The Dancing With The Stars Scandals The Show Couldn't Hide

Considering "Dancing with the Stars" has been one of the hottest properties on television for over 20 years, it's perhaps no surprise that there have been a fair few controversies over the years on the show. W.C. Fields famously advised against working with kids or animals in showbiz, but had he been around to see "DWTS" and all of its drama, he might've been inclined to add live television and dancing celebrities to that list 

"There are two ways to look at it," said one of the show's producers, Ryan O'Dowd, about the level of pressure that comes with working on "Dancing with the Stars" when speaking to Deadline in 2025. "You can view it from a stressful standpoint, of course, and carry that burden. Or you can look at it as having an opportunity to be at the helm of something that has the potential to grow," he added. "I'd rather focus on the potential than the worst-case scenario, and luckily we've been able to grow."

As much as it has grown over the course of 30-plus seasons on the air, that's not to say it's always been smooth sailing on "DWTS." Heck, if any of these scandals below happened on our watch, we'd sure be pulling our hair out. So, let's take a look at the ignominy and outrages tied to America's premier celebrity dance show that even the most seasoned TV executive couldn't sweep under the rug — or should we say the ballroom?

Some controversies are born of big, hard-to-miss moments. Others spawn from blink-and-you'll-miss interactions. The Erin Andrews furor from "Dancing with the Stars" in 2015 certainly belonged in the latter category.

On the show, soldier and motivational speaker Noah Galloway got down on one knee to propose to girlfriend Jamie Boyd. Cue cheers and gasps from all those surrounding the happy couple. All, that is, aside from Andrews. Instead, as Galloway pulled out the ring, many thought that the "Dancing with the Stars" host rolled her eyes and made a face that communicated a negative sentiment. While the moment hasn't been analyzed more than, say, the Zapruder footage, it sure has been dissected by a number of fans. "[P]riceless proposal," wrote a user on X. "Erin Andrews needs a new job." Another user on X added, "Say what you will but making rude faces during positive and exciting moments is unprofessional. Erin Andrews should know better."

The scandal became such a thing that Andrews felt the need to put it to bed and explain what was actually going on. "I just didn't know it was gonna happen," she said on "Conan." "I thought, 'Oh God this is really emotional; I better make this next question nice and exciting.' And I felt like I was getting misty, so I made an eye roll."

"Tom Bergeron will forever be part of the 'Dancing with the Stars' family. As we embark on a new creative direction," read a statement from ABC and BBC Studios in 2020 (via People). "Erin [Andrews] will also not be returning, and we appreciate all that she brought to the ballroom." With that, the long-running hosts — 28 and 11 seasons, respectively — of the long-running celebrity dance competition were gone. According to the network, it was an effort to shake things up a bit.

Suffice to say, the double firing shook up fans, Bergeron, and Andrews alike. "It was a surprise," Andrews told Extra in 2020. "I got a phone call and I answered the phone. I was like, 'This isn't good,'" she added. "I danced on the show and then worked on the show for so many years, I always call it a 'Dancing with the Stars Mafia' — once you're in, it's really hard to break away."

Bergeron's exit from "DWTS" was pretty fiery. The former ABC fixture, who has been open about not being cool with a certain political figure being cast on the show, claimed he was betrayed by the network. Heck, Bergeron has thrown shade at "DWTS" a number of times since being fired. Fans weren't too happy either. "Oh my gosh," said one user on Reddit in the aftermath of the host's dismissal. "I didn't see this coming at all. I'm going to miss Tom and Erin." We miss 'em too.

"Dancing with the Stars" is not a show devoid of a showmance; we could go on and on about the "DWTS" partners who went on to date after the show. But perhaps the most scandalous showmance was that of star model Brooks Nader and professional dancer Gleb Savchenko. After Cupid (read: the "Dancing with the Stars" producers) put them together, the pair hit it off and got flirty while dancing to Britany Spears before being eliminated in week four of the season. "Day one, when I met him, I was like, 'Oh, this is perfect. This isn't gonna go anywhere serious,'" recalled Nader on the "Chicks in the Office" podcast. "Day two, I was in love, and it wasn't a bit anymore. And I was actually really, really into him." 

However, there were a lot of highs and lows in Nader and Savchenko's romance — emphasis on the lows. With these two, most of the scandal came after their time on the show, when the couple called it quits less than a year into their showmance. Nader claims she and her siblings found photos of other women and suggestively named contacts on Savchenko's phone that led her to assume he had been cheating. "I feel so stupid," Nader said on an episode of "Love Thy Nader" (via People). "I had no idea this whole time that this was all going on, and to make matters worse, it's just like, what if I hadn't looked through his phone?" 

