Peta Murgatroyd, a former pro on Dancing With the Stars, isn’t pleased with how the current dance competition is scored.
Murgatroyd, 39, stated on the Friday, October 24, edition of her “Penthouse With Peta” podcast while discussing the current season 34, “For me, a nine is like, you’re almost at perfection—and perfection for a celebrity.” “That’s why the scoring system feels so difficult and wrong to me.”
She continued, “Like, we should begin at twos and threes, but a nine [means] you’re almost perfect. I don’t believe some of the people receiving nines merit them.” (For the record, Master P received twos for his now-disastrous paso doble back in season 2.)
While Murgatroyd didn’t mention anyone who didn’t deserve their high scores, the judges—Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, Bruno Tonoili, and guest Jon M. Chu—gave out multiple nines to performers like Whitney Leavitt, Jordan Chiles, and Alix Earle on Tuesday, October 21, during Wicked Night.
The judges had maintained scores of six and seven at the start of the season.
Hough, 40, clarified during the season premiere last month, “Just be aware that the scoring tonight may be a little lower than you’re expecting because there’s still a ways to go.” “This is a marathon. We want to allow you all to develop.”
Julianne Hough, Derek’s sister and the host of DWTS, valued the action.
Julianne, 37, remarked on the show’s companion podcast at the time, “I believe that over the years, we’ve done a lot of fusions of proper technical ballroom and Latin dances that have become these hybrid dances.” “I really liked how Bruno and Derek lowered the scores a little bit because you want to be able to witness people’s progress and provide them with the proper criticism so they can learn and grow.”
She continued, “He would truly be discussing the fundamentals, and I believe there was a lot of hybrid dancing [on Tuesday], which I understand because we are in this new age of TikTok and playful fun, which is entertaining. But Dancing With the Stars is so incredible for this reason: it is technical, a distinct genre, and challenging to master.”
In subsequent weeks, former DWTS pros such as Kym Johnson-Herjavec and Cheryl Burke have served as guest judges. (Burke, 41, will be present on Halloween Night the following week.)
“She’s not going in hard,” Burke exclusively informed Us Weekly on Thursday, October 23, defending Inaba’s feedback that caused widespread fan outrage. “But then when the judges are all full of compliments, [people] get mad at that too. This is also the beauty of the show, like, everyone has the right to their own opinion, but don’t attack anybody.”
She went on, “If you’re opinionated and happen to be a woman, there’s a little bit of that, right? Because I’m pretty sure every judge has said the same thing at some point, but the reaction to them, to them as individuals, is very different.”
Dancing With the Stars is broadcast on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
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