*DWTS Season 9: Spoilers and Speculation*

[sdl]

Peacheater posted something a while back that puzzled me. He said that he was told by an entertainment lawyer in LA that a couple of participants over the past 2 seasons had received extra inducements to gain their participation.
There was widespread speculation about who was important enough to get the preferential treatment, but the discussion as I recall focused only on money.
The reason this bothered me is that the show has long had a "most favored nations" policy with respect to participants, ie nobody gets paid more than anyone else. This prevents a bidding war, but also probably explains why the talent is pretty much all at about the same mediocre level.
So I raised the issue with someone who knows virtually everything about the contracting for this show. The answer caught me by surprise at first, but makes sense based on what we have come to learn about reality TV.
I was told, and please take this only for what you think it's worth, that the contracts are all pretty much the same - $125,000 or whatever to show up with bonuses kicking in the longer somebody lasts, up to around $300,000.
The "enticement" is that certain bigger stars are guaranteed that they will not be eliminated before a certain point. In other words, they are spared humiliation and guaranteed a certain amount of bonus money if they will agree to do it. This is not a part of their standard contract, but that's their deal. Very few people know about it, and it is rarely offered. Not available to the Macy's or Debi's.
I believe this for 3 reasons -
First, the person who told me has been proven countless times to be reliable. Doesn't always tell me what I want but never lies to me.
Second, The Bachelor has in recent years secured the services of the more desirable contestants by guaranteeing that they would make it at least a certain number of episodes. That has been well documented.
Finally, I'm a numbers freak and I've been really troubled lately that I couldn't generate any formula that would explain Chuck still being there - but Chuck is a huge star in a key demographic (18-45 males) and someone the producers wanted around a little longer. Evidence his encore dance last night - never seen anyone so bad asked to repeat it on results night. Very strange.
Also, do you think Chuck came on DWTS because he loves the elegance of the ballroom? The clown suits? No, he made a deal.
All of this raises a bigger issue. If the producers can, in their discretion, manipulate the eliminations to a certain point, where does it stop?
Did mega-star and pretty good dancer Shawn Johnson really beat nobody actor but incredible dancer Gilles Marini last season? Or was Shawn guaranteed the win?
All I know is that on the afternoon of last season's final results show, I was told that Gilles had the popular vote. After getting burned on the result, I went nuclear and was told that they "audited" the numbers and Shawn won.
Yes, this is an entertainment, not a reality, show. At least for me, things make a lot more sense now - why you never see the "independent audit firm" or even mention of them, like on Idol.
I believe every word of this post. The show is at least partially rigged.

[karalott]

Since we're on conspiracy theories, I fully believe the Design a Dance was rigged, at least for the celeb part, and it'll probably guarantee a Mark or Derek win again for the pro. No way do I think Sabrina, as sweet as she is, as pretty and as good of a dancer, as shocking and unfair as her elimination was, would win. Not unless people power voted for her. Sabrina's been front and center pretty much every season, but hasn't really been that acknowledged as being in the audience. She's doing backstage reports for the show. Something just doesn't sit right there. I could see Shawn, Kristi, Gilles, potentially Mel B., but I would have been skeptical if anyone else did.

Onto what you're saying sdl, I want to stay in that little fairy land where all is pure and golden and there's no such thing as rigging a show where the prize is a large cash pay out and a mirror ball trophy. I can buy Shawn beating Gilles, especially if it was close. In fact, I can buy every single outcome of every season-except season 7. Brooke winning over Warren has never really sat well with me, and I've always been inclined to think it was rigged more so in Derek's favor than for Brooke's benefit. His sister won back to back, then his BFF, so it would only make sense to complete the circle of glory for the golden children of DWTS. The judges overly praising Brooke, her having one off week, being overlooked for different things. Warren may not have been the best dancer, but he was far more entertaining, he was a huge shock at how well he did, and got a bigger reaction from the audience and critics alike with how well he did. He was leading in pretty much every poll, including the not always reliable Dial Idol by a fairly large margin if I'm thinking correctly. The judges referred to him as the viewers champion. I tend to think that the dance that the judges score only at the end may be an attempt to possible flip the votes in the favor they want. Could that have contributed to that 1% difference between Gilles and Shawn? Maybe I'm still naive, but while I question a lot of things with this show, I don't know that I'll buy it's 100% rigged. Debi going home was a sad surprise, but not a huge one. Chuck still being there I can understand, despite him being the lowest vote getter on vote #1 for the past 2 weeks. Him getting the encore I can't understand, unless the judges felt sorry for him.

