ABC, CBS The DWTS season 26 cast, 'Survivor: Winners at War'
“Dancing With the Stars” professional dancer Cheryl Burke recently compared competing on “Dancing With the Stars” to being on the long-running CBS reality competition series “Survivor.” Here is what she said and how fans are reacting.
Cheryl Says ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is ‘No Joke’… Like ‘Survivor’
In an interview with Page Six, the professional dancer compared how hard “Dancing With the Stars” is to fellow reality show “Survivor,” where the contestants live on an island for weeks with very little food or shelter and compete in a series of tough immunity challenges while also plotting amongst themselves about who to vote off in their quest to win a million dollars.
“It’s at a TV show, right? But it’s a TV show that we work our a**es off on. Like, this is no joke. I compare this show to ‘Survivor.’ I’ve never done ‘Survivor,’ but I can only imagine,” said Cheryl.
She went on to say, “It’s seven days a week, except we’ve got obviously the perks of having water and food. But really, it is full-on, and you’re trying to force your body to do things that, first of all, most contestants have never done before.”
Cheryl is not wrong about how hard “Dancing With the Stars” is, especially having danced on the show for so many seasons. She has said that arthritis is taking its toll of her body and she’s not sure how many years she has left in the ballroom before she retires.
But in the interview with Page Six, Cheryl also said that the judges have been hard on her and partner Cody Rigsby this season and they should “cool it a little bit.”
“I will never fight back [to the judges] on live television. I find that very rude and it doesn’t look right,” she said. “I just want Cody to shine. That’s my real intention here.”
Fan Says ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Is a ‘Cushy’ Gig
On Reddit, a “Dancing With the Stars” fan had a little fun with Cheryl’s comparison, saying that “Dancing With the Stars” may be hard, but it’s “super cushy” compared to “Survivor.”
“I have a friend who was on ‘Survivor’ and while I’m sure DWTS is very difficult in its own way, it is super cushy in comparison. Not even just the food and bed stuff like Cheryl mentioned, but on DWTS you don’t have the paranoia of your fellow contestants scheming against you, haha,” wrote the user, to which another user cracked, “It was Emma, with the candlestick, in the conservatory!”
Now that would be quite a twist for “Dancing With the Stars.” But maybe the real way to solve this is to cast a “Survivor” alum on “Dancing With the Stars” and he or she can tell everyone which show is harder. There are plenty of former castaways we would love to see in the ballroom.
The commenter with the friend who played “Survivor” later revealed the friend to be Lauren Beck from season 39, “Survivor: Island of the Idols.”
The thread also wasn’t too keen on Cheryl criticizing the judges. One wrote, “I think Cody is one of the few contestants that’s been scored fairly this season [to be honest]. Even before getting Covid, he was never that good on the show. And Cheryl’s choreography for him has been dull too.”
“Dancing With the Stars” season 30 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on ABC.
“Survivor” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on CBS. The 42nd season will air in the spring of 2022. Seasons 43 and 44 are casting now, so if you’ve always wanted to apply, now is your chance!
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