DWTS Season 14 – A Peek Behind the Scenes
And the result of one man’s trip to DWTS confirms something that we have discussed here on this blog in the not to recent past!! Billy Masters was recently at the show and had the following to say on his Windy City Times Web Site:
And yet, there I was at Dancing with the Stars last week. With several friends on the show, I wanted to be supportive. Plus, I’m on the East Coast for the next few weeks. There’s a good chance that one (or all) of them will be voted off by then! My first surprise of the night was bumping into Chi Chi La Rue and Doug Jeffries at the VIP check-in. (La Rue is friends with Bruno Tonioli.) Before the show starts, the judges and hosts are introduced to the audience. The person who generated the loudest applause was Bruno! Girlfriend knows how to work it.
I’m not accusing anyone of cheating, but I must tell you that the audience is encouraged to cheer more for certain stars than others. For instance, before William Levy’s dance, we were instructed to be up on our feet and really get into his salsa (something I didn’t need prompting for). I don’t recall anyone asking us to get excited about Melissa Gilbert Brinkman Boxleitner.
I love watching how “celebrities” treat fans. Some are great, some try to avoid them, but most fall in between. I am surprised, nay shocked, to say that the most personable participant was Derek Hough. Everyone I’ve shared this information with is surprised—I guess people expect him to be a little aloof and cocky. (They might be thinking of Ryan Seacrest, who I hear has a little … well, never mind.) Derek was lovely to everyone who went up to him. Of course, my beloved Sherri Shepherd is just a girl who can’t say no and was everyone’s best friend by the end of the night. And I was impressed to see that sexy Levy remained remarkably composed and gracious when two girls ran down to the dance floor during a commercial to take a photo with him. Where, oh where, was security?
Gee, I’m so shocked that they were encouraged to get up and be crazy for William – I had no idea that the producers of this show could be so manipulative!!! Yes, that was sarcasm. 
This is where I say, gently…I told you so. 
Wonder what Courtney and Vogue would say about this…
Courtney: Here, let me put on my “fake surprised” face 
Seriously, the fact that people balk at the idea that the audience is somehow “coached” actually makes me balk at them in return – every single person I know that has been to the live taping (and I know several) has commented on how they’re told when to clap, how loud to clap, when to sit down, when to stand up, when to look happy, when to look shocked, etc. My boyfriend actually commented on what a drag it was, as he was exhausted from all the fake enthusiasm by the end of the show. All live audiences are coached to a certain degree, and I would venture a guess that the DWTS audience falls more on the “extremely coached” end of the spectrum. But the question still remains: why push William so hard on the audience?
Vogue: How sad to encourage the audience to applaud more for some celebrities and not others!! What the?? Something is wrong with this picture and what’s more, phoney and unfair! As for Derek, I’m not surprised he is more personable and sweet than some of the other pros. I’ve never understood why some would think he is cocky? When has he ever been cocky on this show? It’s not in his makeup in the least. Yep, Heidi and Court, you told us so!!
Nothing about this surprises me in the least lol thats prob why when you see the miserable faces in the audience , its them sticking two fingers up saying ill bleeding well clap for who i want
thats why i have never ever wanted to go to a taping of any show, being told to breath in and out would kinda p*** me off 
That being said the nicest pro dancer i have met who is lovely is artem chigvintsev, hes a pro mainly on scd but is now doing the vegas thingy and he really is lovely!!
Phoney and Unfair is right!! I second that… BOOOOO!
I was at the live taping where Will Levy performed the salsa and posted a blog on my production company’s official blog about the experience (browneyedgirlproduction@gmail.com). Due to my involvement in the production and performing side of things I looked at it as a well-crafted, well directed show. On that particular taping I found Maks to be one of the friendliest pros and the experience to be positive. It’s just like a sporting event – it’s ultimately up to you to cheer for who you want. They were all wonderful that night. Check my blog out for behind-the-scenes info!
Er, yeah – that’s treading the spam line there Karolina. We generally get paid for advertising on this site. I’ll let it slid this one time, but let’s not make a habit of it. Thanks.
That said – key words being “well crafted”.
I am not surprised on bit that the audience is “coached” to go wild over certain “stars”. I use that term loosely because IMO, William is NOT a star…he was and is an unknown to the majority of the audience. You can “encourage” me to support whoever you want but if I’m not impressed I will not raise the roof for them. This does explain why, on the occasions that the “crowd favorites” get sent packing they all act so surprised. If you are forcing the audience to be loud for them, they are NOT the crowd favorite but YOURS.
I am not suprised that Derek is more personable than others. The only people I know to call him “cocky” and “aloof” are the ones that are jealous of his talent and success and the fact that their favorite was booted off the show. You can tell he is a lovely person by how he teaches hhis “stars”, the way he supports them through the entire process and the concern he shows when they are injured.