For his part, Savchenko maintained that he didn't cheat on Nader, and what's more, he apparently didn't see the breakup coming. "This thing happened that broke my heart," he told E! News at the time. "It was really upsetting."

Whatever happened to the "fake heiress" Anna Delvey? You better believe she went on Season 33 of "Dancing with the Stars." However, as befits her reputation, the Russian-born German citizen courted controversy on the ballroom.

While on "Dancing with the Stars," the Big Apple-based socialite wore an ankle monitor and was fighting deportation, making her one of the most divisive and hated stars in the show's history. "I overstayed my visa, because I was in jail, so it was hard to leave," said Delvey regarding her ankle monitor in her introductory clip on the show (via Entertainment Weekly). "I hope that everybody who feels negatively about me, that I will be able to turn their opinion of me around," she added. "I've reinvented myself many times, and this time, I'm going to be a ballroom dancer."

Well, she did ballroom dance, but she also remained a magnet for negative reactions thanks to her performances. "The way Anna Delvey's first #DWTS performance sucked all the energy and happiness out of the ballroom was something I don't think I've witnessed in 33 seasons," wrote one user on X. "Honestly, that was kind of shocking." Her time on the show was short, but she sure did go out with a bang. When Julianne Hough asked Delvey what she took away from her time on "DWTS," Delvey bluntly replied, "Nothing."

Cast your mind back to summer 2016 — somewhere between "Pokemon Go," Harambe memes, and Drake's "One Dance" — and you might remember a certain Olympian named Ryan Lochte. Lochte was very much the villain of the summer after he falsely claimed he was robbed at gunpoint during the games in Rio and was subsequently dropped by his sponsors. But, as we've seen with Anna Delvey, "Dancing with the Stars" is happy to try and rehabilitate a reputation or two.

So, only about a month after his scandal in Brazil, the 12-time Olympic medalist took to the dance floor. However, some weren't happy about it. Like, really not happy. After the swimmer finished his first performance on his season of "Dancing with the Stars," two unhappy hecklers sprinted onto the stage with the speed of an Olympian and yelled "liar" as Lochte received his notes from the judges. Lest anyone assume this was an impromptu outburst, the hecklers wore shirts with Lochte's name crossed out on them. 

The protestors were then tackled by security and the show cut to commercials. The two men were hit with misdemeanor trespassing charges and later ordered to stay at least 300 yards away from Lochte. 

In her tell-all memoir, "Solo: A Memoir of Hope," Season 13 "Dancing with the Stars" alumna Hope Solo told all about her time on the show with pro partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Her allegations against her dance partner were troubling, to say the least.

"He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly," wrote the former USWNT goalkeeper in her book, as per CBS News. "I thought that was just how it went — how dancers worked with each other," she added. "I was tough. I could take it ... But it kept getting worse." She alleged Chmerkovskiy hit her so hard in the stomach that it left a mark and slapping her in the face to get it in the correct position, neither of which would be acceptable anywhere, not even in the most authoritarian ballet schools.

Understandably, these allegations did not sit well with fans. "There's a reason why people call him the bad boy of the ballroom for a reason he's a pig," said one user on Reddit. "He is one of the pros that has made me so uncomfortable in the past with the way he treated ALL of his partners," added another Redditor. "He is no example of how a pro should be." Chmerkovskiy denied Solo's allegations, writing on X, "Always hated hypocrites and liars...but when someone is both AND an opportunist, I just feel bad for them. Can't win at someone's expense."

On Season 19 of "Dancing with the Stars," Julianne Hough was on the judging panel, and her brother Derek Hough was one of the professionals. It would be like if Frankie Grande performed on "The Voice" when Ariana Grande was a judge. Naturally, there were questions of whether or not this was fair. "Julianne Hough gives her brother, Derek, preferential treatment by showering him with the highest unfair scores," wrote a viewer in the Courier Post. "Judging one's own brother is unethical, and Julianne is unashamed in showing an open, blatant act of nepotism."

Derek and his fashion-slash-beauty YouTuber partner Bethany Mota made it all the way to the final and finished fourth. En route, they received multiple perfect 10 scores from the pro's sister. However, Julianne was keen to dismiss any suggestion that she might favor her brother and his partner. 

