Dancing with the Stars is a wildly popular reality competition show, which puts out big numbers on ABC (and streaming with a Disney+ subscription). While fans are reeling from the most recent episode that saw Tatyana Ali stay and Jenna Dewan surprisingly eliminated, a contestant from last season is speaking out. Namely Boy Meets World icon Danielle Fishel, who shared that she thinks both the judges and the audience judge women more harshly than the male dancers.
I'm watching DWTS for the first time this season, and the most recent elimination proved to me how important the fan votes truly are. In a clip from the podcast Chicks in the Office's Twitter, Fishel spoke about her experience in Season 34. During it, she got honest about the bias she thinks exists for celebrity contestants, offering:
When I was on the show I didn't want to talk too much about how I felt that the women are maybe more harshly criticized. Not only by the judging, but also by the audience.
While I'm relatively new to Dancing with the Stars, I can see what she's saying. For instance, earlier this season Jena Dewan got middling scores despite being a professional dancer. Then there was #liftgate, where judge Carrie Ann Inaba famously criticized Jenna Johnson's choreography, resulting in her husband Val posting a controversial response and getting suspended for a week. I've also felt like Tatyana Ali and Maura Higgins have both gotten harsher scores than they deserved throughout the current season.
Given the importance of the fan votes, any time the judges get down on one contestant, it has the potential to really sway the public. Later in the same clip, Fishel addressed the way she felt like sometimes the judges pile on contestants, and suggested a way she thinks they could make it better. In the actress's words:
Maybe just pick and choose. Like 'If you're gonna tell her she should articulate her arms, I'm gonna say something really positive.' Just to balance it out a little bit.
As Danielle Fishel said, she kept these thoughts to herself while competing on Season 34 last year. Now she feels comfortable opening up, especially as she watches the current season as a fan. The hosts of Chicks in the Office seem to agree with her, going so far as to say that the judges "treat the grown men on the show like they are children." Clearly, the fanbase is passionate about DWTS, including alumni from the competition series. For her part, Fishel was eliminated 7th last season, which is how far Tyler Cameron and Jackson Olson made it this year.
New episodes of Dancing with the Stars air Tuesdays on ABC as part of the 2026 TV schedule. After hearing Danielle Fishel's comments, I'm definitely going to be paying closer attention to the judging moving forward.