I was at the live show 2 weeks ago. Derek, Mark and Katherine all came out to mingle with the crowd before we were brought into the ballroom. They were all very cool and approachable. Gorgeous too! They were hugging, taking pictures and signing photos. I was just happy to get up close to Derek and drink him in LOL.
As for the clapping – you are right on Court. It is exhausting to do all that clapping. I was so into the show but they kept us 45 min after so Tom could tape all his intros. We were encouraged to clap and scream, Tom would say his speal, we would clap again, then silence. Then we would do it again. Kind of a bust way to end it but as a huge fan, it was fun to see the “business” side. We walked up the same black steps to our seats that the couples run up, we peaked in the skybox, saw 20 guys in black roll out the craps table at commercial break only to roll it out next break and roll in a motorcycle. It’s a major deal.
They do try to get the crowd into it. There is a guy pumping the crowd in the outside waiting area, another guy throwing a dance party once inside but I looked at it as engaging the crowd more than forced clapping. When I was there week 2, there were guys encouraging clapping and noise for all the couples. It is so loud that you cannot hear the judges comments. William definitely got the loudest roar out of the crowd but it wasn’t encouraged any differently that week. They must be playing it up now. This blogger is right – Bruno gets as much as William
It’s just not right to have the audience cheer more for some! Makes me feel bad for the ones who don’t get that treatment.
That’s showbiz, I guess.
Thinking Derek would be “aloof & cocky”????? I’ve sure never had that impression. Crazy.
I kind of feel bad for William…. He is being manipulated by both his pro and the workings of the show. William never really had a chance to show America who he really is…
Forgot to add:
But not bad enough to send any votes his way.. I will be not a happy camper if William stays and one of my favorites leave. And actually this whole William thing has turned me off big time.
I always thought Derek was special. I didn’t like this show until I saw him dance. I’m not surprised to hear he’s authentic and friendly. Thanks for the article!
Oooo…Meesh, you just reminded me about your blog. Dude, My job is killer – I need constant reminders these days.
I’m not really surprised at any of these revelations. I am amazed at Tom’s ability to remain so affable after all this hubbub. Doesn’t he do yoga?
OMG, stop the presses!!! The audience is coached??! Unbelievable! (I am now holding up my sarcasm sign
lol)
No worries, Heidi. I know there is more going on than DWTS and Derek LOL! Dude, thanks for posting
One thing about the taping is that half of the DWTS audience is friends and family of the stars or other past or future stars. So, most of those people don’t necessarily listen to the “audience wrangler” who encourages applause. I went to the finale, so it was mostly just a lot of encouragement and less manipulation. That said, the audience does still get to choose to listen or not. I’m sure most of the ladies in the audience appreciated the permission to scream the way they did.
The interesting thing for me was that when I was backstage Mark was actually the most friendly even more than Derek and I was with Derek’s mom. Don’t get me wrong, Derek was kind to us, but just Hollywood friendly. My wife and I felt like Mark was the one that was more than Hollywood friendly.
My favorite back stage though was Tom Bergeron though. He was just whistling as he walked down the hall. Totally in his element.
And that was how many seasons ago, John??
I think Derek has grown up a lot in the past couple years. Until this season, I was thinking Mark had regressed.
I agree PH because those I know who met them said while Mark is friendly, but not genuine. But also isn’t Mark an extrovert and Derek is an introvert? That explains a bit too.
Thanks for the info, Meesh! It is interesting to see and also saw your report on Pdh.
Derek is a classic introvert, from everything I’ve seen. I went to a seminar for work that taught “whole brain” theory – part of that was showing you how to determine if you were a true introvert or extrovert and which parts of your brain were dominant. It was so funny, because all the upper management personnel were in this seminar and we had to put ourselves in a category based on what the definition of introvert and extrovert are and I called myself an introvert. A serious introvert. EVERYONE who works with me on a daily basis was astonished that I would label myself that way, but it’s absolutely true. They were surprised because I can be very outgoing, very chatty and engaging with other people – some would call me the class clown.
Actually, most would…and a smart ass to boot. But the key to being an introvert is not being alone all the time, it’s that you recharge (paraphrasing) from being alone. That’s how you get energy. For me, I do much better in one on one situations or very small groups. When there are too many people I tend to shut down a bit. I recognize a lot of the same characteristics in Derek – and when he says he’s an introvert and people are shocked, I can relate. 
Sorry if this is a silly question, but how much of this audience coaching are the celebrities/pros exposed to? For example, was Melissa aware that the audience was told to cheer and stand for William and not so much for her? Sorry again if this is a silly question — I am just curious.
