Julia Stiles just sent an entire generation into meltdown, and Dancing With The Stars hasn't even started filming yet. Millennials are losing it over 90s icons, sharing GIFs and begging for a Save the Last Dance callback before the ballroom season has even begun.
Not everyone is celebrating, though. Another corner of the internet is furious, accusing producers of loading the cast with contestants who can already dance, and the backlash has been building online.
Is the New Season Rigged?
The show has always sold itself on watching total amateurs stumble through week one and blossom into ballroom hopefuls by the final. That premise only works if the amateurs are actually amateurs.
This season, fans say, producers have stacked the deck with performers who were essentially professionals before they ever stepped on the floor. Past seasons faced the same accusation over contestants like JoJo Siwa and Zendaya, both of whom arrived with serious dance pedigrees.
For many viewers, this feels less like a one-off gripe and more like a pattern producers refuse to fix.
Do Professional Dancers Unfairly Ruin DWTS?
'It ruins the allure of watching celebrities learn and get better,' one fan wrote, summing up the entire backlash in a single line.
Jenna Dewan toured with Janet Jackson and 'N SYNC before she was ever a household name, and Harry Shum Jr built his early career as a featured dancer in the Step Up franchise, later touring alongside J.Lo. Neither is stepping onto that floor as a beginner.
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Fans have called the pairing 'almost unfair' and questioned why the show keeps casting people who barely need the professional partner in the first place.
The Underdog Fans Are Rallying Behind
Then there is Guillermo Rodriguez, the Jimmy Kimmel Live sidekick fans have already crowned the season's true underdog, and the perfect antidote to all that professional polish.
He has no dance background to speak of, no viral choreography history, nothing but enthusiasm and good humour, which is exactly why fans have latched onto him so quickly.
Commenters have called him 'adorable' and 'a random uncle who decided to take part', and that charm is precisely what makes the show special in the first place.
Setting him against a former Janet Jackson backing dancer captures the imbalance in one image, and it perfectly reflects the contrast fans cite as evidence that the casting has lost its way.
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Amber Glenn's Edge Control and the Elite Athlete Debate
Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn brings a unique advantage to the competition. Years of blade control, core strength and spin training do not vanish the moment she swaps ice for a ballroom floor. Fans have already flagged her as another contestant with a built-in physical advantage most amateurs simply do not have.
The Julia Stiles Double Standard
Here's where things become complicated. The same fans who are angry about professional backgrounds are also begging Julia Stiles to recreate her choreography from Save The Last Dance, with one fan even admitting that the routine 'lives rent-free' in their head decades later.
Although she may not have a formal ballroom resume, her screen dance history is precisely the kind of previous experience that purists claim to oppose. Nostalgia seems to grant her forgiveness that a credit from Step Up does not.
Producers have stayed silent on the backlash. Whether this lineup proves the ringers right or hands the trophy to an underdog like Guillermo, the argument over who really deserves a mirrorball is only just getting started.