I tend to believe if anyone's calling the shots, it's the pros. And of course, that would potentially lead to a celeb being promised to do well. The pros could say they only want a celeb that's well known and a good dancer. Maybe that's why certain pros luck out every season. I know the celebs can request who they want, but I don't know if they automatically get who they want. They might have to do something in order of preferences.

[Andiemywestie]

Peacheater posted something a while back that puzzled me. He said that he was told by an entertainment lawyer in LA that a couple of participants over the past 2 seasons had received extra inducements to gain their participation.
There was widespread speculation about who was important enough to get the preferential treatment, but the discussion as I recall focused only on money.
The reason this bothered me is that the show has long had a "most favored nations" policy with respect to participants, ie nobody gets paid more than anyone else. This prevents a bidding war, but also probably explains why the talent is pretty much all at about the same mediocre level.
So I raised the issue with someone who knows virtually everything about the contracting for this show. The answer caught me by surprise at first, but makes sense based on what we have come to learn about reality TV.
I was told, and please take this only for what you think it's worth, that the contracts are all pretty much the same - $125,000 or whatever to show up with bonuses kicking in the longer somebody lasts, up to around $300,000.
The "enticement" is that certain bigger stars are guaranteed that they will not be eliminated before a certain point. In other words, they are spared humiliation and guaranteed a certain amount of bonus money if they will agree to do it. This is not a part of their standard contract, but that's their deal. Very few people know about it, and it is rarely offered. Not available to the Macy's or Debi's.
I believe this for 3 reasons -
First, the person who told me has been proven countless times to be reliable. Doesn't always tell me what I want but never lies to me.
Second, The Bachelor has in recent years secured the services of the more desirable contestants by guaranteeing that they would make it at least a certain number of episodes. That has been well documented.
Finally, I'm a numbers freak and I've been really troubled lately that I couldn't generate any formula that would explain Chuck still being there - but Chuck is a huge star in a key demographic (18-45 males) and someone the producers wanted around a little longer. Evidence his encore dance last night - never seen anyone so bad asked to repeat it on results night. Very strange.
Also, do you think Chuck came on DWTS because he loves the elegance of the ballroom? The clown suits? No, he made a deal.
All of this raises a bigger issue. If the producers can, in their discretion, manipulate the eliminations to a certain point, where does it stop?
Did mega-star and pretty good dancer Shawn Johnson really beat nobody actor but incredible dancer Gilles Marini last season? Or was Shawn guaranteed the win?
All I know is that on the afternoon of last season's final results show, I was told that Gilles had the popular vote. After getting burned on the result, I went nuclear and was told that they "audited" the numbers and Shawn won.
Yes, this is an entertainment, not a reality, show. At least for me, things make a lot more sense now - why you never see the "independent audit firm" or even mention of them, like on Idol.
I believe every word of this post. The show is at least partially rigged.

Well that explains so much what so many have long suspected. The show can't keep continuing to try to pull the wool over people's eyes forever, and this season tells me just how far the show is willing to go for crass manipulation. Gilles loss did a lot of damage.

[ASassyKat]

Sdl, thanks so much for your information, as always. I've suspected for a while that certain celebs are promised to not be cut quickly. The elimination doesn't always make sense to me, so this is a valid explanation.

I think a lot of us thought that Shawn did not deserve to be the F1 last year when it was clear that Gilles should have taken the F1 position. Melissa and Lil' Kim with both better dancers than Shawn, and as much as I like her I felt she deserved the F4 spot.

I've always known that the producers have final say over the bootee, which is pretty standard on any reality show, but the intel about keeping stars longer than they should be there is news. Not that I'm really all that surprised. I found out quickly that this show is not about the best dancer winning.

