What To Know
- Danielle Fishel believes Dancing With the Stars judges tend to be harder on female contestants than male celebrities.
- Fishel questioned guest judge Shirley Ballas giving Tyler Cameron a 5 while scoring Julia Stiles and Tatyana Ali a 4.
- Fishel also said audiences unfairly boo female judges for criticism similar to remarks made by male judges.
After competing on Dancing With the Stars in Season 34 and watching many other installments of the ABC dancing competition, Danielle Fishel thinks gender bias might be at play in the ballroom.
The Boy Meets World alum shared those thoughts in the October 28 edition of her podcast’s “Ballroom Breakdown” series. With her guest, former DWTS pro Kym Johnson Herjavec, Fishel weighed in on the “Horror Movie Night” of the reality competition’s 35th season. During that episode, guest judge Shirley Ballas gave a score of 5 to Tyler Cameron’s Viennese waltz while giving 4s to Julia Stiles’ Argentine tango and Tatyana Ali’s paso doble.
“I was surprised that Shirley did give [Cameron] a five because I thought the girls were better than that,” Johnson said on the podcast.
And Fishel agreed 100 percent. “That’s exactly how I feel, too,” she said. “I also thought that a 5 was generous when she had given Tatyana and Julia a 4. I thought there’s no way that this dance was better than what we had seen. And so, if you were going to give the ladies 4s, I feel like this was worthy of a 4 as well. By the way, I don’t think either of — any of — those dances were worthy of 4s!”
She went on: “I do believe that the judges, all of them, have a tendency to be harder on the women than they are on the male celebs. That’s just how I feel. It could be wrong. But, in my opinion, I think sometimes the men get a pass that the women don’t get.”
But Fishel said DWTS audience members are guilty of being harder on the female judges, too.
“The men get away with being able to give a constructive criticism here or there, whereas the women judges, Carrie Ann [Inaba] and the guest judges, they get booed. And like, I’m like, hello? Bruno [Tonioli] will absolutely sometimes say the same exact thing that Carrie Ann says. No one boos Bruno, but they all boo Carrie Ann. So in general, I think we see a little bit of unfairness with how women are treated in multiple different ways on the show.”
As Entertainment Weekly points out, Inaba previously admitted to Variety that the suspicion among fans that she’s harder on female contestants is “partly true.”
“Because I support women so much, I let them know what I see, because they are working so hard, I always feel it’s my responsibility if I sense somebody hasn’t given it their all, because I don’t want them to walk away with regret,” the judge explained at the time. “This is how I speak with my girlfriends — very blunt and to the point, because I know they want the information. I think there is some truth to what they’re saying, but it’s not exactly what they’re saying.”
Dancing With the Stars, Season 35, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+