"I think a lot of people are really concerned about that," Julianne said of the favoritism suggestions when speaking to TV Guide before the season started. "Maybe I'll even be more honest with Derek because he's my brother. ... It'd be different if it was like my mom or something. I don't want to hurt my mom's feelings. But it's Derek", she added. "We're honest with each other ... If anything, I might be even harder on him." In fairness to Julianne, her scores were always in line with her fellow judges.

In Seasons 12 and 15, former "Dancing with the Stars" pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy was partnered with actor Kirstie Alley. The two clicked when they were on Season 12 — so much so that they were eager to pair up again for Season 15's all-star lineup — but evidently they went through a pretty significant falling-out.

"She stopped getting along with me," Chmerkovskiy told Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" in 2014. "We had a great relationship ... But I got a message now that I am associating with other people that she can't be associated with, I am no longer to be spoken with." Chmerkovskiy, who was likely referencing his friendship with Leah Remini, also made a not-so-subtle allusion to his overarching ideological clash with Alley.

After the episode aired, Alley made it clear on X that she was not thrilled with Chmerkovskiy's remarks. "To those who believe nasty gossip spewed by others, please stop following. To those who know me, carry on," she wrote. If there's one silver lining here, it's a moving tribute to the "It Takes Two" star the dancer posted on his Instagram after she died in 2022.

We've all had a bad day at work, but not many of us have had a day as bad as "Family Matters" star Jaleel White and his dance partner Kym Johnson during Season 14 of "Dancing with the Stars". Apparently, White and Johnson got into it after he stepped on her foot during rehearsal.  As reported by Today, when Johnson got upset, White allegedly called her names and yelled at her. 

White allegedly then got into it with the show's producers and pro dancer Mark Ballas. "The producers stepped in and broke it up before it got physical, but they were really going at it — right up in each other's faces!" a source claimed to Today. "Now he says he refuses to go back to the rehearsal studio again, that he wants his own rehearsal space elsewhere," added the source. "It was a huge fiasco that went down. A total mess." 

Following the drama, White told People (via CBS News) that the story was "completely exaggerated." And when TMZ asked Ballas about what did or didn't happen behind the scenes, the "DWTS" veteran downplayed the incident. "It's a complete fabrication," he stated. As far as he's concerned, Urkel, er, White did not do that. 

If there's one "Dancing with the Stars" regular primed for an eyebrow-raising moment, it's judge Bruno Tonioli. The dance veteran shoots from the hip and speaks faster than his lips can carry him. So, given that combo, it shouldn't come as a surprise that he's slipped up on live TV at least once in his 20-plus years on the show.

"Listen my darling, you're never going to win the Nobel Prize for quantum physics," he told model and actor Charlotte McKinney when reviewing her rumba on Season 20 in 2015. "But you are easy on the eyes." Talk about a backhanded compliment. And then, without missing a beat, host Tom Bergeron told Tonioli, "Neither are you." Tonioli evidently recognized that he stepped in it and offered a quick apology for his remark. 

"Bruno Tonioli, demonstrating what an epic fail SOUNDS LIKE," reacted one user on X. "[G]otta love #Bruno," added another on X. However, one person who didn't love it was McKinney. "I just believe it was super uncalled for," she told E! News. "We weren't talking about being smart or anything like that. So it was just uncalled for." We're with McKinney on this one. 

In one episode of Season 27 of "Dancing with the Stars," then-host Tom Bergeron announced that the phone votes hadn't come through and that they'd be using a mixture of the online and judges' votes instead. Not the end of the world, you might think. However, this announcement was made when the couples were all in position and waiting to hear their fates. "I was shocked," actor and Season 27 contestant John Schneider told Entertainment Tonight. "My reaction was, 'Oh no!' because I think that our audience are primarily phone voters, and I put a lot of effort in yesterday, both of us did, like, 'Hey guys, vote for us,' hoping that they would and knowing that that didn't count, that really shook the ground for me."

Oh, but it wasn't the only voting-based controversy that season. When radio host Bobby Bones snatched that year's Mirrorball trophy, some fans argued that he won only because of his popularity, not his skills on the dance floor. Indeed, Bones floundered at the bottom of the judges' leaderboard most weeks but squeaked by thanks to the public vote. "[T]he fact that Bobby has won is unbelievably ridiculous," said one user on Reddit. "This show has truly disappointed me." 

After Season 27, the producers decided to revamp things in an effort to balance out fan votes with judges' scores. "I do know that we have made some adjustments to the judging, because we got a lot of complaints," veteran judge Carrie Ann Inaba told ET. "We listened to what everybody said about what happened last year."