During the season 23 premiere of Dancing With the Stars, there was an “incident” as host Tom Bergeron called it as judge Carrie Ann Inaba was giving her critique of Olympic gold medal swimmer Ryan Lochte‘s performance.
Lochte joined the ABC reality dancing competition after causing worldwide controversy during the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro last month. Regardless of viewers’ opinions of the swimmer, the show wants everyone — judges and viewers alike — to evaluate the athlete on the basis of his dancing rather than his actions during and after the Olympics.
Some, however, may find that more difficult than others. As Inaba was giving her feedback after Lochte’s performance, viewers saw a double screen — half split on Inaba as she was speaking, and the other half showing a replay of Lochte’s performance. But live on the dance floor something, was amiss.
Recap: Ryan Lochte ‘A Little Hurt’ Following Incident on Dance Floor
On the edge of the frame, viewers could see that someone, or multiple someones, had run on the dance floor, presumably toward Locate and his pro partner Cheryl Burke. Inaba looked thoroughly confused by the whole situation. Host Tom Bergeron swiftly cut to a commercial, leaving everyone to wonder what exactly had just happened. And Twitter immediately blew up with questions… and assumptions.
So #DWTS just turned into a Trump rally. See that people are not in it for foolishness even with what might seem trivial. Scary.
— K.M. Jackson (@KwanaWrites) September 13, 2016
DID SOMEONE JUST ATTACK RYAN?????? #DWTS
— maria • (@naleysmaria) September 13, 2016
Seriously though what just happened on dancing with the stars?!?! #DWTS
— Kayla Harrelson (@KamHarrelson) September 13, 2016
Dang, what just happened?? Someone run up on stage??? #DWTS
— Cameron Fontana (@CameronFontana) September 13, 2016
Yikes! Someone is cutting up in the audience on #DWTS they had to go to break.
— Robin M. Ware, CMP (@robinmware) September 13, 2016
Were people storming the stage during Lochte's #DWTS critiques? TWITTER, figure it out
— Eric Webb (@webbeditor) September 13, 2016
Did someone just run on the stage and attack Ryan ??? #DWTS
— Alexa (@AlexxaYR) September 13, 2016
When the show came back from commercial, Bergeron gave little indication of exactly what had just transpired. He did, however, thank security, which didn’t stop viewers from commenting on Twitter.
Never change, Twitter!
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