Dancing with the Stars: Athletes finale had fans fuming, and it was not because Adam Rippon won
Olympic skater Adam Rippon and his partner Jenna Johnson won Dancing with the Stars: Athletes after a string of high scoring and well-done performances. Rippon and Johnson had been front-runners throughout the competition and the win only cemented their victory.
The pair absolutely nailed their jazz routine to 'Anything You Can Do' from Annie Get Your Gun which got a perfect score from the three judges and a standing ovation. Their next performance to DJ Kass’ 'Scooby-Doo Pa Pa' confused the panel but Rippon and Johnson managed to land a solid 28 out of 30.
Rippon beat his fellow competitors Josh Norman and Tonya Harding and emerged triumphant but fans could not help but contain their disappointment with the lackluster special season. The season special did not include the ballroom dancing show's usual glitz and glam and fans felt cheated.
Many of the viewers hated the fact that the schedule was shortened from the usual 10-week season to just four weeks. ABC had planned to reduce the duration of the competition in any case but when the finale was shortened from two hours to one, fans could not help but react angrily.
The finale episode of DWTS ran into the American Idol finale directly afterward. Many of the DWTS fans wanted more time to be able to cast their vote and the five-minute time frame was seen as inadequate.
Viewers and fans were left feeling baffled when the show did not specifically call out who took second and third place and instead declared Harding and Farber and Norman and Sharna Burgess all runner-ups. As reported by ET, a source close to the DWTS production team shared that they ran out of time and could not afford to run into the American Idol season finale.
A lot of people were very upset that Sharna Burgess was robbed of a trophy despite an astonishing 10 seasons on the show and a number of very close finishes.
DWTS viewers will be relieved to know that the show will return in the fall with its usual run of episodes on Monday nights. Dancing with the Stars Juniors is also set to begin very soon.