Over the years, many celebs have joined the cast of Dancing With the Stars to help rehabilitate their image. The reason why is that during the course of the season, viewers get to know the celebrity contestants a bit better and the contestants are able to show their humanity and prove that they are hard-working through all the long hours they put in rehearsals every week.
Celebrities such as Olivia Jade have successfully gotten people to like them after receiving a lot of backlash from negative press. Some other celebrities, such as Carol Baskin or Paula Deen haven't had as much success when it comes to winning over fans. Let's take a look at all the various celebrities who have used Dancing With the Stars to help rehab their negative image by learning how to dance in the ballroom.
8 Ryan Lochte Rehabbed His Image On Dancing With the Stars
Ryan Lochte made headlines for his drunken behavior in Rio during the Olympics and ended up competing on Dancing With the Stars in an attempt to rehab his image. He ended up finishing in 7th place after a bunch of protestors attacked him earlier in the season. The first song he danced to on the series was "Call Me Irresponsible," which was obviously fitting, given his previous behavior in Rio. Given he finished in 7th place, he must have been receiving votes from fans, which is a good sign for him.
7 Olivia Jade Rehabbed Her Image On Dancing With the Stars
Olivia Jade, most known for the college admissions scandal that landed her mother, Lori Loughlin, in prison, came off as hard-working and humble on the show but went home earlier than expected due to low votes from fans. She did come off as a bit likable, though, and was definitely one of the best dancers during her season on the show.
6 Bristol Palin Rehabbed Her Image On Dancing With the Stars
Bristol Palin's mother, Sarah Palin, received a lot of hate for her ditzy political persona and Bristol Palin was targeted for becoming a teen mom. She appeared in two seasons of Dancing With the Stars and ended up in third place during her first season, receiving a ton of fan votes, seeing as the judges consistently gave her low scores.
5 Leah Remini Rehabbed Her Image On Dancing With the Stars
Leah Remini sparked a lot of attention for leaving Scientology. Just a few months after that, she joined the cast of Dancing With the Stars. During a package shown before her first dance on the show, Remini spoke about how the church of Scientology was hoping she would fail on the series, as punishment for leaving the church. Remini ended up finishing in 5th place, which is very respectable.
4 Sean Spicer (Tried To) Rehab His Image On Dancing With the Stars
After all the backlash Sean Spicer received after being a member of the Trump administration, Spicer made it further into the competition than many fans believed he should have. However, he continued to rack up fan votes which kept him in the competition. The dance competition series did attempt to rehab his image by showing him as a humble and self-aware human in the packages they showed before each of his dance performances.
3 Sadie Robertson Rehabbed Her Image On Dancing With the Stars
After Sadie Robertson's grandfather made some homophobic comments, the Duck Dynasty family received a lot of backlash. Robertson made it all the way to the finals on Dancing With the Stars and seemed to strike up a very real friendship with her partner, Mark Ballas, so she clearly won over a bunch of fans while dancing on the show. Robertson's appearance on the show might have been the most successful for a celebrity trying to rehab their image. After all, she's not the one who made the homophobic comments; she was just guilty by association.
2 Kate Gosselin (Tried To) Rehab Her Image On Dancing With the Stars
After her very public split from her husband, Jon Gosselin, Kate Gosselin went on Dancing With the Stars to rehab her image. It didn't go so well. Her partner, Tony Dovolani, confessed on Anderson Cooper's talk show that he and Gosselin "didn't dance" on the reality show. Yikes. He also said that "there was a lot of therapy involved" after he had her as his partner. Yikes again. For what it's worth, Gosselin did end up in 8th place.
1 Paula Deen (Tried To) Rehab Her Image On Dancing With the Stars
Paula Deen felt that some of the professionals at Dancing With the Stars didn't want her there, according to what she told E! News, after she was eliminated in 9th place on the series. She was attempting to rehab her image after using the N-word, which caused her to lose her cooking show as well as her sponsorships. Unfortunately for Paula, the attempt to rehab her image on Dancing With the Stars didn't go as well as she might have hoped.