'Dancing With The Stars' Alum Antonio Sabàto Jr. Details Why He Believes The 'Show Is Rigged'
Former 'General Hospital' actor Antonio Sabàto Jr. spoke candidly about his frustrations with 'Dancing With The Stars' after he competed in season 19 of the ABC competition.
He took the stage alongside female dance partner Cheryl Burke — finishing in eighth place — prompting the actor to detail exactly why he feels the star-studded show may be "rigged."
"To be honest, I think that the show is partly rigged in a sense," Antonio alleged when he later reunited with Burke, 40, on her 'Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans' podcast. "Yeah. It is rigged," he reiterated.
The Italian-born model and actor alleged that dancers have an unfair advantage over celebs who have not had formal dance training, resulting in unfair outcomes.
"It's rigged in this way. First of all, if you're not a dancer or you don't have dancing skills from a young age, you're not going to win," Antonio stated. "I think that somebody who's never danced — because the whole premise of the show would be celebrities who's never danced — but the majority of winners are dancers."
When Burke pointed out that former contestant and NFL alum Emmitt Smith — who had never danced before — won with her in season 3, Antonio seemingly felt he had a thing that worked for him.
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"Yeah, but he had moves," Antonio challenged. "He had soul...he was dancing at church, you know what I mean? He had that thing going."
Antonio later revealed that he also had an issue with the judges' apparent need to support a narrative throughout the series. "The judges, they know who they want, so you've got to keep that persona. You've got to keep the momentum of what's going on in your private life. But I was surprised — sometimes you see people who have a huge following," he added.
"Because it is entertainment and they need to keep the stories going, but you do have to learn the numbers. And when it starts happening where you have to learn two numbers a week, you've got to know what you're doing, man," he said of the pressure to perform.
The popular celeb-studded dance series originally premiered on ABC on June 1, 2005. It's the American counterpart to the British series 'Strictly Come Dancing' and part of the broader 'Dancing with the Stars' franchise. The show pairs celebrities with professional dancers for captivating performances.
The Hollywood series is currently promoting performances from Oscar night.
You can stream 'DWTS' on DisneyPlus and Hulu.