[n4692u]

I think I have figured out why Tony Dovolani was in Dallas Thursday. He was there to help Michael Irving and Anna D. with their Balero routine. He said he was going to have lunch with Melissa while he was in Dallas and they did spend some time with each other, but he also tweeted when he got back home "I have a feeling Michael Irving is going to have a good dance, hint hint!" That pretty much told us he helped him out.

I bet he is part of Michael/Anna D's package introducing their dance Monday night. That last tweet of his told us he helped them with their routine. Anna D is so young and a new pro, she might not even know what a Balero is. I had never heard of the Balero or the Lambada (the forbidden dance) and I am certainly looking forward to seeing that performed.

[paridy]

I watched professionals doing each dance online, I have to admit when these dances are done right, they are beautiful to watch.

[Wind Dancer]

Peacheater posted something a while back that puzzled me. He said that he was told by an entertainment lawyer in LA that a couple of participants over the past 2 seasons had received extra inducements to gain their participation.
There was widespread speculation about who was important enough to get the preferential treatment, but the discussion as I recall focused only on money.
The reason this bothered me is that the show has long had a "most favored nations" policy with respect to participants, ie nobody gets paid more than anyone else. This prevents a bidding war, but also probably explains why the talent is pretty much all at about the same mediocre level.
So I raised the issue with someone who knows virtually everything about the contracting for this show. The answer caught me by surprise at first, but makes sense based on what we have come to learn about reality TV.
I was told, and please take this only for what you think it's worth, that the contracts are all pretty much the same - $125,000 or whatever to show up with bonuses kicking in the longer somebody lasts, up to around $300,000.
'

The "enticement" is that certain bigger stars are guaranteed that they will not be eliminated before a certain point. In other words, they are spared humiliation and guaranteed a certain amount of bonus money if they will agree to do it. This is not a part of their standard contract, but that's their deal. Very few people know about it, and it is rarely offered. Not available to the Macy's or Debi's.

I believe this for 3 reasons -
First, the person who told me has been proven countless times to be reliable. Doesn't always tell me what I want but never lies to me.
Second, The Bachelor has in recent years secured the services of the more desirable contestants by guaranteeing that they would make it at least a certain number of episodes. That has been well documented.
Finally, I'm a numbers freak and I've been really troubled lately that I couldn't generate any formula that would explain Chuck still being there - but Chuck is a huge star in a key demographic (18-45 males) and someone the producers wanted around a little longer. Evidence his encore dance last night - never seen anyone so bad asked to repeat it on results night. Very strange.
Also, do you think Chuck came on DWTS because he loves the elegance of the ballroom? The clown suits? No, he made a deal.
All of this raises a bigger issue. If the producers can, in their discretion, manipulate the eliminations to a certain point, where does it stop?
Did mega-star and pretty good dancer Shawn Johnson really beat nobody actor but incredible dancer Gilles Marini last season? Or was Shawn guaranteed the win?
All I know is that on the afternoon of last season's final results show, I was told that Gilles had the popular vote. After getting burned on the result, I went nuclear and was told that they "audited" the numbers and Shawn won.
Yes, this is an entertainment, not a reality, show. At least for me, things make a lot more sense now - why you never see the "independent audit firm" or even mention of them, like on Idol.
I believe every word of this post. The show is at least partially rigged.

SDL--thanks so much for passing along what you heard from that source.

I posted somewhere within the past week or so an article I found on an entertainment news site about how much the pros make for doing DWTS.

It jibes very much with what you've posted. I'll try to find it among all my posts. But don't hold your breath. I post a lot.

Second--don't we already know that ABC ahs some fine print somewhere that they reserve the right to play with the popular vote results?

I seem to remember a discussion about this during the end of last season.


I too feel sad about Gilles' getting the popular vote but not winning--but his legions of fans knew--and know--that he not only won the contest but won many many hearts in the process.

I'm sure Shawn Johnson is a lovely person--but Gilles is one h*ll of a dancer.

He will always be a winner and the winner to me.