Dancing With the Stars fans called out an issue with the show’s voting system at a critical point in the competition.
As the remaining couples hit the ballroom for Grammy Night on Tuesday, November 10, some viewers noticed their text messages weren’t sending when they tried to vote for their favorite stars.
“YO STOP THE COUNT???? @officialdwts,” one X user wrote during the episode, as another cited Verizon’s service as the source of the problem.
The official DWTS Instagram account also shared a reminder about how to text in votes — with a caption noting the message was “sponsored by AT&T” — prompting fans to flood the comments section with their concerns.
Dancing With the Stars showrunner Conrad Green is shedding light on why the show keeps its precise voting numbers private. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published just hours ahead of the season 34 finale on Tuesday, November 25, Green confessed he’d “prefer not to” let viewers know the exact figures. “[Disclosing numbers] has a […]
“DWTS I want to exercise my right to vote what’s going on,” read one comment, while another joked that the issue was “a plot” against Tatyana Ali.
As of publication, a solution did not appear to have been provided.
Ali, 47, and her pro partner, Jan Ravnik, are among the final seven couples vying for the season 35 mirrorball trophy, alongside Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach, Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov, Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold, Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy, Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas and Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson.
Along with their individual routines, Grammy Night saw the couples competing against each other in a round of dance-offs. (Johnson, 32, and Shum, 44, earned immunity and automatic bonus points from having the highest cumulative total of points this season.)
In recent seasons, DWTS has grown even more popular — and voting has remained a hot topic. Showrunner Conrad Green previously explained why he prefers not to make the official voting numbers public.
“[Disclosing numbers] has a very strong chance of disincentivizing people taking part or might affect the votes going forward, because people understand who to vote for,” he told The Hollywood Reporter last year. “In all kinds of ways, like any election or vote, you don’t want to be prejudicing the election or vote.”
Green further noted that eliminations are “50/50” between judges’ scores and fan votes.
“When you see the judges’ leaderboards, say there’s five couples and you’re in first place on that leaderboard, you get five judges ranking points. If you’re in second place, you get four, if you’re in third place, you get three, [fourth place], two, [and fifth place], one. We do the same with the amount of public votes,” he said. “You add those two [separate] ranking points together, and the couple with the lowest combined total of those ranking points goes home. And if there’s a tie on those ranking points, the couple with the fewest public votes goes home.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
