How Dancing With the Stars Scores and Votes Determine Eliminations

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Lauren Jauregui was disappointed with the results of Dancing With the Stars.

After she and her partner Brandon Armstrong were eliminated on the September 30th episode, she shared her feelings, stating she was “Pissed.”

Despite the elimination, Lauren expressed her gratitude for Brandon. “Honestly, I’m so grateful to have had you as a partner,” she told him. “Thank you so much.”

Lauren and Brandon performed a cha-cha to Fifth Harmony’s hit song “Work From Home” during TikTok night, with her former bandmates Normani, Ally Brooke and Dinah Jane supporting them from the audience. The judges – Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli – each gave them a score of six, resulting in a total of 18 out of 30. This tied them with comedian Andy Richter and pro Emma Slater at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Once the couples who were safe were announced, it really came down to just a few of us: Lauren and Brandon, Andy and Emma, and Elaine Hendrix with her pro partner, Alan Bersten. But our amazing cohost, Alfonso Ribeiro, was quick to point out that not everyone in that group was *definitely* in the bottom three. He clarified that only one couple actually had the very lowest combined score from the judges *and* the viewer votes that night.

When Lauren and Brandon were revealed as the pair, everyone was stunned. As cohost Julianne Hough observed, “You can tell by the audience’s reaction that everyone is shocked.”

Ever wondered how scores and votes decide who gets eliminated? Former pro Lindsay Arnold is here to explain it.

“When it comes to eliminations,” she shared in a 2023 TikTok video, “it’s a 50/50 split between the judges’ scores and viewers’ votes.”

The Mirrorball champion suggests visualizing this as a pie chart. She explains that the total pie represents 100% of either the votes or the scores. When looking at the scores, each couple receives a portion of that pie based on how the judges rated them. For example, a couple with low scores might get “a 25 percent piece of that score pie,” while someone with higher scores could receive “a 75 percent piece of that score pie,” Lindsay explained.

The same method is used when counting viewers’ votes.

“We visualize votes as pies,” Lindsay explained. “One couple might receive 50 percent of a ‘pie’ of votes, another 75 percent, and someone else perhaps just 10 percent. Then we combine those [pies] to get the total.”

Even if a couple isn’t strong in one area, they can still stay in the competition if they excel in another.

“This is where it becomes clear that a couple at the bottom of the leaderboard might only have 25 percent of the total score, but they could have 80 percent of the votes, which would put them ahead of someone with a higher score,” the dancer explained. “And it works the other way around too-some people might get very high scores, making up 90 percent of that pie, but only receive 10 percent of the votes, yet they can still do well.”

This is why both the scores and the votes are important.

“What I’m trying to explain is that it all balances out,” Lindsay shared. “As I said, low scores can be overcome with a majority of the votes, which could allow you to surpass someone with higher scores. Conversely, really high scores, even with low votes, can still keep you in the competition because those scores matter.”

And while fans might be disappointed when their favorite team is eliminated, she believes the system ultimately works fairly. In fact, the 31-year-old said she’s experienced both sides-receiving high scores but few votes, and low scores but many votes-remembering how her season 21 partner Alek Skarlatos “wasn’t the best dancer, but a lot of people really loved him” and they reached the final three.

“It happens across the board and it’s good,” Lindsay stated. “Because if you’re dancing really, really, really well, then you’re going to get high scores and won’t have to rely as much on votes.”

However, former Dancing With the Stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy is worried that the judges are handing out scores too quickly. He argues that giving sevens so early in the competition-like during week two-isn’t a fair middle ground and doesn’t allow enough room for improvement or clear differences in scores.
 
“We really should have started with fours or fives, absolutely,” the season 18 winner explained on his September 29 Dancing With the Stare recap with his wife and fellow former pro Peta Murgatroyd. “And we should have seen gradual improvements from there. But now, it’s going to be hard to tell the couples apart based on the judges’ scores. This means most of the decision will come down to the audience vote, which I think is great. There are different ways to look at this, but it makes the judges’ role almost unnecessary. They’d just be telling the audience what they thought, but what’s the point of scoring if everyone gets the same score?”

TopMob News has contacted Dancing With the Stars for a statement about the elimination process but hasn’t received a response yet.

As Dancing With the Stars season 34 goes on, keep checking back to learn more behind-the-scenes information about the show.   

According to Variety, who cited several sources, Dancing With the Stars contestants earned $125,000 for the rehearsal period and the first two weeks of the show in 2019. The publication added that contestants received additional money each week if they continued on the show, potentially earning up to $295,000.

