Dancing with the Stars' showrunner breaks down why voting numbers stay secret

During the hours before the season 34 finale of Dancing with the Stars, showrunner Conrad Green answered one of the questions that has been mentioned quite often since the programme began: ‘Why has the long-running competition kept its specific voting numbers confidential?’

Green, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter right before contestants went into their final three routines, described the philosophy behind the non-designation of numbers and how scoring is actually determined during eliminations.

His comments gave a new insight into an issue that has been contentious among the viewers, former contestants, and even previous professionals in the show.

Why Dancing with the Stars still protects its voting numbers

Green made his position clear from the outset. When asked about releasing exact vote counts collected throughout each season of Dancing with the Stars, he admitted he would “prefer not to” share those numbers publicly.

He elaborated on the reasoning, stating: 

“[Disclosing numbers] has a very strong chance of disincentivizing people taking part or might affect the votes going forward, because people understand who to vote for.”

He followed that by noting, 

“In all kinds of ways, like any election or vote, you don’t want to be prejudicing the election or vote.”

His remarks also represent a larger issue that the production team has, which is that showing detailed vote information would be able to change the behavior of the audience and create a false impression of competition or hierarchy of contestants before the elimination night.

The notion that voters can change their allegiance according to perceived popularity and not the performance itself or the narrative is something that the show is careful to avoid in a series constructed based on weekly tension.

The question of transparency in Dancing with the Stars voting is not new. Fans have frequently discussed it on forums, especially during seasons with unexpected eliminations.

Former pro Peta Murgatroyd once said she used to “beg” to see voting results during her time on the show — a sentiment reflecting the curiosity many inside and outside the ballroom share.

Green, who worked on Dancing with the Stars from its launch, stepped away after Season 18 and returned in 2022. His long view of the show’s evolution gives him clarity on what production believes maintains fairness.

According to him, the process for determining eliminations is straightforward. “It’s 50/50, effectively,” he said, referring to the equal weighting between viewer votes and judges’ scores.

Green broke down the system: 

“When you see the judges’ leaderboards, say there’s five couples and you’re in first place on that leaderboard, you get five judges ranking points. If you’re in second place, you get four, if you’re in third place, you get three, [fourth place,] two, [and fifth place,] one. We do the same with the amount of public votes. You add those two [separate] ranking points together, and the couple with the lowest combined total of those ranking points goes home. And if there’s a tie on those ranking points, the couple with the fewest public votes goes home.”

The ranking-point model aims to even out the criteria of the judges and the power of the audience to establish the hybrid variant, that is, the model that is not only in favor of performance, but also considers the investment of viewers.

Earlier this year, conversations around fairness intensified when fans questioned several elimination results. Executive producer Ryan O’Dowd addressed the issue openly, saying his team took the rumors “very seriously.” He stated: 

“We have never, nor would we ever, do anything to manipulate votes,” adding that the show “needs to allow the viewers to have a voice and to really be the voice of who deserves to win.”

Despite the scrutiny, Green emphasized that the show is thriving. He said, 

 “To see the show … in its 20th year and how much pleasure and joy it’s bringing to people and to see new people engaging with it has been a great pleasure, I’m very proud of the show and everyone who works on it for pulling that off.”

Stay tuned for more updates.