The Dancing With the Stars contestants are putting their body on the line as they pull out all the stops each week to get an edge.
Speaking on the Thursday, November 13 episode of her podcast, “Misspelling,” Tori Spelling, 52, questioned if contestant, Robert Irwin, had an unfair advantage.
In Tuesday night’s episode, Robert, 21, and his dance partner Witney Carson nabbed the season’s first perfect score for their foxtrot performance. Robert said the dance was inspired by his sister Bindi’s own season-winning dance back in 2016, when she danced in tribute to the siblings’ late father, Steve Irwin. At the end of Tuesday night’s dance, Robert and Bindi shared an emotional moment on the dance floor.
While discussing the touching moment on her podcast, Spelling wondered if including the dedication was fair to the other contestants.
“You know, I’m a stickler for fairness. Here I go, here we go. So like, Dedication Night, you got to have someone come out with your partner and dance with you. This was reminiscent a bit at the end, Bindi got to come out with Robert and Witney. Is that fair to the rest?” Spelling wondered. “You know, I don’t think so.”
She added that while she believed Robert and Carson deserved their perfect score “even without the Bindi factor,” she pointed out that it could have swayed things in the wildlife warrior’s favor.
“I’m not negating that Robert and Witney, even without the bindi factor, I thought it deserved all 10s. It was flawless. It was fluid. It was everything they have asked him to work on, to do. He was connected. It was gorgeous. Of course, I loved the video of him and his dad and family coming up and then Bindi joining him,” she said, before pointing out, “You know, they got the package with the alligator, like no one else got that.”
Bindi Irwin, Robert Irwin, Witney Carson. (Photo by Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images)
Robert has previously expressed his gratitude for having his big sister in his corner and shared with Us Weekly in May that he was leaning on her past experience with the show.
“You have no idea how grateful I am to have Bindi, who went through this experience,” he gushed to Us at the time. “Not only did she do Dancing With the Stars, I mean, she won Dancing With the Stars and just was such an incredible shining light. I remember watching [her] on that show just thinking, ‘This is the coolest thing ever.’”
For her part, Bindi, 27, told Us in the same interview that Robert “has way more rhythm and cool factor” than other family members and thought he’d do well on DWTS.
“You can learn to dance, but the genuine passion, dedication, determination that comes from within, and that’s what I think will set you apart, because you genuinely are a really good human,” she told Us. “[Robert is] one of the kindest, most wonderful human beings I’ve ever known. So he’s got this. He has nothing to be worried about.”
She added, “All we have to be worried about is him breaking the internet every week.”
