Phaedra Parks Calls ‘DWTS’ Guest Judge Gene Simmons ‘Ding-a-Ling’ After Low Score

Phaedra Parks is calling out “ding-a-ling” Gene Simmons after the KISS rocker’s controversial guest judging stint on Dancing With the Stars.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta star didn’t hold back her feelings about Simmons’ judging after the musician gave her and pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy a 5/10 for their Hair Metal Night paso doble to “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi. In comparison, regular judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli all gave the routine 7s.

“I loved the routine,” she told Page Six after the Tuesday, Oct. 8 performance. “I think we did good, despite Gene Simmons being a total ding-a-ling.” Parks quipped, “I figure he didn’t like short Black women.” Chmerkovskiy joked dryly, “It’s always fun to have a guest judge in the ballroom.”

Despite the contentious score, Parks and Chmerkovskiy managed to survive the double elimination that sent Reginald VelJohnson and partner Emma Slater and Eric Roberts and partner Britt Stewart packing at the end of Tuesday’s episode.

Simmons made questionable comments throughout the episode, telling former NFL star Danny Amendola and his partner Witney Carson, “This is a brand new experience for me and it’s difficult to look at you and to figure out which one is more hot, hot, hot.” He added, “Danny, I’m telling you, you’re right next to somebody, one of the more beautiful women on the planet.”

Later, he made comments about Chandler Kinney after the actress and her partner Brandon Armstrong’s Jive. “Chandler, you’ve fogged up my glasses. I don’t know what to tell you,” Simmons said. “You move me, not just with your gyrations and so on, but your beautiful face and how you were into the emotion of it.”

Fans raised complaints online about the comments the rocker made about women and the inconsistent scores he doled out during his guest judging stint. “Shame on Gene Simmons for treating this like a beauty pageant. Never have him on the show again. EVER,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter) during the show. “He ruined it. #gross.”

Another viewer called Simmons “f*cking disgusting” during his time on the judging panel, tagging the Dancing With the Stars account and adding, “You should be ashamed of yourselves for allowing such behavior.” A third added, “Gene Simmons was the all-time worst guest [Dancing With the Stars] has ever had on the show. Microaggression after misogynistic creepy comment after complete lack of regard for some people’s NAMES???” Simmons has not publicly addressed the backlash.

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with the episode available to stream the next day on Hulu.