Dancing with the Stars combines judges’ leaderboard rankings with the audience vote. Showrunner and executive producer Conrad Green described the two inputs as “50/50, effectively” in a November 2025 interview. His explanation describes a ranking-based method—not a published tally of raw fan votes.
How are judges’ scores and fan votes calculated?
According to Green’s explanation, couples receive points based on their placement on the judges’ leaderboard. Those judge-ranking points are then combined with the public-vote ranking. Green characterized the two contributions as “50/50, effectively,” as reported by AOL on November 25, 2025.
For example, Green said that if five couples compete and a couple finishes first on the judges’ leaderboard, it receives five judges-ranking points. That illustrates how leaderboard placement translates into points; it does not reveal that couple’s audience-vote rank or final combined result. Us Weekly’s November 25, 2025 report quoted Green explaining the example.
What does “50/50, effectively” mean?
It is Green’s description of the relative contribution of judges’ rankings and the public vote. It should not be read as evidence that every raw judge point equals a particular number of viewer votes, or that the public can calculate a couple’s precise combined score from the available information. The reporting gives a ranking-based explanation, but not a complete public technical specification of the arithmetic.
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Why aren’t exact audience vote totals released?
Green said that publishing precise counts could discourage people from voting or affect future voting by showing viewers which couples appear to need support. That is his stated reason for keeping totals private, not independent proof of how disclosure would change participation.
Exact vote counts for individual couples are not public in the cited explanation. A judge-score pattern alone therefore cannot establish how many votes a couple received or what its public-vote rank was.
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How and when can viewers vote in season 35?
ABC’s season 35 voting FAQ, accessed October 4, 2026, says eligible viewers can vote online at dwtsvote.abc.com, by SMS, or by both methods during the initial live simulcast. Voting opens at 8/7c and closes shortly after the final competitive dance. Later broadcasts and streaming are outside the voting window.
The FAQ specifies the following season 35 rules:
- Online: Voters must be at least 18 and physically in the United States, including its territories, or Canada. Online votes can be changed during the voting window by saving updated selections.
- SMS: Text voting is available only in the United States and its territories through participating wireless carriers; it is not available in Canada. Submitted SMS votes cannot be changed.
- Vote limit: Each method allows up to 10 votes per couple, for up to 20 per couple across both methods.
These are season-specific logistics, separate from Green’s explanation of how rankings are combined. ABC says its FAQ may be updated during the season, so consult it for the rules in effect before voting.
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