Poll: Is Heather Morris’ Advantage On ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Really Unfair?

Dancing with the Stars has faced major backlash ever since it was announced that former Glee star and trained dancer Heather Morris would be competing on Season 24, but is her involvement with the show really unfair?

During the DWTS Season 24 premiere on March 20, fans took to social media to claim that Heather’s appearance on the show dancing with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy was “unfair” to the other contestants because of her extensive background as a professional dancer, which includes performing as backing dancer for Beyonce and numerous dancing roles on TV and in movies.

“So Heather Morris is a professional dancer by trade who then went into acting. How can see participate? Very unfair,” Twitter user @AfroMeatballs hit back during the Dancing with the Stars Season 24 premiere, while DWTS fan @Hope_Burt noted, “This is completely unfair having Heather on the show. #dwts.”

“UMM, Heather is soo good! But she’s a professional dancer… I mean, unfair advantage????? I think so! #DWTS,” @alejandra_0rtiz wrote of Heather’s first DWTS dance, and @bigfogiefan added on the 140-character site, “How can people who are trained dancers (Heather Morris) be contestants on #DWTS? Seems a rather unfair advantage…”

But while some fans slammed the current season of DWTS as “unfair” during the Season 24 premiere, others took to the social media site to deny that Heather’s past dancing experience gave her a big advantage over her co-contestants.

“All I have to say is that Heather has not [got] an unfair advantage for DWTS look [at] Zendaya dance before the show and anybody say anything,” @OlicityxSpoby hit back amid claims Morris’s Dancing with the Stars competitors were allegedly unhappy with her being on the show.

“Heather Morris does not have an unfair advantage on DWTS, but she will be judged more harshly,” @realityblurred added amid the Dancing with the Stars backlash facing Morris and Chmerkovskiy.

Notably, despite the backlash, Heather and Maksim did not receive the highest scores during Dancing with the Stars’ Season 24 premiere on March 20; that honor went to Olympian Simone Biles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku5AdFb4Beo

However, Chmerkovskiy has admitted that he and Morris most definitely have an advantage in multiple interviews amid the DWTS backlash.

“Any of the competitors would want an advantage, a lot of the professionals would want to be paired with an Olympian or experienced partner,” Maksim said of being partnered with Heather for Season 24 of DWTS on Amazon’s Style Code Live, as reported by Just Jared Jr. Maksin admitted that he’s fully aware of the leg-up he has with Morris as his partner.

Maksim then admitted that he was pretty happy to be partnered with Morris, adding, “I’m just glad that it’s me,” when discussing their Dancing With the Stars advantage prior to the Season 24 premiere.

Dancing with the Stars producers have also spoken out about Heather’s advantage to The Hollywood Reporter on the show, but they denied that her past dancing experience is unfair to the other contestants competing on Season 24.

Replying “no” when asked if Morris’ advantage on the ABC show was “unfair,” producer Ashley Edens denied that Heather’s experience put her fellow contestants at a disadvantage.

“Does she have an advantage? Yeah. Is it unfair? No. She has never had a ballroom lesson. She’s never partner danced. That is a skill in and of itself,” Edens hit back while defending Morris amid the DWTS backlash.

The DWTS producer then claimed that Morris’ is already finding her stint on the show on the ABC show “challenging” because the dances she’s learning are completely different to the style of dancing she’s done before.

“[Morris] has never partner danced,” the Dancing with the Stars producer said of Morris. “It will be interesting to see the dynamic between she and Maks.”

The Inquisitr wants to know what you think of Heather Morris’ appearance on Dancing with the Stars. Does she have an unfair advantage ahead of the other contestants? Cast your vote on the latest DWTS controversy in the Playbuzz poll below.

https://www.playbuzz.com/inquisitr/is-heather-morris-appearance-on-dancing-with-the-stars-unfair

[Featured Image by Robin Marchant/Getty Images]