Producers of Dancing with the Stars are opening up about controversial casting decisions over the years, like Sean Spicer (Season 28), Carole Baskin (Season 29), and Adrian Peterson (Season 32), among many more.
Speaking to reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Saturday, EP Deena Katz said “clickbait” casting is something that has to be done.
“Unfortunately, in this day and age, have to do a little bit of that clickbait wow that gets people there,” Katz said. “But the hope is that all of us are great storytellers. And at the end of the day, we’re all telling really great stories in all different ways on this panel.”
Katz noted that during casting of the reality competition, “it’s really important every single season to bring new people in that audience members may not know.”
“You know, our feeling is if you have people when you announce a cast, there’s a couple of people that everybody knows who they are,” Katz continued. “But then if you have someone like Harry Jowsey, that my daughter and her friends know, and, you know, and Charity from The Bachelor, that maybe my dad doesn’t know, our hope is you start watching the show because of some people, but you end up staying in the show because you fall in love with others.”
Spicer, the former White House Press Secretary, joined the show after he left his job during the Donald Trump administration. The decision to Spicer’s casting was controversial, and it became a running gag when George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives; many joked he would receive an offer to compete on DWTS.
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