Rider Strong and Will Friedle rally behind Dancing with the Stars' Danielle Fishel, accuses judges of bias

ABC Network’s hit reality TV show, Dancing with the Stars, which streams its episodes on Disney+ and Hulu, is currently on season 34. The show is currently in its eighth week, and one of the main contestants is Danielle Fishel.

She had recently opened up about her struggles being in the limelight and also how it affected her dance routine performances.

Her former co-stars from Boy Meets World, Rider Strong and Will Friedle, came to her defense recently on a podcast titled ‘Pod Meets Twirl’d’. 

Both of them, who are Danielle’s long-time friends, spoke out about the kind of bias that was pervasive in the show.

They voiced their opinions about Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli having their set of favorites, whom they seemed to score more than the other contestants, despite others outperforming them by a fair amount.

Rider said that he almost feels like he holds a personal vendetta against the judges, while Will said that Danielle really was working extremely hard.

Their comments came right after Danielle herself shared how difficult it was for her to overcome her negative self-talk, disordered eating, and low self-esteem and perform in front of the entire audience.

Details explored on Rider Strong and Will Friedle's defense for their friend Danielle Fishel, who is a contestant on Dancing with the Stars

ABC Network’s Dancing with the Stars, currently in its eighth week of season 34, has seen a number of scintillating performances from participants lately.

Danielle Fishel and her dance partner, Pasha Pashko, recently performed a Viennese waltz routine on Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ ‘Die With A Smile’ on the night of Halloween, which got them a 33 out of 40 score from the judges.

However, their score faced a dip from the previous week’s, where they had earned a 36 out of 40 when they performed an Argentinian tango dance routine on Cynthia Erivo’s ‘No Good Deed’.

Following that, Danielle Fishel’s co-stars, Rider Strong and Will Friedle, from Boy Meets World, defended her performances on the reality TV show on the podcast called ‘Pod Meets Twirl’d’.

Both of them angrily spoke about how they felt that all the judges, Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli, are extremely biased and have their own favorites whom they score more than the others.

Friedle said,

“Carrie Ann has her favorites, and she’ll have two or three that no matter what they do, they could walk on the stage, trip, hit their face, and she’d be like, ‘You tried so hard, 9!’”.

In the November 1, 2025, episode of the podcast, Friedle said that despite Danielle doing her best, including triple flips in her routines, Carrie continuously chooses to judge her and find faults. 

Rider Strong supported Friedle’s anger and said that it was valid, and he, too, felt the same way.

He said that it almost felt like he had a personal vendetta against the judges now, since they do not appreciate Danielle’s hard work.

He said,

“I’m with you, man. I held back the anger. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. At this point, it’s starting to feel like a personal vendetta”.

Both of them said that they agreed on how much Danielle has improved since the beginning of the season, and yet she has not received any recognition or acknowledgement for the same.

Stay tuned for more updates.