The Clothing Rules

"People don't get to wear their costumes until dress rehearsal," former pro Tony Dovolani told Glamour in 2015. “There are alterations being made from dress rehearsal until the live show."

Producer Sungkur also told the magazine that they avoid logos in rehearsal, but Master P once “threatened to leave” because he “wanted to wear this jacket with a logo on it. … And I was like, 'OK, you can wear the jacket!'"

Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

The Scoring

"The judges have a piece of paper on their desk. After each dance they'll write down their score. The piece of paper is then run frantically to the control room,” Sungkur told Business Insider in 2018. “Standards and practices from ABC then verifies that everything is fair and checks those scores, and we then go to the judges to reveal their scoring and we double-check that the score they hold up reflects the score they wrote down."