When it comes to reality TV franchise fandoms, it's hard to imagine one as passionate and vocal as Bachelor Nation. For better or worse, there are always hot takes aplenty during a season of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, or any of the other spinoffs. For former Bachelorette Charity Lawson, however, her most intense fandom experience has been with Dancing with the Stars Season 32 viewers, and not in a good way. She recently opened up about the commentary she faced online, just under a year after her season of DWTS premiered.
Charity Lawson dropped by former DWTS pro Cheryl Burke's Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast to open up about her experience on the show with pro partner Artem Chigvintsev. While she only had got things to say about working with Chigvintsev, her story of the bullying that she received by fans was such that Burke described it as "shocking." Lawson responded:
Is it shocking? I don’t know. That’s the thing. I don’t know if it’s shocking. I think to a certain degree it was expected, and that’s why I say coming off of Bachelorette, I was like, ‘Oh I can handle it.’ Because obviously we know that’s a very conservative [audience]… They’re very harsh. I was like, ‘I have experience on The Bachelor and Bachelorette. I’m good.’ So I came into the Dancing with the Stars fanbase like ‘This is gonna be a piece of cake,’ only to the point where it was so much worse than Bachelor and Bachelorette. To the point where I was getting death threats for existing.
Bachelor Nation fans had plenty to say about Charity Lawson's season of The Bachelorette, including but certainly not limited to speculating whether she accidentally spoiled the finale ahead of time. Apparently, all of her experience first as a contestant in Season 27 of The Bachelor and then lead of The Bachelorette Season 20 wasn't enough to prepare her for the vitriol of the Dancing with the Stars fandom.
I watched her season of DWTS and loved her performances week in and week out, to the point that I felt all Bachelor Nation fans should tune in to watch her dance. Apparently, comments on social media turned her time on the show into a very different experience than what was apparent on camera. Lawson explained some of what she was criticized for:
For not performing enough, for being conceited, for being entitled, for being the biggest bitch on the cast. No, it’s crazy. I’m telling you this, and for anyone who doesn’t know, I’m saying this too. This is the first time I’m openly talking about it because the only thing I’ve ever shared about the treatment I got on the show was the statement that my brother put out at the end of the season. But I never talked about it because it got to the point where I was like, ‘I have to choose to protect my peace and not even give any attention to this.’ It was so damaging. Night in, night out. It was awful.
Charity Lawson ultimately came in fourth in Dancing with the Stars Season 32, so kudos to her for managing to keep performing despite everything she was going through and unable to really talk about with anybody other them Artem. She shared with Cheryl Burke that "Nobody knew, the pros didn't know." Even though the comments of the official DWTS social media page would be flooded with insults towards her, nothing was done. Understandably, Lawson got emotional while sharing the story with Burke.
And Cheryl Burke knows a thing or two about the pressure of dancing on DWTS, even though she never went through the same ordeal as the former Bachelorette. She was a pro dancer for almost every season going back to the second, up until her exit ahead of Season 32. She was left out of the touching tribute performance in Len Goodman's memory despite the returns of many other pros, and said just earlier this year that she didn't think her relationship with the show "could get worse."
Fortunately, that hasn't stopped her from connecting with former celeb and pro dancers on her podcast, including SNL alum Christ Kattan, Damian Whitewood, Ashly DelGrosso, and Bethany Mota, to name just some of the most recent. As for Charity Lawson, you can revisit her season of Dancing with the Stars streaming with a Disney+ subscription.
