Alfonso Ribeiro has rejected claims that Dancing With the Stars is rigged after former contestant Alexa PenaVega questioned how public votes are counted.
Ribeiro, who won season 19 of the ABC ballroom competition before becoming host, responded after PenaVega recalled an exchange with social media personality Hayes Grier during season 21 in 2015.
Speaking on the October 22 episode of the LexLos podcast, which she co-hosts with her husband Carlos PenaVega, the Spy Kids actress said Grier questioned the voting after landing in the bottom three.
"Hayes is only like 15 years old, he's the sweetest kid," PenaVega said. "He's back there with us. And I just remember all of us, like one night after being in the bottom and he's just like, 'Man, you know what? I think this show is rigged. I have more votes than anybody.'"
Grier was a popular online figure during season 21, and PenaVega shared his suspicion at the time. "I'm like, 'You know, I know you have more votes than anybody here,'" she recalled thinking, "'because of the millions and millions of followers. 100 percent, it's so easy for them to send in a little text.'"
After a video clip of her remarks was shared on social media, Ribeiro rejected the idea that viewer ballots are disregarded. "No chance," he commented on TikTok. "We want everyone who's popular to stay on. It's basic logic."
PenaVega replied to Ribeiro that the shared clip lacked full context. "The clip picks up mid-story," she wrote back. "Watch the whole clip and episode. I'm telling a story about sweet Hayes."
On the podcast, PenaVega explained that while viewer voting counts, television production requirements also influence results. "This is what I always tell people, I think the votes matter, I do, but the show's also produced," she said. "It even tells you a disclaimer, like the producers get to choose at the end of the day who wins. All of it goes into account."
PenaVega added: "The people like texting in and voting, that matters. The judges, what they say, that matters. But also, they know their demographic. They know the story they want to tell."
Claims of vote manipulation on the long-running show have surfaced before. In May 2025, Ryan O'Dowd, the president of unscripted television at BBC Studios and an executive producer on Dancing With the Stars, told Deadline that the series has never tampered with audience voting.
"The show really needs to be credible," O'Dowd said. "It needs to allow the viewers to have a voice and to really be the voice of who deserves to win. So, we have never, nor would we ever want to manipulate that in any way."
Celebrity salaries and earnings
The controversy highlights long-standing questions about the show's inner workings, including how much celebrity contestants are paid. In 2019, Variety reported that contestants earn $125,000 for rehearsals and their first two weeks on air. The report cited sources stating that contestants earn more money each week they stay on the show, up to a maximum of $295,000.
Radio personality Bobby Bones revealed that his payout exceeded those figures when he won season 27 with professional partner Sharna Burgess in 2018. Speaking on Jason Tartick's Trading Secrets podcast in September 2025, Bones detailed the tiered fee structure.
"That show pays OK," Bones said. "Like, first episode, no money. Second episode, $10,000. I think it's like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. It ends up being $50,000 an episode if you last."
With a base salary of around $110,000 included, Bones said: "I ended up making close to $400,000 from that show." ABC has not publicly confirmed contestant salary figures.
Professional dancer pay and contracts
Salaries for professional dancers are also kept private, though payments increase the longer a pro remains in the contest. Performers also receive contractual guarantees even if eliminated early.
"You're guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks," professional dancer Jenna Johnson said on Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester's podcast The Morning After in June 2025. "I think there's different contracts though. I can't speak for everybody."
Winning the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy does not provide an extra prize purse for the professionals. Johnson won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon and season 33 with Joey Graziadei of The Bachelor.
"If you make it all the way to the end, you're getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale," Johnson explained. "If you win, it's not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You're just getting a cute trophy together."
Members of the dance troupe receive far less compensation. On a 2022 episode of Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold said her salary was cut "more than in half" after producers demoted her from a professional partner to the troupe.
Pairing decisions and rehearsal schedules
Professional dancers also have no say over which celebrity they are matched with each season. "You get no say," Arnold said on Maggie Sellers' Hot Smart Rich podcast in May 2025. "It's very much just, 'Here's your partner. Make it work.'"
Johnson noted on The Morning After that pairings are kept secret from the dancers until the live reveal. "They really want to keep it a secret until you meet them live," Johnson said. "They want that genuine reaction. So I think people always think we know who we have and we're keeping it a secret. Absolutely not. They do not tell us. They really don't even want us to know the cast. It gets leaked a lot, but they want it very hush-hush until you walk in and meet your partner."
Former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015 that pairings depend on physical compatibility and personality match. "It's based on height, build and personality and compatibility," Wade said. "We don't pair people who aren't going to get on. It's too intense. It's not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn't do that. That would just be miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don't want to see two people who don't like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn't get on so well."
Once paired, contestants undergo grueling training. Pro dancer Rylee Arnold, partnered with Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik in season 33, outlined the daily schedule on the Lightweights Podcast With Joe Vulpis in September 2024.
"Every day we have four-hour rehearsals," Arnold said. "It's either 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m." In addition to rehearsals, dancers meet creative teams and study footage. "Literally my whole life is devoted to it," she said, "but it's my passion and it's what I love. So, it makes me so happy."
Arnold added that the week offers no days off: "We have our show day on Tuesday and then it's Wednesday to Sunday, straight rehearsals. And then Monday we have camera blocking and then Tuesday's show day again."
Song choices and costume production
Professionals receive considerable freedom when selecting weekly dance music. In a September 2025 Instagram video, dancers Emma Slater and Britt Stewart said song selection is "mostly yes," while noting that choices are made in "a collaboration with producers."
The costume department operates on equally demanding timelines. Costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner told TV Insider in 2017: "We meet with the set and lighting designers, dancers and talent and create a story [for each pair]. Then we sketch out ideas. We have five days, max, to make all the outfits. That's half a day per costume, not including all the rhinestones. The fitting and trimming we do later. We have about 20 people in our department and then we have a separate tailor shop. It's a big enterprise."
Costume designer Steven Norman Lee revealed that competitors often try on their outfits just hours before the live broadcast begins. While trousers are sometimes reused for male dancers, competition garments are custom made each week. As Gschwendtner added: "We do reuse things for group numbers or promo shoots, but not for the competition. We don't reuse things unless there's a specific reason to do so. We try to keep everybody fresh and new in something different every week, so it stays interesting."
