Melora Hardin shocked Dancing with the Stars fans when she came out and began to excel on the ballroom floor with her dances.
The dancers were all pleasantly surprised with her performances, with Len Goodman always pointing out how great Melora was doing and Carrie Ann Inaba claiming that women over 50 aren’t expected to be this good.
That comment seemed very interesting and when Melora ended up eliminated a week before the finals, Artem Chigvintsev made a similar comment and pointed it directly at the fans.
Artem disappointed that DWTS fans won’t support older dancers
While Carrie Ann’s comment about older dancers seemed a little off the mark, Artem was more pointed in his accusations on the voting this year.
Artem said that he has always been sad that older dancers never made it very far on Dancing with the Stars based on fan voting, no matter how good they were.
“I don’t think there’s been, for the past I don’t know how many seasons, a person of [her] age make it this far.” Artem said to Page Six. “I don’t understand why people don’t get behind this. The people who are watching our show, the core audience, is that [age].”
Artem said he has no idea why people Melora’s age won’t support the older dancers when they are excelling.
“It makes no sense in my mind, why women of [Melora’s] age would not get behind [her] and be like, ‘I don’t think I can do this. And I’m just so happy to see someone doing it … I’m gonna stand behind it, I’m gonna support it,'” Artem said.
Artem then pointed out that there were dancers three times younger than Melora and she was holding her own against them, but no one was supporting her for it.
Artem feels Dancing with the Stars fans reward ‘tricks and flips’
He did admit that some fans might like the tricks and flips, but there should be a respect for dancers who nail their routines without resorting to the visual effects.
“At the end of the day, dancing should not be just about visual effects; it should be about dancing, it should be about emotion, it should be about that,” Artem said. “That’s why for me, it’s very hard to understand why sometimes [the] audience could easily be amused by a split and not be amused by true emotion that comes from heart.
“That to me is very hard to understand,” Artem said. “She tried just as hard, worked just as many hours and matter of fact, really, it’s just as hard of moves.”
Melora had previously said she was “crushed” she missed out on the finals, and Artem seems disappointed that the 54-year-old didn’t make it to the finals despite her great dancing.
Dancing with the Stars is on hiatus. It should return in late 2022.
Or maybe because she’s already a professional dancer and the fans are tired of seeing pros pretending to be amateurs on the show.