Why DWTS Won’t Reveal Exact Numbers for Viewers’ Votes

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Dancing With the Stars isn’t ready to reveal their secret move just yet.

Viewers of season 34 are curious about how many votes the contestants receive. However, do you think the show’s executive producer, Conrad Green, would ever reveal that information?

He told The Hollywood Reporter in a November 25th interview that he’d rather not share the numbers, explaining that doing so could discourage participation or influence future votes, as people might then vote strategically based on who’s performing well.

Green explained that, similar to any election, it’s important to avoid influencing the outcome beforehand.

The results are determined equally between the judges’ scores and the public’s votes, according to Green. Couples receive points based on how the judges – Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli – rank their performances. These points are then added to the total votes from the public to decide who goes home.

If there’s a tie, the show has a backup plan: the couple with the fewest votes from the public will be eliminated.

Public voting is a key element of Dancing With the Stars. As judge Derek Green explained, it helps create a fair competition because the cast usually includes both experienced dancers and those with no prior training.

The current group of contestants includes several people with dance experience. Elaine Hendrix was a professional dancer when she was younger, and Hilaria Baldwin has the most training in ballroom and Latin styles. Whitney Leavitt and Alix Earle both competed in dance as children.

However, Green also pointed out that others, like Dylan Efron and Robert Irwin, don’t have much prior experience. Andy Richter, and Jordan Chiles, on the other hand, possess exceptional athletic talent that gives them a significant advantage.

As a lifestyle expert, I always say it’s about blending worlds! For me, seeing both dancers and non-dancers in a show proves you can have the best of both worlds – a performance that feels amazing even with a mix of skill levels. It really shows that different talents can coexist beautifully on stage.

The showrunner is particularly happy with how Dancing With the Stars is doing in its 34th season, and the happiness it’s bringing to viewers.

He said it was wonderful to see new viewers enjoying the show, and expressed his pride in the entire team for making it happen.

Though Dancing with the Stars keeps its voting results private, over the past two decades, many behind-the-scenes details have been revealed. Read on to learn more!

In 2019, Variety reported that celebrities appearing on Dancing With the Stars initially earn $125,000 for rehearsals and the first two weeks of the show. According to sources, contestants who advance further receive increasing amounts each week, potentially earning up to $295,000 overall.

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

The radio host shared on Jason Tartick’s podcast, Trading Secrets, in September 2025 that the show’s pay structure increases over time. They explained that while the first episode doesn’t pay, the second earns $10,000, followed by $10,000, then $20,000, and eventually $20,000 per episode. If you continue with the show, it averages out to $50,000 an episode.

In addition to a salary of about $110,000, Bones revealed he earned nearly $400,000 from the show.

ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.

I’ve been following the show for ages, and one thing that’s always been a mystery is how much the professional dancers earn. It’s not really public knowledge, but from what I’ve gathered, it seems like the longer they stay on the show – the further they get with their celebrity partner – the more they make. It’s a nice incentive, I guess!

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

Jenna Johnson explained on the June 2025 episode of the The Morning After podcast, hosted by Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester, that dancers are typically guaranteed work for a specific number of weeks. However, she added that contracts vary and she couldn’t comment on everyone’s situation.

Apparently not.

Professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars, like Jenna Johnson, don’t earn extra money for winning the show’s trophy – now called the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy – but there’s still a good reason to compete until the end. Johnson, who has won with both Olympic skater Adam Rippon (season 26) and The Bachelor‘s Joey Graziadei (season 33), says making it to the finale is a worthwhile goal, beyond just the prestige of winning.

She explained on The Morning After that reaching the finale means you get paid for the entire season, plus a bonus. But winning isn’t about a large cash prize; it’s just a shared trophy with your teammate.

That doesn’t appear to be the case.

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

The pros get little input when it comes to being matched with a celebrity.

On the May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers’ podcast, Hot Smart Rich, Lindsay explained that participants had no choice in who they were paired with. She described it as simply being told, ‘Here’s your partner – now make the relationship work.’

In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.

Jenna explained on The Morning After that the show’s producers deliberately keep the cast a secret to capture genuine reactions from the contestants. People often assume the producers know who will be paired up and are simply keeping it under wraps, but that’s not the case. The producers don’t reveal the cast to the show’s hosts, and they work hard to prevent leaks, wanting everyone to be surprised when they meet their partner for the first time.

As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?

As a lifestyle expert, I can tell you that when we paired celebrities on the show, it wasn’t random! We really considered everything – their height, body type, and, most importantly, their personalities to ensure compatibility. We absolutely avoided putting people together who we thought wouldn’t click – the experience is already intense enough! It’s very different from shows like The Bachelor; creating that level of discomfort for the celebrity, for us as producers, and for the viewers just wouldn’t work. Nobody wants to watch a miserable pairing, and trust me, we learned from a few early mistakes where we didn’t quite get the chemistry right.

Dancing with the Stars requires a huge time commitment. Rylee Arnold, who danced with Stephen Nedoroscik in season 33, explained on the Lightweights Podcast with Joe Vulpis that rehearsals typically last four hours – either from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., or 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. But the work doesn’t end there; she often spends additional time with producers, perfecting choreography, or studying dance routines. Rylee says it takes over her whole life, but she loves it and finds it incredibly rewarding. The schedule is relentless, with shows on Tuesdays and rehearsals from Wednesday to Sunday. Mondays are dedicated to camera blocking before starting the cycle again with another show on Tuesday.

Emma Slater and Britt Stewart confirmed in a September 2025 Instagram video that they were mostly on board, but it involved working with the show’s producers.

If you think the quickstep dance is fast-paced, you should see how quickly the costume department works! Costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner explained to TV Insider that they collaborate with set, lighting, and dance teams to create a unique story for each dancer’s outfit. Then, they have just five days – often only half a day per costume, before even adding rhinestones – to make everything. The department employs around 20 people, plus a separate tailoring team, making it a large operation.

Steven Norman Lee, another costume designer, revealed that dancers often don’t try on their costumes until just hours before the show. While some basic pieces might be reused for male dancers, most outfits are custom-made each week.

As Gschwendtner added, they do reuse items for group performances or promotional shoots, but never for the competition itself. The goal is to keep everything fresh and new each week to maintain visual interest.

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2025-11-26 02:17