According to Deadline, Jimmy Kimmel declared Guillermo Rodriguez, his 23-year sidekick and "Dancing with the Stars" contestant, "the most popular dancer in the whole world" in Wednesday night's monologue, after Rodriguez posted the lowest judge scores for a third straight week.
No body has ever crowned the most popular dancer in the whole world. The title is conferred by a late-night host whose network also runs the dance show, in a monologue about his own employee. Deadline drew the org chart: a Walt Disney Television EVP oversees both "DWTS" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", so the ranking is less a world poll and more a performance review with confetti. The only dissenting vote on the show, the judges, has been overruled three weeks running and has received zero press.
The number itself was a PR piece: a foxtrot to "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)," the shirt coming off to reveal "Dancing 4 The People" across his chest, a pro who is five months pregnant doing the labor, and a salsa line launching nationwide on October 4. The slogan, the pregnancy, and the product rollout all shipped in the same week. The synergy is the one who is dancing.
Carson, for her part, spent the week on TikTok explaining that the bottom three is not a verdict. When a show's pro has to fact-check the show's own graphics, the format has become a PR problem.
YOUR TURN: If the judges are wrong and the audience is right, what exactly are the judges doing in that room?
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