On Monday's episode of "Dancing With the Stars" James Maslow and his partner Peta Murgatroyd were eliminated. Fans were shocked that the two were axed from the dancing reality show when they have remained one of the top contenders the entire time.
According to a report by TMZ, Maslow fans are beyond upset the singer was sent home and are now calling foul. Reportedly some fans have been complaining that the Facebook voting for Maslow and Murgatroyd were instead counted for Olympic skater Meryl Davis and her partner Maks Chmerkovskiy.
A rep for ABC denied that the show is rigged and said all the votes went to the right couples. According to TMZ, the rep also said that the error was a "caching anomaly" and it only affected a small number of Facebook users.
This is not the first time "Dancing With the Stars" was rumored to be fixed. Former contestant Hope Solo, who appeared on the show in 2011 with Maks, said in her memoir that she thinks the winner is picked by the judges and not the public.
She wrote about a secret memo that was reportedly floating around that said which couple would be eliminated each week.
"Maks later told me that he had argued with the judges because he had been told we were going to be eliminated, that there was some secret memo going around that said who would be ousted each week," Solo wrote, Radar Online reports. "He explained that he wanted to cause some drama on the live portion of the show so that they wouldn't be able to resist keeping us around, hoping for more fireworks."
Solo added that it "seems to have worked - we weren't eliminated that week." Recently, Showrunner Conrad Green spoke, who is leaving after this season, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about fans writing in claiming that the show is fixed.
"Have you ever seen the Broadcast Standards people? They go around checking every vote that comes in," he said. "So the idea that we're sitting here, the evil puppet masters saying 'That judges should say that to Maks' and 'This judge should give a 7' - it's like, why would I care? And I did care, why would I have Derek win every f**king time?"
He was referring to pro dancer Derek Hough winning the show five different times.
"Know what I mean? It'd be a much different show if I could control the destiny of everyone," Green continued. "It isn't a big conspiracy. This isn't the Derek Hough Conspiracy Society. It's a dance show."
The remaining couples on Season 18 are Cameron Bure and her partner Mark Ballas, Meryl Davis and Maks Chmerkovskiy, and Amy Purdy and Derek Hough.
