Welp, there’s more drama behind the scenes on Dancing With the Stars. The celeb cast and their pro partners reportedly feel like Savannah Bananas star Jackson Olson is getting an unfair advantage thanks to the cross-promotional campaign for Disney+’s Banana Bowl, which is getting him extra exposure (and potentially impacting the audience vote).
“There is a lot of frustration with the pros and the contestants about how much Disney and ABC is promoting Jackson,” a source tells The Sun. “Because of the Banana Bowl, he was all over their social media pages, morning shows, pop-up ads on the streamer, and ads during the show too. All of that adds up and gives enough exposure to impact the votes. The other stars on the show know this and don’t think it’s fair.”
The insider adds that “They don’t hold it against Jackson, they know it’s not a fault on him and it’s a network decision. Still, it doesn’t help the frustrations that one person is getting more exposure than the rest.”
Ultimately, the concern is that Jackson has a leg up in the competition when it comes to the audience vote. As the source put it, “The repeated exposure matters: viewers who see a contestant on TV and commercials may become more familiar with him than with competitors who are promoted primarily through DWTS itself.”
Take this all with a grain of salt since no one has spoken out on the record, but...something to think about!