“Dancing With the Stars,” has been a popular reality TV show for years. However, the show has recently taken a drastic turn (fans argue for the worse) as it gains a popular social media presence.

The reality television show features celebrities paired with professional dancers who compete weekly in ballroom dancing competitions. Recently, professionals, celebrities, and many fans have been active on social media platforms, changing the tide of the competition. 

Each week, both judges and viewers get to vote on their favorite dances which determines who will get eliminated. Social media, especially TikTok, has played a large role in voters’ decisions. 

“People on social media are only voting off of who they like as people, not as dancers. The judges’ votes don’t mean that much because people on social media’s votes are taking over. At the end of the competition it becomes a popularity contest,” senior Riley Houck said.

While the increased presence of “Dancing With The Stars” on social media may have had a negative impact on voter bias it may also have a positive effect on viewer interaction. 

“I think the impact of social media on the season has allowed the voting records to be broken,” sophomore Addison Rowan said.

Due to the publicity social media has allowed for, viewer interaction has skyrocketed. People feel a deep sense of connection to the dancers thanks to their activity on TikTok. This then causes viewers to vote on their favorite dancers weekly, helping to boost voting rates to unheard-of levels. On a voting note, fans on social media and students at NVD have a lot to say about the judges’ seemingly biased scoring.

“I feel like they are not correctly scoring everyone. They are giving everyone the same score, even those who don’t deserve it,” Rowan said.

Social media users are specifically calling out Judge Carrie Ann Inaba for her somewhat biased scoring. Due to this extreme criticism, people worry that her job may be on the line and viewers have even begun to publicly share who they feel would be a better fit for the position.

Houck disagrees with the judges’ scoring for different reasons.

“I disagree with the judges’ scoring this season because they have been extremely strict. In previous years on Disney night, everyone got at least one [score of] ten, but not this season. It took to Halloween night to get the first ‘ten’ of the season,” she said.

Fans have started to notice that the judges have been stricter this year than in the past. Not only is this season different from previous ones on a voting basis, this season has more drama as well.

“I think this season is different from those in the past in a drama sense. Having a convicted felon, Anna Delvey, who just got out of jail and wore an ankle brace, added a lot of controversy to the show and therefore created more drama. Brooks and Gleb added a fun story to the show until they got eliminated,” Rowan said.

Rowan believes that the added drama to the show is due to the cast itself. Houck shares a similar opinion that the cast plays a large role in the show as a whole.

“After the cast was announced, I knew this needed to be the first season to watch,” she said.

The cast plays a major role in the competition but this season, many fans believe that social media has played an even bigger role in the show’s overall purpose.

“The show’s increased social media presence has made the competition more about interacting with fans vs truly dancing,” Rowan said.