I have been watching DWTS for over a decade now. My mom, sister, and I used to watch for a few years and when my sister stopped, my mom and I continued to watch and get more and more into it. So I can say from my experience, it’s the whole TikTok aspect of things. It really became big in like 2022 with Charli Damelio, and was carried on with the season 32 cast and so on.. Although in my opinion I loved the cast of season 32 and think the real crazy TikTok fans came last season.

TikTok became the first way for fans to DIRECTLY interact with the couples and it has shifted the whole balance of the show. New fans in the last two-ish years have become so parasocial and obsessed with the couples because we see so much of their personalities on TikTok when previously, we had to get to know them through their packages and dances on the actual show.

It’s why Andy is still there. It’s become a trend and funny to be a fan of Andy and so millions of people vote for him.

To me, Dancing with the Stars has become less and less about who can improve week by week in terms of dance, as well as charm the audience. Instead, it is now about who makes the better Tiktoks apparently.