After Taking Sixth Place This Season, Olympian Johnny Weir Is Rioting Against Dancing With The Stars
Thirty-six-year old former Olympian, Johnny Weir, has long been one of the most recognized openly gay men in media since we’ve been accepted in the mainstream. He started ice skating at age twelve, which would catapult him to winning a handful of Olympic medals for figure skating and soon after, his larger than life personality landed him a recurring role on our televisions ever since. After retiring from the sport in 2013, he’s gone on to be in major Hollywood films like Zoolander 2, a handful of game shows like Celebrity Family Feud and Match Game, and appeared on reality television like last season’s The Masked Singer and alongside Kathy Griffin on My Life on the D-List. Most recently, Weir had been a contestant on season 29 of Dancing with the Stars (DWTS), only to be eliminated this week. The experience can be grueling, as former stars like Wendy Williams openly admits, but Weir is taking his anger not at the physically demanding fatigue he is accustomed to, but the favoring of particular contestants.
According to Heavy, DWTS definitely wasn’t Weir’s favorite reality show outing. His shocking elimination, despite him nearly winning the trophy and being in the finals in general, has left him with a bad taste in his mouth. Weir declared the show is certainly a popularity contest rather than being the best dancer, but that is something he was aware of prior to joining. After his stint, he is being vocal that is shouldn’t matter how many followers you have, you shouldn’t be anything besides your authentic self. Weir was visibly upset by his elimination: He was sent off by having the least amount of votes – not by the show’s judges. So, perhaps the audience was a little bias, but who knows if there’s been any behind-the-scenes tomfoolery that typically runs wild in reality shows.
Weir’s reaction isn’t shocking. Obviously, on paper, he can dance literal circles around these people: It’s in his blood. However, if you look at the DWTS previous winners and contestants, it’s heavily favored on the ABC Network’s most popular reality television contestants. Past hopeless romantics – or aspiring influencers – from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette seemingly are given a free pass to be a “star”, because why not keep money in the ABC family lineage? It makes sense for their brand, because ABC also hosts DWTS and has the same fan base who watches those shows are more than likely those who are watching and voting for the ultimate winner in DWTS. It’s obvious to see current contestant and former Bachelorette, Kaitlyn Bristowe, has benefited from bouncing from one network franchise to the other. Weir’s fan base, and loads of gay men, are likely not watching DWTS. However, a quick glance at comments on Weir’s elimination video (below) shows casual fans were sincerely rooting for him to win. It’s an upset all around, but we can almost guarantee he’ll be on our televisions again before we know it.
If you want to check out Weir’s bold upset to being eliminated from DWTS, check out the video below:
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
Source: Heavy
