Yahoo News This year's Dancing with the Stars is already causing controversy
The full line-up for Dancing with the Stars 2021 (the US version of Strictly) was confirmed earlier this week, with a raft of celebs set to shake their tail feathers in the show's 30th season.
Our very own Mel C, US gymnast Sunisa Lee, The Bold Type's Melora Hardin and screen veteran Martin Kove (Cobra Kai, The Karate Kid) are just some of the famous faces who will be dipped in sequins and spun out onto the dancefloor. But there was one name in particular which has dominated conversation for all of the wrong reasons.
This year's cast also includes Olivia Jade Giannulli, the daughter of Lori Loughlin (Full House, 90210, When Calls the Heart) and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli. For a lot of people, that is a problem.
Back in May 2020, Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded guilty to their involvement in a US college admissions scam. The pair paid Rick Singer, a college admissions counsellor, a hefty sum ($500,000 according to prosecutors) to ensure that Olivia Jade and her sister secured places at the University of Southern California, one of the most in demand colleges in the US.
A key part of the scam involved feigning athletic ability, with both Olivia Jade and her sister presented as accomplished coxswains, despite no experience or interest in the sport of rowing.
Loughlin received a two-month prison sentence, two years of supervised release, a $150,000 fine and 100 hours of community service for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. Giannulli was sentenced to five months in prison and two years of supervised release, plus a $250,000 fine and 250 hours of community service for those same charges, plus one count of honest services wire and mail fraud.
More than 50 people were initially charged with involvement in the scandal, including Felicity Huffman (American Crime, Desperate Housewives, Sports Night), who was also found guilty.
Before news of her parents' wrongdoing broke, Olivia Jade was enjoying success as a fashion and beauty influencer, filming YouTube vlogs and working with brands such as Princess Polly and Sephora. As you'd expect, all of that hit a brick wall when her parents were found guilty. Her ties with big brands were severed, her social media output was put on pause and comments on her Instagram account remain limited. But the news cycle has moved on and her rehabilitation tour continues.
"I think what's so important to me is to learn from the mistake, not to now be shamed and punished and never given a second chance because I'm 21," she said on Red Table Talk back in December 2020. "I feel like I deserve a second chance to redeem myself, to show I've grown."
In a recent interview with PEOPLETV, Olivia Jade said that she's "not proud of the past", but reiterated that she's "still young" and "believes in second chances", adding: "I want to keep evolving as a person, and I think sometimes it takes kind of difficult situations and mistakes and stuff that we're really not proud of to do that. Obviously I wish I could go back in time and kind of do a lot of stuff, but I think it's kind of important to me now to just keep learning and see where the world takes me."
But despite Olivia Jade's defence, social media is awash with condemnation of her involvement on the show, with numerous people actively wanting her to fall flat on her face, both literally and metaphorically. But surely, shouldn't our ire lie with the DWTS casting department for making this happen?
A more repentant individual might have politely declined any involvement, and there's certainly something both tone deaf and indecorous about taking up this offer. But it's also entirely unsurprising that Olivia Jade said yes to an opportunity that's both exciting and highly lucrative.
Contestants are paid $125,000 for the rehearsal period and their first two weeks on the air, according to several Variety sources. And if they progress beyond that, they receive additional fees each week, with the maximum sum rumoured to be $295,000.
It will also likely open up more doors to her once again, as well as potentially shifting the public's perception of her into a more favourable light. Some might say it's somewhat plucky of her to throw herself into such a public arena given the reputation that precedes her, but all of the above will likely soften that blow.
There's every chance that Olivia Jade would have bagged herself a spot on the show without being swept up in the admissions scandal. Influencers have become a go-to for reality TV shows, drawing in younger viewers that would previously have swerved the likes of DWTS, which naturally translates into ratings and votes. But it is undoubtedly Olivia Jade's notoriety which has landed her this opening rather than makeup routines or day-in-the-life vlogs, which leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth.
It's paramount when talking about Olivia Jade's role in the admissions scheme that her juvenility is taken into account, alongside the responsibility borne by her parents and the privileged environment in which she has been shaped, which can foster a superiority complex that rejects rules followed by the common people.
But while forgiveness is not only fair but necessary if we're to move forwards at all, Olivia Jade's ballroom debut is inextricably tied up with her misdemeanour, which says an awful lot about who we place value on as a society, and the many different forms that "second chances" can take – and who is granted them.
You Might Also Like
