Gene Simmons slammed for ‘uncalled for’ scoring and ‘sexist’ comments on ‘DWTS’ — as cast reacts
It was one of those “Crazy Crazy Nights” for Gene Simmons.
The rock legend appeared as a guest judge for Hair Metal Night on “Dancing With the Stars” Tuesday, leaving fans outraged by his scoring and feedback.
The 75-year-old told the first performers of the night, Danny Amendola and partner Witney Carson, he couldn’t figure out who was more “hot hot hot” between the two.
Simmons started out judging on a high note, giving the athlete, 38, and pro dancer, 30, a nine while the duo received sevens from the other judges.
Later in the show, he tried to give Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko the first 10 of the season but had already locked in a nine, so the score didn’t count.
As for how Savchenko, 41, felt about the mix-up? He exclusively told The Post, “We just say this is the first 10 of the season, and that was us.”
The supermodel, 28, echoed her partner’s sentiments, adding, “We made history this season — the first 10. We’re still counting it.”
As the night continued, Simmons shocked performers with his low scores. “The Bachelorette” star Jenn Tran earned eights from Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli, but the KISS vocalist and bass player quipped “don’t hate me” before giving her a seven.
“He messed it all up, Gene, goddammit,” Tran’s partner Sasha Farber joked to The Post.
“Not even the scores, but the commentary was crazy,” the reality TV star remarked.
What made it even more of a head-scratching score was that during the dance, Simmons said to Tran, “Besides being beautiful, you deliver.”
Phaedra Parks also got the short end of the stick when it came to the musician’s singing.
She received a five from Simmons, while her dance earned her sevens from the remaining three judges.
The crowd booed as the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star, 50, and her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, 38, made shocked faces. They continued to shake their heads as Chandler Kinney covered her mouth in disbelief before mouthing, “What’s going on?”
Co-host Julianne Hough also looked stunned by Simmons’ scoring after he told the duo that he was “a big fan of the bad boy and the bad girl” dynamic of their routine.
“It’s a wild night tonight,” the 36-year-old said on air with a shrug. “All right, well, we can’t say it enough times, you have to vote to save your favorites from tonight’s double elimination.”
Throughout the night, the rock star called Reginald VelJohnson’s partner Emma Slater “a beautiful woman” and said that Kinney “fogged up my glasses” and that she “moved me, not just with your gyrations and such but with your beautiful face.”
After the show, Kinney and partner Brandon Armstrong chimed in on Simmons’ unorthodox judging.
“It was like trying to follow a gnat in a hurricane,” Armstrong explained to The Post. “It just was like I could not keep track of what he was saying, but good on him.”
“It was entertaining for sure,” the “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” actress said. “I couldn’t predict what he was going to say next, so if that’s not good TV, I don’t know what is.”
Viewers felt the same, with one user writing on X, “@officialdwts don’t ever have @genesimmons guest judge ever again. Sexist comments … giving Phaedra a 5?! Totally uncalled for. I hope you apologized Witney as well.”
Another person commented, “@officialdwts What was up with Gene Simmons scoring being all over the place? Stick with guest judges that understand the dancing process and the scoring process. So looking forward to @MarkBallas guest judging next week.”
An online critic shared, “We went from a qualified guest judge like Rosie Perez to an unhinged mess like Gene Simmons #DWTS,” while another said, “It needs to be said that Gene Simmons was the worst guest judge on DWTS last night. Inappropriate and icky …”
