Dancing With the Stars alum Peta Murgatroyd shared her thoughts on how the mirrorball trophy is awarded each season. The veteran pro dancer, who won two past seasons of the ABC celebrity ballroom competition, told E! News that the viewer votes have always outweighed the judges’ scores.
She even teased that her wins—with NFL player Donald Driver and model Nyle DiMarco—were fan-driven and not necessarily based on the best dance skills. "It's always been how it's been: a popularity contest," Murgatroyd said of the DWTSformat during the Dec. 11 interview. "So, the best dancer doesn't always win."
“I've won with two non-dancers," she added. "People are going to vote for who they love."
The past few DWTS seasons have leaned much more into social media clout. Murgatroyd’s brother-in-law, Val Chmerkovskiy, was even paired with TikTok star Alix Earle and the two landed in second place this season.
Murgatroyd told E! News that casting influencers with large numbers of followers "blows” the voting numbers up “even more."
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Murgatroyd previously shared her opinion on the DWTS Season 34 competition, which wrapped just before Thanksgiving. While she predicted that Australian wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin would win the trophy, she based it more on his popularity than on his being the absolute best dancer of the season.
“I have hands down Robert Irwin and Witney [Carson to win],” Murgatroyd told Us Weekly shortly before the finale. “One thousand percent. I’m not saying he’s the most technical dancer. Whitney Leavitt, for me, is the best dancer of the season by far. She is absolutely phenomenal, but I believe Robert Irwin is going to win. People just seem to really gravitate toward him and he’s so kind.”
Some DWTS Contestants Have Called the Show a Popularity Contest
Dancing with the Stars is supposed to be about awarding the “most improved” dancer the mirrorball trophy. But some celebrities have said it feels more like a popularity contest than a dance competition.
After Olympic skater Johnny Weir was eliminated from the show in the semi-final round in season 29, he told Us Weekly, “It hurts a lot because it definitely feels like a popularity contest more so than a dance contest.”
Weir clarifies that he “knew” what I was signing up for, and added, “I can say wholeheartedly that I would always prefer to be myself than be popular.”
Ditto for Chynna Phillips, who was eliminated in Week 4 during Season 13 despite delivering strong performances with pro partner Tony Dovolani.
“It really does come down to the votes,” Phillips told The Huffington Post at the time. “And that’s kind of sad because it’s supposed to be a dance competition, but it’s actually a popularity contest, which makes me kind of sad. You know, you have to have a little bit of faith that there are people out there who are truly voting for their favorite dance, not their favorite person, because it is a dance competition and people are working really hard. It would be very sad if that was undermined, and it looks to me like that keeps getting undermined.”
And Season 27 mirrorball winner Bobby Bones flat-out admitted he knew he wasn’t the best dancer that year, but that fan votes got him the win.
"I was the worst dancer, I take pride in that,” Bones told fans in Instagram video in August 2024. “Now, I tried as hard as anybody in the history of the show, but I can't dance now, couldn't dance then. ...I’m the greatest champion ever— I didn’t say the greatest dancer— I’m the greatest champion ever because I’m a man of the people!”
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