‘Dancing with the Stars 22’: Mischa Barton’s partner Artem Chigvintsev on judge reaction

Should the judges on “Dancing with the Stars” be a little bit more sympathetic in regards with how they choose to critique the contestants? That’s something that is a worthy subject of debate in the wake of Mischa Barton’s elimination. It seems like some of the tough criticism that she got from Len Goodman week one deflated her, and made it harder for her to enjoy the competition in the week that followed. It also led to the newly-eliminated star’s partner Artem Chigvintsev saying the following to Entertainment Weekly:

“[When] someone comes into a competition like this, it’s quite hard to commit in general, and then to come out for the first time and perform live, doing something you’ve never done before, I feel like there should be more encouragement.”

Is this true? We think that the answer here is complicated. The first night, the judges have a lot of pressure put upon them to come out and be honest in their critiques. They know that this is an entertainment show, and if they are nice to everyone, then it feels inauthentic when some people are better than others. The trick here may just be that you have to read the room, and figure out which stars need a little bit of a lighter touch. We’re not sure Len’s comment towards Mischa not really doing “a dance” week one caused her elimination, but he should have identified more that she as a person needs a different approach than a blunt comment.

There’s never going to be a perfect way to judge the show; that’s the reality of it. The best thing that Mischa can hope for now is that she found a new show family with her fellow former cast members, and she leaves with good memories of them.

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