‘Dancing With the Stars’ Fans Call out ABC Show for Confusing Its Own Rules

Dancing With the Stars Season 30 is in full swing, but the newest installment of the beloved ABC competition hasn’t necessary gone off without a hitch. Just two weeks into the new season, DWTS was rocked when professional dancer Cheryl Burke announced she tested positive for COVID-19, an announcement that was followed days later by confirmation that her celebrity partner, Peleton instructor Cody Rigsby, had also tested positive. While the dancing duo are still set to compete this season with a few major changes, the drama has sparked controversy among fans of the show who are now calling Dancing With the Stars out for confusing its own rules.

As the coronavirus pandemic halted numerous productions across the globe in 2020, Dancing With the Stars and other competition series moved on with newly enacted protocols, some of which the ABC competition has maintained for Season 30. One of these protocols is a rule prohibiting married professional dancers from living together. This means that Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy, Emma Slater and Sasha Farber and, Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov are living apart from one another throughout Season 30. In a statement to PEOPLE, a representative for the beloved dancing competition further explained the show’s COVID protocols. According to the rep, DWTS has and continues to “follow CDC guidelines” as well as a “comprehensive safety plan that includes social distancing, PPE and KN95 masks.” The rep explained that “all of Zone A is required to be fully vaccinated, regular testing of cast and crew and more. On set we have a strict pod system, all couples have their own hair and makeup so the pods are no more than four people.” 

However, some DWTS fans have noticed that such restrictions don’t always seem to be consistent in other scenarios. One Reddit thread shows a photo Amanda Kloots hanging out with fellow competitor Matt James and his professional dancing partner Lyndsay Arnold. The redditor called the show out in the title, which questioned, “thought dance couples were supposed to be in a bubble? Isn’t that the point of not allowing married pros to see each other?” Another person commented, “yeah I really dont understand keeping married couples apart if celebs and pros are gonna act like this..if I was Sasha/Emma, Val/Jenna or daniella/pasha and saw this I would be low key annoyed.” Somebody else dubbed the photo “tone deaf” given the recent positive test results from Burke and Rigsby, who will now compete separately and remotely.

Amid the controversy, a source told PEOPLE that some of the professional dancers feel they are being “more restricted” than their celebrity counterparts, as “they’re technically not allowed to see their [romantic] partners except on show day.” The source claimed the reasoning for the rule “is that if one pair goes down, they don’t want to take down any other pairs – but then they’re all packed together on show days without masks in the same ballroom and mix and mingle.” The source called the celebrity contestants for “basically doing what they want.” ABC has not released further comment on the controversy.