‘Dancing With the Stars’ Audience Boos Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons got on the wrong side of the Dancing With the Stars crowd as the KISS rocker joined Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli behind the judges’ panel for Hair Metal Night on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Simmons, who fittingly served as a guest judge for the rock-inspired double elimination episode, was met with a wave of boos from the crowd after revealing his score for Reginald VelJohnson, who alongside pro partner Emma Slater danced the cha-cha to “I Wanna Rock” by Twisted Sister. While Inaba gave the pair a six, Hough, Tonioli and Simmons all awarded fives.

The crowd became upset when Hough first showed his scorecard but booed loudly when Simmons showed he had also given the pair a five. Despite his low score for the Family Matters star, the musician had nothing but positive reviews for VelJohnson, who said he had channeled Simmons for his own performance.

“Hey Reggie, you’ve got a beautiful woman right beside you who can twist it and turn it and knows how to move it and all that,” Simmons said. “But I want to tell you, as a guy that’s been on the stage for half a century around the world, I’m kind of a big deal, Reggie. It’s all in the attitude. And you’ve got something in that beautiful face. They love you.”

Simmons’ scoring earned the ire of the crowd on other occasions throughout the night, including when he gave Phaedra Parks a five while the other judges all gave the Real Housewives of Atlanta star sevens. Parks and her pro partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, made faces at the reveal, which earned boos from the audience, while fellow competitor Chandler Kinney mouthed “What’s going on?” 

Simmons also awarded Jenn Tran a low score of seven after the other judges gave her and pro partner Sasha Farber eights, saying, “Don’t hate me,” before revealing his scorecard.

Simmons bewildered the audience on multiple other occasions during Tuesday’s episode, giving Danny Amendola and pro partner Witney Carson a nine in comparison to the other judges’ sevens. He also tried to give Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko the first 10 of the season but had already locked in a nine, so he wasn’t able to change the score.

Simmons also seemed confused by Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik’s pommel horse-inspired floor work. “What was that thing you were doing on the floor all of a sudden? What was that?” he asked Nedoroscik after his Foxtrot to “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake with partner Rylee Arnold. Co-host Alfonso Ribeiro interjected to explain Nedoroscik’s gymnastics background as Tonioli said the athlete was “very flexible,” prompting Simmons to throw up his hands and say, “No comment.”

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+.