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Q: How do they decide who gets which partner on "Dancing With the Stars"?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

The exact calculus involved in who is paired with whom in "Dancing With the Stars" is a mystery, but it is the show's producers who get to do it.

It even seems that the dancers know little more than we do.

When pro dancer Derek Hough was asked by "Entertainment Weekly" why he was paired with actress Jennifer Grey in the show's 11th season, he said, "I wish I knew how the producers paired people. If anyone knows, please tell me."

However, he said that they lucked out in that they had excellent chemistry anyway.

Other dancers have said similar things. When gossip site TMZ asked pro dancer Mark Ballas if he would be uncomfortable dancing with a given celebrity, he said, "We don't have a say or the prerogative to have a problem."

All that said, this past season the show added a new twist. The celebrities and pros were teamed up by the producers as usual at the beginning of the season, but they were switched up for one episode, and it was the audience who got to choose the temporary teams.

The switch episode yielded some controversy -- guest judge Julianne Hough (Derek's sister and a former "DWTS" pro) accused pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy of having "phone[d] it in" with temp partner Danica McKellar, so that he could hurry back to his regular partner, Meryl Davis.

 

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