DWTS’ Ezra Sosa Thinks the Show’s Dance Rules Have Gotten ‘Looser’

Dancing With the Stars viewers are wondering whether less points have been taken away for mistakes — and now a pro is weighing in.

Ezra Sosa replied to a TikTok on Sunday, November 17, where a fan asked if DWTS partners were “allowed to break hold” in the middle of a dance. The social media user specifically referenced Derek Hough and Shawn Johnson East‘s performance during season 15, which cost them some points after they broke their hold while dancing a quickstep.

“The rules have gotten looser and looser each year!” Sosa, 24, replied. “Back than [sic] it wasn’t OK but now it is.”

Dancing With the Stars debuted on ABC in 2005 as viewers tuned in week after week to see celebrities paired off with professional dancers competing for judges’ points and audience votes.

When the competition series originally aired, Tom Bergeron was the emcee alongside a rotating list of cohosts, including Lisa Canning, Samantha Harris, Brooke Burke and Erin Andrews. Bergeron, 69, and Andrews, 46, were replaced in season 29 by Tyra Banks, who was later paired off with cohost Alfonso Ribeiro. Banks, 50, has since left the show while Ribeiro, 53, remained with Julianne Hough.

The judges have also changed over the years. Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli were the regular judges since the show premiered. Julianne, 36, occasionally took on the role of a full-time judge and her brother, Derek, 39, replaced Goodman for season 29 ahead of his death.

Producer Joe Sungkur previously broke down some of the DWTS rules audience members might not know about — starting with the scores.

“The judges have a piece of paper on their desk. After each dance they’ll write down their score. The piece of paper is then run frantically to the control room,” Sungkur told Business Insider in 2018. “Standards and practices from ABC then verifies that everything is fair and checks those scores, and we then go to the judges to reveal their scoring and we double-check that the score they hold up reflects the score they wrote down.”

Dancing With the Stars also happens to air live, which means there’s no room for mistakes.

“On live TV, there’s no second chances,” Sungkur added at the time. “There’s a total state of excitement, adrenaline is always running throughout veins throughout the show. Some of the most exciting things that happen are the ones you can’t predict and so we’re always looking to those special moments that people will be talking about the next day. Those few hours of high-octane live TV is why we do the job. We thrive on it and love it. That atmosphere is why we keep going.”

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