🔥 BALLROOM IN CHAOS 🔥 After 34 Seasons, Dancing With the Stars STILL Can’t Fix the Problem That’s Breaking Fans’ Hearts 💔 From scoring controversies to “rigged” accusations — viewers are losing patience, saying the show’s magic is fading fast. 😱 Is this the beginning of the end for America’s most beloved dance competition?

Fans come to Dancing With the Stars for the entertainment. That’s what the show is meant to do. In the world of ballroom, it’s not a legitimate competition, but for DWTS fans, it sure is. We take it seriously — very seriously. Maybe too seriously. Now listen. We’ve had 34 seasons of the same gripes and complaints, mostly involving the leaderboard and the voting system. While our moaning does keep the conversation flowing, it might be time for the series to take the complaints into consideration and refresh the mechanics of how DWTS operates. Again.

As a unique reality series, when it comes to scoring and judging, fans sometimes neglect the source material and its impact on how and why the scoring system is what it is. But as a long-running and successful series, it might be time to pivot. It won’t reinvent the wheel, but the power must fall back into the hands of the judges and stray away from maintaining the controversial popularity contest that it has always been. The current system is broken and needs to be recalibrated.

‘DWTS’ Is Not a Contest Based on Merit

As Bobby Bones noted, following his Season 27 of DWTS victory, the fan outcry caused the voting mechanics to be altered. Introducing a Judges’ Save, which gives equal weight to the audience and judges, and voting occurring during the live East Coast airing, the shift aimed to alleviate the pain that die-hard fans felt when popularity seemed to defeat merit. And still, DWTS’s current system remains flawed. Because of the ballroom aspect of the show, it’s impossible to completely remove the leaderboard from view. Additionally, trying to cut out the fan vote would open up a world of scrutiny, as viewers may feel they’re no longer a voice. But the fans shouldn’t dictate the full direction of the outcome.

Unlike other similar competition shows, the judges’ scores are inherent to ballroom dance, and, thus, why it’s present. On other shows, audiences vote based on popularity and judges’ opinions. On DWTS, there is a clear-cut numerical visual value to base performance on. Whether they take that into consideration is up to them. From there, the audience forms their opinions of where to place their votes with the pretext from co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough that their votes are necessary to save their favorites. As seen throughout its history, the audience vote continues to appear to carry more weight than the judges’ scores, but we’ve been told that’s not the reality. So, how did Lauren Jauregui and Hilaria Baldwin find themselves eliminated in back-to-back weeks this season?

Former pro Lindsay Arnold officially revealed that the votes and judges’ scores are weighted 50%-50% in a TikTok video. But that doesn’t seem completely fair for a talent competition. We’re not the experts. With a seemingly disproportionate weight given to non-experts, complaints will continue to come. It gives credence to the moaning about a popularity contest. So, it’s time to give the judges more power. Even a 60%-40% split could change the game exponentially. Merit should be more important than a social media campaign for votes.

How Popular Influencers Are Dominating ‘DWTS’ Season 34

Using Season 34 as our test, let’s examine the potential implications of a system switch. For four weeks now, Whitney Leavitt has placed at the top of the leaderboard. Her closest competitor thus far is Robert Irwin. Then, there is Alix Earle coming up behind them. The rest of the pack is seemingly holding on to remain as long as they can. However, even with some pairs performing fairly well, based on the scoring structure, celebrities like Lauren and Hilaria were eliminated despite possessing strong dance skills. Not that Andy Richter, who has continually been told that he is the heart of the season and the reason why this show was created, pales in comparison to the previously mentioned. It’s entertaining to watch him grow, bringing passion to the dance floor, but how would we feel if the equal weight system then causes The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star to be eliminated because of one bad week? The truth is, the aforementioned stars should be safe because their followings are astronomical.

Dancing With the Stars is a show about growth. The judges discuss it in their critiques and in their scores. But for the frontrunners, their room for growth is a smaller margin compared to those at the bottom of the pack. Again, one bad week can destroy all the momentum built up until that point. Maybe something along the lines of the Judges’ Save in terms of weekly immunity can be explored. Give the top-scoring pair a prize for hard work.

The reality is, the merit is falling to the wayside. At the end of the day, this isn’t a real ballroom competition that our pros have experienced in their own lives. DWTS is a celebrity reality show meant to entertain. The voting system needs to be restructured to truly reflect the talent rather than the viral shock moments eliminations are creating. Perhaps one day a redemption season will arrive when the judges’ scores will be the only ones that count. For now, neither the leaderboard nor the fan vote can be removed; they can only be reformatted.

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8:00pm on ABC and Disney+. All episodes are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.