Derek Hough Weighs In On Confusing ‘DWTS’ Tiebreaker Rule

Derek Hough from Instagram

Many Dancing With The Stars fans are already really annoyed with the tie-breaking vote rule this year. This year there are four judges, which means a 2/2 split is possible. And when that happens, Len Goodman’s vote as head judge serves as the tiebreaker. In other words, Len gets two votes when the judges are split. Many fans find the rule really confusing, even judge Derek Hough.

Derek Hough believes the rule is confusing but fair

We’ve seen the “tiebreaking” vote come into play a few different times this season. We first saw it when judges chose to save Kenya Moore and Brandon Armstrong over Matt James and Lindsay Arnold. And people were really confused.

“I still don’t understand it, and I’ve said this to producers. I was like, ‘Guys, we gotta reword this thing because the tie doesn’t make sense,’” the 36-year-old judge told Us Weekly. “So basically, this is kind of the way I’m explaining it: Essentially, Len [Goodman] has two votes, that’s it? Len has the weight of two votes. I wish we just said it like that because that makes so much more sense.”

Many fans don’t believe it’s fair that Len gets two votes, but Derek doesn’t have a problem with that aspect.

“He’s the head judge,” the six-time Mirrorball Trophy winner went on to say. “There’s no show that exists where the original judges from season 1 [are still there in] season 30. It’s pretty impressive. It’s pretty remarkable.”

Other DWTS pros chime in on the tiebreaker rule

Derek Hough definitely isn’t the only castmate to have an opinion. Several other pro dancers shared their views with PUBLICATION.

Len’s decision to save Kenya and Brandon over Lindsay and Matt was definitely unpopular. However, many fans were completely up in arms after he chose to save Olivia Jade and Val Chmerkovskiy over Mel C and Gleb Savchenko. Many fans believe Mel C would make it to the finale this year.

Mel C/Instagram

“I think what formula we have now definitely works,” reigning champ Artem Chigvintsev told Us Weekly. “Is there another formula that I think would maybe work better and people will feel better about it? Yes, I do think there is an option of, let’s say, there’s a bottom two. If the judges can’t decide who to send home, then it should be going into the voting system. Who got the most votes? … Let’s break it down to who got the most votes because then it’s fair square. Then it gets to the point, you can’t be mad at this, because it is decided then. The audience becomes a fifth judge in a sense.”

“I actually don’t mind it,” Cheryl Burke told Us. “Do I think that it’s confusing this season? Maybe a little bit because there are four judges, but I didn’t realize until recently that Len’s vote is considered as two votes. I don’t know if that was explained or not.”

How do you feel about the tiebreaker vote? Do you agree with Derek Hough? Be sure to let us know your feelings in the comments. We’re eager to see what you have to say.

Nikole Behrens
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