However, Bobby Bones claimed he made more than that when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.

“That show pays alright,” the radio personality explained on a September 2025 episode of Jason Tartick‘s podcast Trading Secrets. “Like, no money for the first episode. Then $10,000 for the second. I think it goes something like $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. If you make it far enough, it can end up being $50,000 per episode.”

Bones also stated he had a base salary of around $110,000, and ultimately earned “close to $400,000” from the show.

ABC has not officially confirmed these numbers.

Similarly, little has been shared publicly about how much the pros get paid. But as with the contestants, it seems like the longer they’re on the show, the more money they can make.

But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they’re not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.

“You’re guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks,” Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester‘s podcast The Morning After. “I think there’s different contracts though. I can’t speak for everybody.”

Oh, I just *had* to find out! Apparently, it’s not true that the pros get extra money for winning!

My absolute fave, Jenna Johnson-who won season 26 with the incredible Adam Rippon, and then *again* on season 33 with The Bachelor‘s Joey Graziadei-said they don’t get a bigger paycheck for taking home the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. But honestly, she said there’s *still* a reason to fight to the finale (besides, you know, the glory!).

She explained on The Morning After. that just making it to the end means you get paid for the *whole* season, which is fantastic, *plus* a bonus! It’s not like they win a $1 million and split it, sadly. It’s just a super cute trophy to share with your partner, which…is still amazing, honestly!

It doesn’t seem to be accurate.

During a 2022 appearance on Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold shared that her pay was reduced by “more than half” after she moved from a professional dancer to a troupe member.

The professional dancers have very little say in who they’re partnered with.

“You get no say,” Lindsay explained on a May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers‘ Hot Smart Rich podcast. “It’s basically, ‘Here’s your partner, now make it work.’”

Jenna added that the pairings are usually kept secret until the very last moment.

“They really want to preserve the surprise until you actually meet them,” Jenna said on The Morning After. “People often assume we know who our partner is and are just keeping it quiet, but that’s not true at all. They don’t tell us, and they don’t even want us to know who else is on the show. It leaks sometimes, but they try to keep everything very secret until you meet your partner.”

So, what does the Dancing With the Stars team consider when making these matches?

“It’s based on things like height, body type, personality, and how well people will get along,” former showrunner Rob Wade told TopMob News in 2015. “We avoid pairing people who are likely to clash. It’s too stressful. It’s not like The Bachelor or anything like that – we couldn’t do that. It would be a terrible experience for the celebrity, for us, and for the viewers. You don’t want to watch two people who don’t get along, and frankly, we’ve made that mistake before by pairing people who just didn’t click.”

Put simply, a lot.

“Every day we have four-hour rehearsals,” Rylee Arnold, who was partnered with Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik on season 33, shared on a September 2024 episode of the Lightweights Podcast With Joe Vulpis. “It’s either 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m.”

But the work doesn’t stop once the rehearsal wraps. Rylee noted she might then meet with producers or the creative team, work on choreography or study dance videos.

“Literally my whole life is devoted to it,” she continued, “but it’s my passion and it’s what I love. So, it makes me so happy.”

Indeed, it’s a no-days-off kind of gig.

“We have our show day on Tuesday and then it’s Wednesday to Sunday, straight rehearsals,” Rylee added. “And then Monday we have camera blocking and then Tuesday’s show day again.”

“Generally, yes,” Emma Slater and Britt Stewart shared in an Instagram video from September 2025, “but it’s being done in partnership with the show’s producers.”

If you thought the quickstep was fast, just wait until you hear about the pace of the costume department.

“We meet with the set and lighting designers, dancers and talent and create a story [for each pair],” costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner told TV Insider back in 2017. “Then we sketch out ideas. We have five days, max, to make all the outfits. That’s half a day per costume, not including all the rhinestones. The fitting and trimming we do later. We have about 20 people in our department and then we have a separate tailor shop. It’s a big enterprise.”

In fact, costume designer Steven Norman Lee said pairs usually try on their costumes for the first time just hours before showtime. And while the department “might use a pair of pants again for the boys,” he continued, everything is generally made custom each week.

As Gschwendtner added, “We do reuse things for group numbers or promo shoots, but not for the competition. We don’t reuse things unless there’s a specific reason to do so. We try to keep everybody fresh and new in something different every week, so it stays interesting.”

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2025-10-01 21:52