Are the Judges to Blame for Simone Biles’ ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Elimination?

In Week 8 of Dancing with the Stars the judges were unnecessarily harsh. Not just to Simone but Bonner Bolton as well. Len, for the first time ever, told a contestant that they didn’t belong on the show with Bonner. With Simone, the judges did almost everything they could but call her fake without actually saying the words. If the level of competition was stronger in week 8 the judges might have had cause to judge Simone so harshly. (They did blur the line from criticizing her dancing to her personality but still some of their critiques were valid.) The problem is that the judges came down very hard on Simone while letting David skate on by with his less than stellar dancing. 

In Week 8 Simone did get much higher scores than David but the criticisms were all out of whack. In the run-up to Simone’s elimination it is almost like the judges were actively rooting against Simone. It’s not that Simone was the best dancer in the competition. In fact, that honor probably does go to Normani but the judges treated her as distant third place behind Rashad and Normani with their scores. With their criticisms Simone was even below David. 

The judges do only count for one half of the voting process but their comments have an influence how things play out. The judges were so intent on telling Simone that she was boring and her smile wasn’t genuine enough that it really did make her feel like she didn’t belong in the competition. The judges could have easily have come down on David for the fact that he plays the same goofy character in every dance or Rashad for his lack of finesse in his dancing, at least compared to Simone. They didn’t even come close to doing either. The judges came after Simone for no good reason and it created a negative impression of Simone on the show. 

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The sad thing is that this perception of Simone being false or stale was incredibly incorrect. Simone might not be as bubbly as David or even as open with Rashad but she was one of the best dancers. Simone seemed to be held to a different standard to the other contestants. The judges also seemed to do this with Heather by often underscoring her but it is was particularly blatant with Simone. Simone should have been scored on par with Normani and Rashad. Simone was often as good as Normani and definitely better than Rashad but the judges didn’t see it that way and it allowed David and his fans to allow him to sneak into the finale. 

In Week 8 Simone may not have earned a perfect DWTS score with either of her dances. Personally the trio dance should earned a 40 but it is debatable. Simone should have least cracked a couple tens out of the judges with either of her week 8 dances. Instead Rashad earned a few tens that he didn’t deserve and Normani chalked up even more perfect scores. It’s true that Dancing with the Stars is more a popularity contest than a dancing competition. A strong fan base is always going to help a contestant do well but the judges shouldn’t treat like a popularity contestant and they did with Simone. 

But do you agree? Are the judges to blame for Simone’s exit? Do you think she was boring and deserved to go home? Is Simone the most shocking elimination of this season?