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Alexa PenaVega and Carlos PenaVega recently stirred up conversation by reflecting on their time competing on Dancing With the Stars. The married pair, who appeared on Season 21 in 2015, shared their experiences and revealed some behind-the-scenes insights.
Alexa remembered fellow Season 21 contestant Hayes Grier voicing his suspicion backstage: “I think this show is rigged.” She noted that despite his millions of social media followers who could have been voting for him, he was still the sixth person eliminated. “I think the votes matter, I do, but the show is also produced,” Alexa remarked, suggesting that eliminations might involve more than what viewers are led to believe.
When a clip from the podcast was shared on Alexa's TikTok, host Alfonso Ribeiro quickly dismissed the speculation. “No chance. We want everyone who's popular to stay on. It's basic logic,” he commented. During the full episode, Alexa also pointed out that Season 21 winner Bindi Irwin had a compelling personal story, implying that producers might have kept her on longer because of it.
Carlos asserted that the show knows who will be eliminated before each episode because the eliminated couple is booked on a flight to New York for press immediately after the live show. In their season, the eliminated pair had to appear on The View the next day, according to the podcast hosts. “Somebody knew somebody at The View, and Mark [Ballas] knew we were getting eliminated. Mark knew,” Alexa claimed. “He already knew.” Carlos explained to listeners: “You guys are getting kicked off, and obviously they have to book tickets. They let The View know — this is the couple that's coming. Mark knew somebody at The View. The View let him know, ‘Hey, listen, your name is on the list for tomorrow.’ He knew it was you guys going home.”
This isn't the first time a former contestant has alleged the show is rigged. Season 18's Sean Avery claimed he was eliminated second due to a disagreement with a producer, not because of his scores or viewer votes. “I was upset at the package that they had brought in the week previous, and it was a very tacky attempt to show me as the bad boy of DWTS,” Avery said. “And I think in reality TV or some sort of competition, if you have a disagreement with the producers, then generally that seals your fate quite early.”
Kyle Massey, the runner-up of Season 11 behind Jennifer Grey, appeared on Cheryl Burke's podcast in 2024 and recalled an incident from the finale. “In my season, you know, one of the other contestants (he later clarified it was Grey) had a mishap in the finale,” he said. “And because my mom lives on the East Coast, and the East Coast live is actually live, and then the West Coast is a recording of that live that's edited. So the East Coast, the mishap was there, and then on West Coast, it was a clean performance. It was edited out, perfect 10s.” He clarified that the mishap was a misstep “like when you trip, but you don't actually fall.” Massey alleged that it was completely edited out when the episode aired on the West Coast.
Burke's ex-husband, Matthew Lawrence, claimed on his own podcast that he witnessed the show being rigged while spending time on set with the former pro. His brother Joey Lawrence, who finished third on Season 3, admitted, “I feel that there was always a lot of debate as to how much finagling was going on behind the scenes. You know, whether the audience vote and the judges' votes, then the producers. I mean, there was certainly a scenario there that played out.”
In 2025, executive producer Ryan O'Dowd vehemently denied the speculation, telling Deadline, “We take that very seriously. We have never, nor would we ever, do anything to manipulate the votes. The show really needs to be credible. It needs to allow the viewers to have a voice and to really be the voice of who deserves to win. So we have never, nor would we ever, want to manipulate that in any way.”
Originally reported by yardbarker.