Dancing With the Stars Debuts First Grammy Night With 4 Live Performances

Q: What hidden voting dynamic caused the night's biggest upset despite near-perfect scores on the dance floor?

The upset was driven by “Dancing With the Stars’” ranking-based 50/50 voting system, not raw judges’ totals alone. Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy finished tied for the second-highest score of the night with 30 after winning their dance-off, which made their elimination look shocking on the surface. But the show does not simply add scores to votes. Instead, couples receive ranking points from the judges’ leaderboard and a separate set of ranking points from viewer votes. Those two rankings are combined, and the lowest overall pair is eliminated. In a tie, the couple with fewer viewer votes goes home. That means a technically strong pair can still lose if their audience support is weaker than competitors with lower scores but stronger fan turnout. Several reports and fan reactions after Grammy Night pointed to exactly that dynamic with Dewan: high marks from judges, but not enough viewer momentum. A second hidden factor may have made that worse. Voting was only open during the live East/Central broadcast window, and some viewers reported problems sending text votes during the episode. West Coast viewers also had to vote before their local airing ended, which has long been a quirk of the show. While there is no official evidence that technical issues changed the outcome, the combination of limited live voting and the ranking system helps explain how one of the night’s top-scoring couples was eliminated.

Q: Did the new format secretly seal the fate of a fan-favorite couple right before the semifinals?

Probably yes—the new Dance-Off format appears to have helped create the conditions for Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy’s surprise elimination, even if it was not the sole cause. On Grammy Night, Jenna and Val were among the strongest couples. They scored 28 out of 30 for their Janet Jackson-inspired jazz routine, then won their Dance-Off against Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik for two bonus points, bringing them to 30. That left them tied for second on the final leaderboard, behind only Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson, who had immunity and finished with 31. Despite that high placement, Jenna and Val were eliminated because “Dancing With the Stars” combines judges’ scores with viewer votes. That means a strong judges’ finish does not guarantee safety if audience support is weaker than expected. The format likely mattered in two ways. Harry and Jenna’s immunity removed a top contender from the Dance-Offs, reshaping matchups and point distribution. At the same time, the head-to-head battles gave extra points to Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov, Jenna and Val, and Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas, compressing the leaderboard and making viewer votes even more decisive. So the format did not automatically send Jenna and Val home, but it likely increased the volatility right before the semifinals. Their exit was widely seen as one of the season’s biggest shocks precisely because they performed so well yet still fell short once the public vote was factored in.

3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Nov 10

ABC airs Dancing With the Stars' first Grammy Night on Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, with Brandy, Monica, Maren Morris and Sheryl Crow performing live.
Seven couples dance to Grammy-nominated songs, including tango, jazz, salsa and paso doble routines built around hits such as "Boom Boom Pow," "Crazy in Love" and "Die with A Smile."
Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson enter the dance-offs with immunity, while the other six couples face three head-to-head matchups tied to live performances of "The Boy Is Mine," "The Middle" and "All I Wanna Do."
The themed episode streams live on ABC distributors including DirecTV, Fubo, Sling and Hulu + Live TV, and is simulcast on Disney+ before next-day availability on Hulu.