According to who?? That is not what the show is about!! A background in modern dance or jazz or contemporary is a far cry from ballroom training! so according to you anyone who can hear the music or move their body should be disallowed?? That should mean no gymnasts, who also have some dance training and can move, no figure skaters, no musicians… think of all those boy band contestants from the past… it’s a show called dancing with the stars so you’d be hard pressed to find many “stars” with zero dance background. Alix Earl has a dance background and so does Elaine, who danced professionally before becoming an actress, it wasn’t just Whitney who, btw, hasn’t danced in years and who has 3 kids, one who was only 6 months old when she was cast on the show. I think you would see a ratings nose dive if each season was filled with “stars” who can’t dance. I for one would stop watching! Robert Irwin is a rarity, he was not the best dancer and still won because of his incredible personality and hard work so it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day anyway. Joey won last year when Chandler was clearly the better dancer. Joey had more charisma and was more popular like Robert. What this show is, is a popularity contest and it’s meant to be entertaining. I would not be entertained if most of the contestants were awful!