All Dancing with the Stars Winners: Complete Guide, Spinoff Champions, and Voting Rules
By Alexander Ross
The balance of power between the judging panel and the home audience has provoked debate since the inaugural broadcast. The show employs a proportional 50/50 formula. Each couple’s score from the judges is converted into a percentage of the total judges scores awarded that evening. The public votes cast for each couple are converted into a matching percentage of total audience submissions. Adding those two percentages together produces the final ranking.
This proportional math created unexpected turning points. In Season 27, country radio personality Bobby Bones consistently placed near the bottom of the technical leaderboard, yet his passionate listener base flooded the voting lines. Bones won the Mirrorball Trophy over technically proficient finalists Milo Manheim and Evanna Lynch. The outcry pushed producers to institute the "Judges' Save" mechanic in Season 28, granting the expert panel the power to choose which of the bottom two audience-vote vote-getters to send home each week.
With the broadcast shifting to simulcasts across ABC and Disney+, voting rules adjusted to real-time windows. Viewers in all continental time zones cast their ballots via official online portals and SMS shortcodes exclusively during the live performance broadcast. Voting closes during the final commercial block, forcing audiences to vote based on live performances rather than overnight reviews.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
