This article contains spoilers for the Oct. 8 episode of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Kiss frontman Gene Simmons handed out the first 10 of the season to model Brooks Nader when he sat in as guest judge for “Hair Metal Night,” on Tuesday’s episode of “Dancing With the Stars,” but that score was mysteriously lowered to a 9 in the final tally.
Although he held up a 10 paddle, cohost Julianne Hough told Simmons that he had “actually keyed in” a 9, which was added to Nader’s overall score.
Viewers cringed at the 75-year-old rocker’s comments about the female dancers’ bodies, which caused more online chatter than the two celebs who were sent home, oldest (and stiffest) dancers: Eric Roberts and Reginald VelJohnson.
Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher, who performed a Jive to “Cum On Feel the Noize” by Quiet Riot, also landed in the bottom three, but was saved by viewers’ votes.
Before handing out that 10 to Nader, Simmons told the 28-year-old, “Look, I’m not the technician here…. If you did something more technically proficient, you’d wipe the floor with everybody, but your vibe, your personality, is out of this world… Keep working, honey, because you are a good dancer as well as terribly hot.”
Earlier in the evening, he told Chandler Kinney, who is 24, “You moved me, not just with your gyrations and so on, but [with] your beautiful face and how you were into the emotion of it.”
Later, Simmons told the audience to “settle down” since “this is a family show.”
“Oh, now you care,” replied cohost Alfonso Ribeiro.
Social media reactions to Simmons’ commentary: WTF?
One person shared a gif from “Veep” in which Julia Louis-Dreyfus nervously laughs “WTF?” with the caption: “The #DWTS producers watching Gene Simmons give out the first ’10’of the season.”
Ribeiro apologies for use of the song “Rock You Like a Hurricane”
The night saw performances set to hair metal classics from Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Twisted Sister and Whitesnake, with big hair, guitars, and cars. NBA star Dwight Howard, who performed a cape-twirling Paso Doble to “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith, said his rock ‘n’ roll attitude was based on watching real bullfighters.
Ribeiro, however, apologized for the poorly timed choice of the last song of the evening, Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” amid reports that Hurricane Milton is set to make landfall on Wednesday just days after the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
“We want you to know that these songs were chosen weeks in advance of the devastating weather events. Of course, our hearts are with those who have suffered and whose lives continue to be affected by the ongoing storms in the southeast. Now if you want to help, you can donate at RedCross.org/abc, to support the response and recovery efforts,” he said.
Tuesday’s double elimination narrowed the field of 11 couples down to 9. After taking last week off because of the Vice Presidential debate, the dancers had back-to-back performance nights beginning on Monday, which was “Soul Train Night.”
Live viewer votes from the week’s two nights of competition were combined with the judges’ scores from both nights to determine who was in jeopardy.
Next week, “Dancing With the Stars” returns to its once-a-week, Tuesday night schedule. Episodes are simulcast live across both ABC and Disney+ in local time zones and streams next day on Hulu.
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