Isn’t William in a Disney movie that is releasing soon? Of course they are going to encourage the crowd to support him – and it plays well on TV to get the at home audience to think he is ‘special’ as he really isn’t known. And I would think that the crowd would be loud for Maks, even if they aren’t encouraged…
I’m so jealous of those who have gone to a live taping. I live about 2 miles from the studio, still haven’t had a chance to go…
It’s a standard operating procedure in studio audiences, May, so most of them should be aware that it happens. Now, I doubt very much that any of the celebs are noticing the audience wrangler and what he’s doing. It seems like they would be a bit sheltered. Hard to say. I would also guess that a good bit of them are a bit jaded and wouldn’t be surprised by it at all. Except maybe Roshon.
Thanks for clearing that up for me, Heidi – good to know!
I have a funny observation, since we are talking about behind-the-scenes and DWTS “ettiquete”. After Roshon and Chelsea were announced that they were in jeopordy during Tuesday’s results show, the camera goes back to Tom. While Tom is talking, you can see Roshon’s dad in the background looking directly at the camera. Its so funny because cuz his face has a look of “Why is my son in jeapordy???!!”
I think someone needs to find the video of this moment and put it the GEMs section. Watch closely cuz you might miss it.
@SueB – Thats the only thing that I can think of as far as William goes. There has to be some sort of payback for ABC/Disney to promote this guy so heavily.
I can see it know…. Afterhours the execs all put on their *brass knuckles*…. And have a nice chat with the judges and the crew….
They’ve actually already gotten some payback – William is on the cover of People Magazine. You know how good it is for DWTS to have someone on that cover?? So, they see William as hot as do some of their audience. They pimp the hell out of him and drool over him and promote him….he gets the cover of a major magazine. Voila!!! Free publicity for the show. Ta DA!!
They sure can’t do that for their equally hot pro dancers cuz if they started getting major magazine covers they might expect to be paid more!!
@Heidi – I still don’t see the appeal. He could be voted off this Tuesday, and I could care less. Oh well, to each his own, I guess.
I am one of the few on here that actually likes William. I like his attitude – I like his dancing (maybe that is due to Cheryl’s choreo, but whatever, I enjoy watching him). I wish TPTB would let the audience get to know William the person, rather than push beefcake on us. It is a bit disingenuous to push the studio audience to react and then hear CAI gush how William “uplifts the room…they go crazy for you”, when it is at least partially staged. WTF? And then with Cheryl acting like a cougar on a bender, I feel bad for the guy. I think he is a decent dancer, he seems like a good guy, and I don’t see the need for the manipulation that’s going on here.
@Laurie – I think that’s quite possibly the most articulate & mature defense of William by a fan we’ve seen so far
Plus I just love the “cougar on a bender” desciption of Cheryl 
I agree that the biggest problem I have re: William is not William itself – it’s how everyone around him seems to be exploiting him and jamming him down our throats as a sex object. I realize that the bulk of this is not William’s fault, but as a voter, I think it’s hard to disregard the blatant propaganda surrounding him and vote for him because he’s a “nice guy”, as one commenter yesterday told me I should do. And I’m so glad you aren’t yet another William fan telling us we’re a bunch of “haters” for complaining about the hype 
Why, thank you!
@Laurie – that was so well said. Thank you!
I never heard of William Levy before this season so had no idea what to expect. At first the pimpage gave me a bad impression of him. Then it became obvious that the problem was the show and his pro, not William. Now that I’ve seen glimpses of what I think is his real personality, I think the guy’s alright and I think he’s an OK dancer. He would be better at it if Cheryl would give him real choreo and spend time teaching it to him and working on his technique. If I didn’t have others I like better, I would consider voting for him in spite of the unnecessary pimping and appalling sexploitation. I refuse to let TPTB manipulate me either way — to vote for someone or turn me off from voting for someone.
From my perspective this seems pretty exaggerated. The audience wranglers are always there to pump people up and tell you to scream and clap when the judges are introduced, and always after you return from commercial – which yeah, you can’t hear anything Tom is saying. They encourage you to clap and cheer for your favorites and to clap and cheer when the judges give good scores and boo them when they give bad scores. I’ve never heard them telling anyone to cheer for one specific person, although I can imagine them saying “if you think William Levy is hot, go crazy for him when he comes in” or something like that.
I would not put DWTS on the “extremely coached” end of the spectrum any more than other tapings I’ve been to. They just want enthusiastic reactions of any and every sort, especially since it’s a live show and they can’t just edit the reactions in later. Many other shows (especially game shows and talk shows) have paid audience members, which I’ve worked as multiple times. And on most of these, at the end of the taping they shoot a bunch of reaction shots – I worked on one show where they filmed us doing everything – screaming, clapping, huge bursts of laugher, quiet laughter, shock, nervous looks. And then they edit it all into the show.