The Worst Dancing With The Stars Contestants Of All Time

"Dancing With the Stars," which first premiered back in 2005, takes a mix of reality television stars, athletes, and celebrities and pairs them with professional dancers in an attempt to teach them how to ballroom dance. Each week, the couples compete and are given constructive feedback and scores by judges. Those scores are then added to viewer votes to determine who stays and who goes — and the last couple standing is awarded the coveted Mirrorball Trophy each season. There have been some magical partnerships that have totally wowed the crowd, and, for the most part, the celebs and their pros usually end up forming really close relationships. Some of those bonds even end up becoming love stories. But there is a flip side.

Not every celebrity who competes on "Dancing With the Stars" is cut out for the hard work and dedication it takes to learn how to ballroom dance. And, with more than 360 celebrities joining the show over the course of 32 seasons, one can imagine that there have been some contestants who weren't exactly a delight to work with. At the same time, there have been a few who just weren't good at ballroom dancing, no matter how much practice they managed to get in each week. We're taking a look back at some of the worst "Dancing With the Stars" contestants ever.

Reality star Kate Gosselin was partnered with ballroom pro Tony Dovolani on season 10 of "Dancing With the Stars." Although she seemed excited about the opportunity, her Type A personality didn't really jive with taking direction, which caused a rift between her and Dovolani. Things got so bad, in fact, that Dovolani actually walked out of rehearsals and said he was quitting the season. "When I decided to quit nothing major happened, it was just a build up of things where I just said that I didn't sign up for this," he told Hollywood Life after the season was over. "I respect talent. I respect hard work," he added. Dovolani eventually agreed to finish out the season with the promise of a better partner in season 11 from production. 

Gosselin and Dovolani finished in eighth place, but the season had an impact on Dovolani's life that went far beyond the ballroom. In a 2012 interview with Anderson Cooper, Dovolani took a shot at Gosselin. "I always feel bad for you because you got stuck with Kate Gosselin. I remember watching her dance. I'm still traumatized by that experience," Cooper said (via Today). "Wait, wait. Anderson, did you just call it a dance? We didn't dance," Dovolani replied. Elsewhere in the interview, Dovolani said that he sought therapy while working with the mom of eight.

Michael Bolton may be a talented musician, but his footwork didn't get him very far on season 11 of the dance competition show. It's safe to assume that if David Hasselhoff's dance was even a hair better, Bolton would have been the first contestant eliminated on the season. The "When a Man Loves a Woman" singer took to the floor with pro partner Chelsie Hightower, but he didn't have the goods to carry him far in the competition. His week two jive to the song "Hound Dog" was scored very poorly and received some extra harsh criticism from judge Bruno Tonioli. "I am a dog lover, but you make it so hard for me. You should have taken your bone and gone back to the dog house. You did it all very, very, very badly," Tonioli told him, scoring him a three out of 10, according to ABC News.

During Bolton's interview on "Good Morning America" the next day, he said that Tonioli owed him an apology. "I think he should apologize publicly and be reprimanded for it," Bolton said. He didn't end up getting an apology, with producers releasing a very clear statement, insisting that Tonioli was in the clear. "Bruno's role as a judge is to give his honest opinions on the quality of the dances he's judging, which is what he did in this case ... While we respect the feelings of our celebrities and dancers, we don't feel Bruno should be expected to apologize for doing his job," the statement read.

Although there had only been two seasons prior, producers broke the mold when they cast Tucker Carlson on season 3 of "Dancing With the Stars." No, he wasn't a mainstream celebrity, a C-list movie actor, or even a reality television star. He was a news anchor in the political sphere. Carlson was paired with Elena Grinenko, who made her debut on the show the very same season. The two debuted their very first dance together, a cha-cha to "Dancing in the Street," but the judges were less than impressed. Bruno Tonioli may have been the harshest critic of Carlson, calling the dance an "awful mess." And the scores weren't much better. Carlson received a 12 out of 30, pretty much guaranteeing that he'd be the first person eliminated. And he was.

But Carlson hasn't expressed any regret in doing the show. "I loved it. I loved it. I loved it," Carlson told the audience after his elimination (via NBC News). "Right before I came out here, and I said, 'No matter what happens, thanks for convincing me to do this,'" he said, referring to a message he left his friend, Kenny Mayne.

Just about everyone was excited to see Buzz Aldrin on the dance floor, but he quickly proved that ballroom was not as easy as walking on the moon. Partnered with Ashly DelGrosso-Costa on season 10, Aldrin seemed ready to give dancing a try. However, he landed in last place in week one — and again in weeks two and three. He and DelGrosso-Costa performed a cha-cha to the song "Cupid" in week one, earning themselves a 14 out of 30. His week two foxtrot to "Fly Me to the Moon" earned even lower scores — a 12 out of 30 — but, evidently, the sentimental song really pulled at the heartstrings of viewers, who simply couldn't help but vote for him. However, Aldrin's week three waltz to "What a Wonderful World" marked the end of his time on the show with a score of 13 out of 30.

"I never thought I'd walk on the moon, but I certainly never thought I'd dance on TV," Aldrin said after being eliminated (via Today). "I did this show for the fighter pilots out there, the military people and the elder geezers like me who would just like to see an elder come back week after week," he added.

Gary Busey joined season 21 of "Dancing With the Stars" alongside pro Anna Trebunskaya for what was sure to be the most entertaining train wreck — and Busey did not disappoint. Believe it or not, Busey seemed to have a bit of charisma, and he wasn't bad at ballroom. His scores were very much middle-of-the-road, and he had nary a three or a four paddle held up. His week four jazz to "That'll Be the Day" earned him a 19 out of 30, but he didn't have the votes to keep him in the competition. When it was time for him to leave, however, there was some drama. 

"I'm not finished," Busey said following his elimination (via the Daily Mail). "The fact that I've been eliminated is false," he continued, adding, "because my spirit with Anna will remain in this room throughout the show. So you won't see us dancing, but we'll be there." 

Penn Jillette was the first and only magician to be cast on "Dancing With the Stars," but even magic couldn't help him in the ballroom. He and Kym Herjavec made their debut dancing a cha-cha-cha to "Fool in Love" and did just about as well as you'd expect. They earned a 16 out of 30 before heading into week two — and the first elimination of the season. Their quickstep was a smidge better, with a score of 17 out of 30, but Jillette just didn't have the goods, and he was the first of the season to exit the competition. The best word to describe Jillette on "DWTS" would have to be clumsy. But it's not really his fault; after all, he is 6 feet, 6 inches tall and wears a size 15.5 shoe. 

Nevertheless, Jillette gave it his best shot, and he was well aware that he wasn't the most elegant of ballroom dance hopefuls. "If I worried about embarrassing myself, I certainly wouldn't have gone into showbiz. If I were trying to avoid embarrassment, I wouldn't have stumbled my way through 'Dancing with the Stars,'" he wrote in a 2010 op-ed for the Los Angeles Times.