One of Meanie’s favorite things to do at the end of a long, hard day being fabulous is to put up her dainty little feet, have the butler whip up a refreshing cocktail—and tune in to Dancing with the Stars. What can be more delightful than watching B-listers glide not-quite-gracefully across a dance floor, attempting to wow the judges with their newly-acquired ballroom skills? How glorious!

But kittens, Meanie has noticed something peculiar about this season of her beloved show: The tangoes off the dance floor seem to be grabbing more attention than the ones on it. It used to be that fans that had missed each night’s show flocked to the internet to find out who had been eliminated in their absence. Now, though, they’re flocking to the internet to catch the latest gossip about the competitors. First, there was the to-do about Chaz Bono and Carson Kressley. A transgender person? A gay person? Drama! Then, there was the feud that erupted between pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Derek Hough. Drama! Next, there was Nancy Grace’s admittedly hilarious wardrobe malfunction, which was followed by the no-less hilarious Mystery Fart. And now, there’s supposedly another feud going on, this time between Maksim and judge Carrie Ann Inaba. DRAMA! In fact, it seems like this season of the show isn’t about the dancing at all. It’s about—you guessed it—the drama.

Does this strike anyone else as just a teensy bit bizarre?

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Don’t get Meanie wrong; she knows that Dancing with the Stars is far from the pinnacle of amazing, thought-provoking television. But it’s never had any pretentions about what it is, either: It’s just fun. Period. It’s fun to watch former stars you thought had gone out of style make onscreen appearances again. It’s fun to watch pros dance. It’s fun to watch people who definitely aren't pros dance. It’s fun because unlike many of the reality programs out there, it isn't about people fighting, or punching each other, or behaving in other such uncouth ways. And yet somehow, it seems to be slowly moving into very realm—which, to be honest, Meanie finds rather sad-making. Sigh.

When Chaz Bono’s supporters took to the web to beat back the naysayers, their strongest argument was that the show isn’t about anything other than dancing and having a good time. Therefore, it shouldn’t matter who is dancing, because politics, gender, sexual orientation, and all of that baloney doesn’t have any bearing on how well a person dances, or on how much fun they have doing it. The same argument applies here. Meanie doesn’t care about who did what or whose unmentionables made a surprise appearance. She just wants to watch them dance!

After all, this isn’t Dance Moms. Right?

XO,

Mean Betty

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