Being asked to dance: Evidence of racial bias in audience voting behavior on the television show Strictly Come Dancing.

Abstract

Strictly Come Dancing is a celebrity dance competition and one of the most diverse programs on British television. Nonetheless, this current research investigated whether racial bias was detectable in the pattern of celebrity contestants who were repeatedly assigned to the "dance-off" due to low levels of audience support. This study used a preregistered, cross-sectional analysis strategy on public data about celebrity contestants in Seasons 10-19 of Strictly Come Dancing, their average scores for their dances, and the number of dance-offs to which they were assigned. Moderation analyses revealed a three-way interaction between celebrity race, professional dancer race, and average dance scores. The contestants most likely to be assigned to repeated dance-offs were racial minority celebrities who were paired with racial minority professional dancers and achieved high scores from the judges. Implications for media representation, diversity, and inclusion are discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementStrictly Come Dancing is a very popular and diverse British television show. However, racial minorities, particularly high-performers, are treated more negatively on Strictly Come Dancing (i.e., assigned to the dance-off more often). This research shows how bottom-up processes (i.e., audience participation) can lead to media that is highly diverse, but in which minorities are treated unfavorably.