DWTS Fans Have Mixed Feelings About The Season 31 Winner
"Dancing with the Stars" has had its fair share of controversies when it comes to the elimination process and crowning the winner of each season. Case in point? When Heather Morris was shockingly eliminated after getting a perfect score on her rumba with Maksim Chmerkovskiy during Season 24. At the time, former "DWTS" host Tom Bergeron said, "I have to say, in 24 seasons, that's probably the most vocally unhappy reaction we've gotten about a result" after groans and boos filled the ballroom via The Washington Post).
During Season 27, Bobby Bones took home the coveted Mirrorball trophy, causing controversy that made the show reconsider how scoring and viewer voting should work to make it a more fair competition. "We have made some adjustments to the judging, because we got a lot of complaints," judge Carrie Ann Inaba told Entertainment Tonight in 2019. "We listened to what everybody said about what happened last year."
And in Season 28, Sean Spicer sparked controversy right after the show announced the cast. According to Vanity Fair, Bergeron expressed his thoughts on the casting choice and it was said that the show-runners reportedly tried to get Spicer off the show. However, because of his popularity, the viewers' votes kept him in the competition for multiple weeks, despite his poor dancing skills. Although the show is trying to find ways to make the competition more fair, fans are still skeptical about it after the Season 31 champion was announced.
DWTS fans point out unfairness after Season 31 finale
"Dancing with the Stars" is known to cast celebrities with known prior dance experience, but that doesn't mean that they always win. Per Cosmopolitan, Disney stars Zendaya and Corbin Bleu were the runner-ups of their respective seasons, and "Dance Moms" star Jojo Siwa was the runner-up of her season.
After the show announced Charli D'Amelio and Mark Ballas as the winners of Season 31, it sparked controversy. "I don't think it was fair a dancer won the dancing contest," one person tweeted. "The win was handed to that girl," another person tweeted, adding that the judges praised the TikTok star every week while they were "nit-picky" with other contestants. Despite some fans thinking the show was "rigged," others expressed their congratulations. "Much congratulations to Charli and Mark," a fan tweeted, mentioning that the competition was pretty even and anyone could have won.
While D'Amelio's popularity — having amassed nearly 150 million followers on TikTok — could have been a factor for her win, fans seem more concerned about her known previous dance training, especially since danced alongside judge Derek Hough in a television special. Hough told Entertainment Weekly that he called Ballas back to the show due to that concern, as he felt that Ballas' creative choreography could be more of a challenge for the TikTok star.