Dancing with the Stars boss explains big format change in latest season
Dancing with the Stars spoilers follow.
Dancing with the Stars boss Deena Katz has explained why the controversial judges' save mechanic was removed for season 32.
The iconic dance reality TV show recently crowned Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's Xochitl Gomez and pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy as champions – without the use of the judges’ save.
The format was introduced in season 28 and allowed the show's panel – Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and the late Len Goodman – to override the public vote and decide which couple would leave the competition, before it was removed at the beginning of season 32.
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Speaking to TVLine at Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, the show's executive producer Deena Katz explained that the manual override was lessening the impact of the public vote.
"I think it should be about America," Katz said.
"And at the end of the day, the judges’ save sometimes isn’t what America wanted. And [eliminations are based on] half the judges and half America voting, and so that’s kind of the reason we did it."
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Gomez beat four other couples in the US version of Strictly Come Dancing's final, with singer Jason Mraz finishing in second. Ariana Madix, Charity Lawson and Alyson Hannigan finished in third, fourth and fifth places respectively.
Following her win, Gomez told Entertainment Tonight: “Each week, we've had so much fun and every time that we've had a great dance, and we felt great about it, we had this great feeling. And that's the same feeling that we're having here – but times, like, 10!”
Dancing with the Stars airs on Tuesday nights on ABC in the US, where it also streams on Disney+.
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