Dancing With The Stars Scandals We're Still Talking About

Dancing with the Stars began life in 2005 as a cheesy, breezy, summer replacement show. It's a TV juggernaut now, with a proven formula that works, season after season. But during that first season, there was controversy over whether the contest was rigged. The finalists: General Hospital star Kelly Monaco, and Seinfeld's J. Peterman, John

Dancing with the Stars began life in 2005 as a cheesy, breezy, summer replacement show. It's a TV juggernaut now, with a proven formula that works, season after season. But during that first season, there was controversy over whether the contest was rigged. The finalists: General Hospital star Kelly Monaco, and Seinfeld's J. Peterman, John O'Hurley. While Hurley and partner Charlotte Jørgensen (above) frequently scored top marks, Monaco's appearance in the finale was unexpected, as she and partner Alec Mazo stood solidly in the middle of the field. Both celebrities were on point for their final dances, however, and after the first round of scores, Team O'Hurley led Team Monaco 27 to 25. In the second round, Monaco and Mazo earned three perfect 10s from the judging panel, giving them a 55 to 54 edge. But that only accounted for part of the the score — viewer votes made up the rest. When those were tallied, Monaco won the competition.

O'Hurley fans were livid. According to Today, the show's producers received suggestions that the judges were instructed to vote for Monaco because her show, General Hospital, aired on ABC, same as DWTS. Rather than allow the results of this TV dance show to be seen as less than legitimate by anyone, producers arranged the first (and only) dance-off in show history. O'Hurley won that time, but Monaco remains the show's winner of record.

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