ARTS COMMENTARY: “Dancing With The Stars” guest judge confuses dance competition for a beauty pageant

Photo courtesy of Serecki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

“Dancing With The Stars” guest judge Gene Simmons is called out for his rude remarks.

“Dancing With The Stars” is a popular show where celebrities are paired with professionally trained dancers and train to compete in ballroom numbers weekly. The celebrities try to dance to the best of their abilities with no prior ballroom dance knowledge and are guided by their partners in order to prevent getting voted off. On Oct. 11, Gene Simmons, the well known vocalist and bass player for the rock band “Kiss,” was brought in as a guest judge on season 33 to help score the couples. However, Simmons quickly started receiving backlash after the comments he made towards some of the contestants.

In honor of the rock and roll themed dances, Gene Simmons was invited to be a guest judge despite his lack of a dance background. The panel of experienced judges, Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli give professional advice and make comments to the celebrities on their performances so they can improve their dance technique, enhance their expressions and bring emotion to the dance floor.

While Simmons gave praise to many of the dancers, he treated the episode like it was a beauty pageant. Right off the bat, Simmons only commented on the physical appearance of two time Super Bowl winner, Danny Amendola, rather than his actual performance. Simmons focused mainly on the beauty of Amendola’s dance partner, Witney Carson.

“This is a brand new experience for me and it’s difficult to look at you and to figure out which one is more hot, hot, hot,” Simmons said. “You’re right next to somebody, one of the most beautiful women on the planet.”

The next contestant was singer and actress Chandler Kinney and her partner Brandon Armstrong. Kinney’s dancing has exceeded the judges’ expectations every week, as Kinney stays consistent at the top of the leader board. Instead of applauding Kinney’s impressive and fast jive, Simmons instead commented on the movement of Kinney’s body.

“Chandler, you’ve fogged up my glasses,” Simmons said “I don’t know what to tell you. You move me, not just with your gyrations and so on, but your beautiful face.”

Not only was Simmons rarely sharing his opinion of the actual performances, he scored the contestants unrealistically. By over scoring some and underscoring others, Simmons was inconsistent and unfair in his judging.

Simmons gave Brooks Nader, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, her first ten of the season. For Nader, her dancing has improved gradually, but a high score of ten is rare and hard to gain early in the season. TV personality Phaedra Parks received a five in scoring from Simmons while the other panel of judges gave Parks a high of 7, demonstrating his inclination to vote based on the beauty standard he chooses to see.

In contrast to the hate Simmons was receiving for his terrible scoring and comments, Simmons defended everything he said wholeheartedly. Finding no fault, he was content with the experience he had. “I stand by every word I said,” Simmons told the Daily Mail. “I had a great time. The contestants were great. The show was great. Watch the show.”