Dancing with the Stars has been doing things a tad differently since letting go of hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews. One aspect that fans are a little confused and upset by is the tie-breaker vote for the Bottom 2, as head judge Len Goodman has the deciding vote. And even judge Derek Hough is agreeing with the fans.
What happens in the Bottom Two is that the judges place their votes to save one of the bottom two couples. If Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli’s votes, which count as one each, end in a two-one vote, then Goodman can use his vote as the ultimate tie-breaker, as his counts for two. It’s definitely a confusing and upsetting rule for some, and Hough shared his thoughts about the rule with Us Weekly:
I still don’t understand it, and I’ve said this to producers. I was like, ‘Guys, we gotta reword this thing because the tie doesn’t make sense. So basically, this is kind of the way I’m explaining it: Essentially, Len has two votes, that’s it? Len has the weight of two votes. I wish we just said it like that because that makes so much more sense.
It is a little confusing how the tie-breaker is settled. It didn’t make much sense at first why a couple that got two votes is eliminated while a couple that got one vote is saved because of Len Goodman. He’s considered the head judge but it’s still hard to follow.
It should be noted that this tie-breaker rule is pretty new. Former DWTS pro dancer Derek Hough joined the dancing competition series last season as a replacement for Len Goodman. The longtime judge wasn’t able to take part in judging Season 29 due to COVID travel regulations as he was in London. He still shared his knowledge, however, virtually.
Before there were only three judges for DWTS, but with Derek Hough staying on and Len Goodman returning for this season, it seems producers just wanted a bit of a twist. It’s not surprising they would want to change things up a bit, since the series is in its 30th season. While they definitely could have gone a different route when it came to the Bottom 2, it definitely does make things interesting.
Hopefully for Season 31 things can change and there will be a clear vote for the Bottom 2. Personally, I’m a fan of all four judges getting one vote, then if there is a tie, whichever couple had the most votes from the fans gets to be saved. Though with Len Goodman’s long tenure as a judge on DWTS, he seems to know what he’s doing. Fingers crossed the right couple wins the Mirror Ball Trophy at the end of Season 30.
