Biggest ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Scandals

Karina Smirnoff and Mario Lopez may have cha-cha’d up some serious sparks when they partnered up on and off the dance floor in season 3, but things ended poorly two years later when the duo split in June 2008 after rumors of infidelity on his part surfaced. “He pretty much confirmed everything,” the pro hoofer revealed to People of Lopez’s reaction when she confronted him.

Bristol Palin had what many viewers considered to be much too long of a run during season 11. Despite consistently low scores from the judges, the abstinence advocate made it all the way to the top three before finally getting the boot, prompting many viewers to complain that the show was rigged.

A scolding in the ballroom! Head judge Len Goodman gave pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy a piece of his mind after rehearsal footage showed the bad boy of the ballroom smacking partner Brandy’s butt in season 11. “Slapping her on the ass, giving it all this, it’s not the way to [teach], in my opinion,” huffed the judge. Sniped Maks in response, “Sweetie, I’m 30 years old. I’ve been coaching since I was 14. … Do you really think that I’m going to change because somebody calls me out on it? Or that I think I’m doing something wrong?” Brandy said she had no issue with Maks’ methods.

“He slapped me across the face. Hard.” That’s what Hope Solo wrote in her memoir Solo: A Memoir of Hope in 2012 of her season 13 pro partner Maks, who denied the allegation. She also claimed that ABC’s cameras were rolling during the incident, but that the footage somehow disappeared. The Olympic gold medalist also claimed that during the season, the ballroom bad boy told her that there was “some secret memo” that revealed who was getting the boot — in other words, that DWTS was fixed.

Did he do that?! In season 14, Jaleel White reportedly got into a heated argument with pro partner Kym Johnson, and it allegedly got so bad that dancer Mark Ballas and producers had to step in to prevent it from getting physical. When Entertainment Tonight asked the duo about it, Johnson replied, “You know what? Everyone has stressful weeks, good weeks and bad weeks. We probably had more of a stressful week.”

Blindsided, and not by a surprise elimination! An insider revealed that Damian Whitewood, a pro on season 10, was shocked when girlfriend of five years Peta Murgatroyd ran into Maks' arms. “He thought they had a great relationship,” an insider dished to to The National ENQUIRER in 2012. “Then, all of a sudden, she ran off with Maks.” The hoofer confirmed to The ENQUIRER, “I told him, ‘She’s my girlfriend, buddy! What’s going on?!’ He didn’t reply.” Murgatroyd and the bad boy split after 10 months, but reignited their romance in 2014, and married in 2017.

That’s not right! Smirnoff questioned the show’s ethics when the competition brought former pro Julianne Hough back to judge the show in season 19. The problem? Brother Derek Hough was still competing as a pro. “I think that she is wonderful, gorgeous, and talented, but I don’t know if it’s ethical that she is judging while her brother is competing,” Smirnoff told Us Weekly. “Do I think it’s fair? No.”

Tsk tsk, Bruno! Judge Bruno Tonioli, known for his animated and often hilarious critiques, faced serious backlash in season 20 after he made what viewers declared was a sexist insult. Said Tonioli of contestant Charlotte McKinney after the stunning blonde model’s rumba: “You’re never going to win the Nobel prize for quantum physics, but you are easy on the eyes and you produce wonderful shapes.” Backstage, McKinney slammed the comment as “extremely uncalled for.” She also added that “it didn’t make sense. We weren’t talking about smarts!”

Going for the … cuffs? Two protestors stormed the dance floor during season 23 to protest Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte’s participation. The disgraced swimmer was waiting to get his critique from the judges after his first performance when the men rushed the stage. They were tackled by security. Though the show is filmed live, the incident was not caught on camera, but judge Carrie Ann Inaba could be seen yelling, “Excuse me! Off! Off!” After returning from commercial break, the athlete said, “So many feelings are going through my head right now. I’m a little hurt.”

Accusations of rigging weren’t rare for the hit competition. After multiple fan favorites were sent packing in 2015, show insiders ratted to The ENQUIRER that producers were predetermining the ballroom bash’s outcome. The deciding factor? Whether the contestants can join the profitable DWTS tour. “The message between the lines seems to be: If you don’t sign with the tour, you’ll get booted off,” one snitch claimed. “It’s a total conspiracy.”

Adding fuel to the fire! After years of conspiracy theories after low-scoring contestants advanced as fan favorites got the boot (including when Peta and James Maslow were eliminated in season 18), ABC admitted in season 27 that there was a technical glitch in the voting system. Host Tom Bergeron announced ahead of one elimination that none of phone-in votes were counted, and that only the judges’ scores and the online votes were considered. Alpine skier Danelle Umstead was sent packing that night. Demarcus Ware told ET of the snafu later, “We know the scores of the judges, but also, the fans getting involved is a really big part of everything, so people bank on that.”