Longtime “Dancing With the Stars” cast member Lindsay Arnold is weighing in on how things are looking for the season 33 finale.
“I think what has happened this season — it’s always important, but I think more than ever — the voting is what is making the decision,” Arnold told Us Weekly. “In the past, scores have been a little bit more [weighted]. It’s emphasizing how much [fan] vote[s] matters, and how you’ve gotta get out there,” she added.
“The way that the scoring has been, it’s kind of leaving everything open in the air. And it really does come down to audience vote,” Arnold continued. This has made things “kind of crazy and very unpredictable,” Arnold said. “I genuinely have no idea how the season is gonna end. Which is fun,” she admitted.
Arnold’s younger sister, Rylee Arnold, is in the semi-finals with her partner Stephen Nedoroscik. They’re joined by Witney Carson and Danny Amendola, Brandon Armstrong and Chandler Kinney, Jenna Johnson and Joey Graziadei, and Alan Bersten and Ilona Maher.
Fans Don’t Think Chandler Kinney Will Win Because She Won’t Have Enough Votes
After Arnold’s interview with Us Weekly was published, some fans took to Reddit to react. Many pointed out that Kinney is unlikely to win the Mirrorball Trophy because there are other people on season 33 that are more popular.
“This is why I don’t think Chandler will win if she makes it to the final her fanbase with the rest just won’t match up. If it is down significantly to the fan votes like she says then it could be Ilona who takes it or Joey,” one person wrote.
“I… feel it’s gonna be either Ilona, Joey (never underestimate Bachelor Nation) or possibly Stephen. Chandler and Danny are both really good, but they don’t have the massive fanbases behind them. If it were to go solely off of fan votes, Ilona would probably take it for sure. As it is, I see her placing top 3 based on fan votes alone. Like… Chandler’s unquestionably the best dancer in the competition, but at the end of the day, this is a popularity contest sadly,” someone else said.
“I think Ilona will win in any format. She’d have the most votes from semis and the finale, and she’s already overcome a huge deficit in the judges’ scores the week Jenn went home. It’s hers to lose at this point,” a third comment read.
Lindsay Arnold Previously Talked About the DWTS Season 33 Scoring
Like some fans, Arnold was confused about judges not handing out any 10s until later on in the season. In a video posted on TikTok, the former pro explained her take on why that had been the case.
“Week after week, I find myself just kind of like, ‘Wait, what?’ Week one, we saw some pretty high scores. I was actually at that show and I remember being shocked. … I feel like maybe they wanted to just keep the energy super positive and not have any audience members booing or having it be this big, dramatic, negative thing. So they were being nice and giving higher scores, which I love. I think that’s great,” she said.
“For a lot of the dancing couples who are really, really good, if they already started at a seven or even an eight, there’s not a lot of room to grow from there. And the dancers that started really good, for the most part, are staying really good,” she continued.
“One thing I am a little bit confused by is how we haven’t seen a 10 yet. I feel like because we do have so many good dancers this season, they don’t wanna give out that 10 because then they have nowhere to go,” she added.
