What do Cleveland Cavalier Iman Shumpert, 80s movie icon Jenifer Grey and Jordan Fisher have in common? They have all been on, and won, Dancing with the Stars. After 33 seasons Dancing with the Stars has become one of the most popular reality television competition shows. Celebrity-featured shows of reality television are often heavily scripted or just poor quality. However, Dancing with the Stars provides a genuine narrative with a diverse range of celebrities, which makes it the most realistic competition show.
Though I avidly watch reality dating, cooking and drama shows, I watch with the expectation of predictability. That is because many of these shows write and edit their way to whichever plot line will give them more views. Dancing with the Stars combats this expectation of reality television through prioritizing dancing ability over viewership and not discriminating on what stars they take on the show. The types of celebrities can be broadly categories into different typecasts.
The first typecast of the show is a star with shock-value. Some of the most extreme examples include the Tiger King’s wife Carol Baskin, and recently eliminated con-artist Anna Delvey, who sported a bedazzled ankle monitor while dancing. These attention-grabbing celebrities are often seen at the start of each season, though they realistically will not win. For dancers in Baskin and Delvey’s position, their elimination proves that the show focuses on dancing ability, rather than boosting viewership through ingenuine means.
The second typecast on the show is the athlete who comes in extremely stiff and relies on flipping their partner in the air. Sometimes these theatrics work but like in Kareem Abdul Jabar’s case, they get eliminated pretty early. It is only with dedication that certain athletes stay. For example, Iman Shumpert found his own style and combined it with classical ballroom training to win. His desire to become a better dancer was seen off-screen, and that gained him votes from fans, as well as points from the judges. Dances like his Week 6 horror dance prove why he is one of the best winners of the show, as it is heartwarming to see someone who truly wanted to improve.
Then, a final typecast includes young social media stars or former dancers. These stars are a shoo-in for votes and naturally keep a beat but most of the time, they do not win. One example is Glee star Heather Morris, who participated in season 24 of the show. However, Morris is a trained dancer and former back-up dancer for Beyoncé, so she received hate for having a leg up. After consistently receiving high scores and enough votes to stay for five weeks, Morris was eliminated, even after receiving a perfect score from the judges. This is the same season that Simone Biles competed and lost, despite her popularity and dancing ability. Both eliminations drive home how only those who implement the judges’ advice will earn the votes and the scores to win the Mirrorball Trophy.
After rewatching seasons where I had a personal favorite to win, like the infamous Milo Mannheim loss of season 27, it is always more rewarding to see how a celebrity grows into the ballroom dancing style, rather than someone who starts off as a good dancer. Ballroom dancing is one of the hardest forms of dance to master, so only the most deserving contestants with prior dance experience win—especially due to the high standards Dancing with the Stars holds contestants to.
This show never fails to entertain me, even if I have no clue who the stars are at the beginning of the season. By the finale, I am dedicated to their improvement and stories. If more “unscripted” reality competition shows were like Dancing with the Stars, we would have better content to watch.