Executive Producer Conrad Green Speaks About NINE New Changes For DWTS Season 18

Executive Producer Conrad Green lays out 9 new changes for the new season of Dancing With The Stars at TV Guide. Below are a few we haven’t heard about yet. A must read!! Not sure what to think about the “new voting” or “lots of guest judges”. We’ll soon see? Be sure you read more at the link!

2. New voting: With the elimination of the results show, the DWTS producers are still trying to determine the best way to reveal voting results every week. Last season, the show combined viewer votes from the previous week with the judges’ scores from the current week, which resulted in some “anomalous results,” Green admits. This year, the elimination will be based on both the judges’ scores and viewer votes from the current week — meaning that the pair who will be eliminated will have already been determined before they dance the following week, but they won’t know it. “Effectively, we will know who’s going home Tuesday morning,” Green says. “So what will happen is, every couple will compete the following week, but one of those couples will be the one who is carrying the black mark of elimination with them, as it were. And there’s really not much they can do.” For fans who think that seems a bit harsh, Green admits: “None of these systems are ideal … but I do think at least this way the public gets the final say and they get to vote in response to the judges, rather than the judges having effectively the final say.”

6. New theme nights: Among the theme nights Green has teased are Party Anthems night, American Icons night and possibly a Disney music night. (“As soon as our celebrities and dancers heard that, everyone got very excited and was talking about being princesses and stuff like this,” Green says.) The show will also likely revisit Latin night and Most Memorable Year of My Life night.

7. Lots of guest judges: Though no names have been released yet, Green says there will likely be a guest judge on the panel nearly every week beginning in April — in addition to the permanent panel of Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli. “They’re going to be a mixture of people from the world of music, big stars from ABC, ex-dancers … a real range of people, all of whom have an opinion and have a knowledge and can bring something to the judging,” Green says.

8. Healthy rivalries: The competition isn’t even underway yet, but there’s already some rivalries brewing behind the scenes, according to Green. In addition to brothers (Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy) and Olympic partners (Charlie White and Meryl Davis) facing off, ’90s TV stars Candace Cameron-Bure and Danica McKellar also have a little bit of history. “[Candace] and Danica knew each other a lot when they were younger,” Green dishes. “I think Danica once took [Candace’s] boyfriend without realizing it, when they were both teenagers. So there’s history there, and I think there’s a fair amount of healthy competition between them.”

9. A new ballroom look: Longtime viewers will also notice that the ballroom looks a little different this year. The proscenium arch will be gone and a much bigger video screen will be featured at the back of the stage, while a smaller stage near the band will be used for more intimate performances. The skybox will also be making a comeback. “We’ve re-jiggered the ballroom quite a lot,” Green says. “It’s going to feel like a much bigger, deeper ballroom.” Some changes will also be made to the warm-up room as well.

Heidi’s Note: He says the voting is different, but in reality it sounds like the determination of the result is what’s different. Everyone still votes the same way, it’s just that they use the votes and the scores from the previous week to send someone home on a given night. And isn’t it interesting how Conrad slid that “Maks wanted to come back” line in there?? 😀

From abc.com Cast Announcement Page:

Viewers may cast their votes for their favorite teams via phone on Monday nights during and up to 60 minutes after the end of the “Dancing with the Stars” broadcast in each time zone. Online voting at www.ABC.com and on Facebook at https://apps.facebook.com/votedwts/ is open for 24 hours, beginning from the start of each episode on the East Coast at 8:00 p.m., ET/5:00 p.m., PT and closing at 8:00 p.m., ET/5:00 p.m., PT on Tuesday evenings. For the final week, on Monday, May 19, online voting will open for 15 hours, beginning from the start of the episode on the East Coast at 8:00 p.m., ET/5:00 p.m., PT and closing at 11:00 a.m., ET/8:00 a.m., PT the next day. A custom Facebook app lets fans vote, share whom they voted for and say why, as well as see whom friends voted for.