Dancing With the Stars has had plenty of shock eliminations since it first aired in 2005, and over the years, some of the celebrities sent home have claimed there\u2019s more going on behind the scenes than just the public vote.<\/p>\n
The show has always denied it. \u201cWe take that very seriously. We have never, nor would we ever do anything to manipulate the votes,\u201d executive producer Ryan O\u2019Dowd told Deadline in May 2025.<\/p>\n
He said the competition \u201creally needs to be\u201d credible, adding: \u201cIt needs to allow the viewers to have a voice and to really be the voice of who deserves to win. So we have never nor would we ever want to manipulate that in any way.\u201d Even so, these are the former contestants who have questioned how fair the show really is.<\/p>\n
The most recent claim came from season 21 star Alexa PenaVega. In an October 2026 episode of her LEXLOS podcast, which she hosts with her husband Carlos PenaVega, Alexa remembered a conversation she had with fellow contestant Hayes Grier while they were both in the bottom group.<\/p>\n
\u201cHayes is only 15 years old and he\u2019s the sweetest kid,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s back there with us and I just remember all of us being in the bottom and he\u2019s like, \u2018Man, I think this show\u2019s rigged. I have more votes than anybody.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But Alexa didn\u2019t entirely agree with him. She said she believed Hayes did have more votes than anyone else because of his huge following, explaining: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, she thinks votes aren\u2019t the whole story. \u201cThis is what I always tell people. I think the votes matter. I do. But the show\u2019s also produced,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Host Alfonso Ribeiro wasn\u2019t having it. Replying in the comments of her video, he wrote: \u201cNo chance. We want everyone who\u2019s popular to stay on. It\u2019s basic logic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former NHL player Sean Avery, who competed in season 18 with Karina Smirnoff, was eliminated in week two, and he believes a falling out with a producer was to blame.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Good Morning America in 2014, Sean said he\u2019d been unhappy with the video package the show had made about him the week before. \u201cIt was a very tacky attempt to show me as the bad boy of DWTS,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Kyle Massey, who finished as runner-up to Jennifer Grey in season 11 with partner Lacey Schwimmer, has claimed the show edited out a mistake Jennifer made in the final.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Cheryl Burke\u2019s podcast in 2024, Kyle explained that the East Coast sees the show live, while the West Coast watches an edited recording. \u201cOne of the other contestants [Jennifer] had a mishap in the finale,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the East Coast, the mishap was there, and then on West Coast, it was a clean performance. It was edited out, perfect 10s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyle described it as a \u201cmisstep\u201d similar to \u201cwhen you trip, but you don\u2019t actually fall\u201d, and claimed the show \u201ccompletely edited it out\u201d for West Coast viewers.<\/p>\n
Matthew Lawrence, Cheryl Burke\u2019s ex-husband, has previously claimed on his podcast that he saw how the show was \u201crigged\u201d while he was in a relationship with the pro.<\/p>\n
His brother Joey Lawrence, who competed in season three, has also questioned how results are decided. \u201cI feel that there was always a lot of debate as to how much finagling was going on behind the scenes,\u201d Joey said. \u201cYou know, whether the audience vote and the judges\u2019 votes, then the producers. I mean, there was certainly a scenario there that played out.\u201d<\/p>\n
For all the latest reality TV cast member news, scandals, gossip and updates \u2013 like <\/i>Reality Shrine<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a> on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The executive producer has repeatedly denied the claims<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249734183,"featured_media":66139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1358],"tags":[2165],"class_list":["post-66128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dancing-with-the-stars"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/11\/06\/dancing-with-the-stars-has-been-accused-of-being-rigged-by-these-former-contestants\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Dancing With the Stars has been accused of being rigged by these former contestants","url":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/11\/06\/dancing-with-the-stars-has-been-accused-of-being-rigged-by-these-former-contestants\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/11\/06\/dancing-with-the-stars-has-been-accused-of-being-rigged-by-these-former-contestants\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.realitytvshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Ellie-New-Featured-Images-31-150x150.png","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.realitytvshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Ellie-New-Featured-Images-31.png"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ellie Ring"}],"creator":["Ellie Ring"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Reality Shrine","logo":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-mX3_1x3z.png"},"keywords":["dancing with the stars"],"dateCreated":"2026-11-06T11:45:44Z","datePublished":"2026-11-06T11:45:44Z","dateModified":"2026-11-06T11:45:44Z"},"rendered":"