When Sean Spicer first appeared on Dancing with the Stars in a giant neon green blouse, no one particularly expected his tenure to in the competition to last very long. A celebrity for the most 2019 of reasons, Spicer's botched inaugural Salsa spelled immediate elimination. Yet, eight weeks later, he remains. His lingering presence on DWTS is baffling when considering the quality of his dancing and his abysmal judge scores. Now with only six dancer's remaining, Spicer's terrible average seems to be an afterthought. Equipped with a seemingly impenetrable wall of voters, he's primed to make it all the way to the finale.

Judges are also frustrated. In a post-show interview with Entertainment Tonight after the top six were revealed, the typically impartial Carie Ann Inaba said, "These people who are voting just to spite us or whatever reasons they're having in their heart—listen, I respect you, but how about having a little respect for the people who are working their butts off dancing?" Throughout this season, Spicer has maintained an average weekly score of 17.8 points out of 30 from the judges. He is handily the weakest technical dancer left in the mix, landing below two other eliminated teams' averages. An average that low typically guarantees a week one or two exit in past seasons, but that’s not the case this round. For reference, other dancers are regularly scoring in the 24-27 range from judges, Spicer remains in the 19-21 point area.

But judges' scores only account for a part of the criteria keeping a dancer in the competition. The official voting FAQ explains the process as follows:

Fans like you get to vote for your favorite couple(s) every step of the way. Your votes will be combined with the judges’ scores, and the couple(s) with the lowest combination of votes and scores will be up for elimination...This vote will be online at ABC.com and by SMS text. Both methods of voting will end during the last commercial break of the live ET/CT broadcast, shortly after all couples have danced. Each week, voting is open only during the live broadcast in the Eastern and Central time zones and will not be available during later broadcasts in the Mountain, Pacific, Alaska or Hawaii time zones.

Live voting makes up for those scores though, and as the competition narrows, Spicer lives on. While Dancing with the Stars keeps its voting algorithm fairly private, the notion is that a combination of viewers votes and judges' scores keep a competitor in the competition. The voting method has changed in recent years, attempting to simplify the process by having viewers text in a single name to a five digit number. Some have complained that the new technology has its own set of glitches.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

While I have nothing personal against Mr. Spicer I do blame the new format and technology glitches (or are they?) where voting doesn’t register conveniently (this was last week & guess who went home?) It’s made the program unwatchable. Does the BBC have a death toll for DWTS?🤷🏼‍♂️ https://t.co/ypI8gn2fsQ pic.twitter.com/hgS9hqbMk9 — William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) November 5, 2019

Even still, similar personalities and scorers would have been voted out by now based on how much the judges' scores drag down their overall average (see: Tucker Carlson, Rick Perry). Even with high popularity, low scorers typically don't last past week two, maybe three. Spicer's average—a full six points lower than the next lowest competitor—will carry him to week nine. And he hasn't just escaped elimination—he's never been declared to be in jeopardy of going home.

The most obvious explanation is to look at the audience votes that compensate for the abysmal scores. One potential explanation for the votes is the now-weekly appearances Spicer makes on Breitbart News Sunday to discuss DWTS. "There’s something about everything going on here and everybody out here in Breitbart Nation voting," he said on the show, begging for votes. While every contestant has some version of an online campaign, Spicer’s is different—an online campaign to save him isn’t particularly being run by people who watch the show. Instead, it’s a wall of people—viewers and non-viewers—rallying to stack votes in his favor to make a political statement. (A shoutout from Trump and a prompt response from his base certainly doesn't hurt either.) Even those rallying in the campaign admit that his dancing is terrible, but that’s not the point. The campaign to keep Spicer dancing is a troll-campaign attempting to carve out a place for Trump’s ideologies in the entertainment industry.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Vote for Sean Spicer on Dancing with the Stars. He is a great and very loyal guy who is working very hard! #MAGA https://t.co/JGvKANCRqZ — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2019

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

There’s still time to vote for @seanspicer!



Text SEAN to 21523 https://t.co/x1Oa9One9b — America First (@AmericaFirstPAC) October 29, 2019

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Get on it folks. Spicy needs you. 🌶 https://t.co/QBBJFUlOcG — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 22, 2019

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Wanna create an emotional meltdown in Hollyweird? Vote for @seanspicer to win "Dancing with the Stars" tonight and every night he's on. @seanspicer is a good guy and a brave sport to go on DWTS. Let's show him some love! https://t.co/UNI7xXVtwh pic.twitter.com/hlb2LeUFar — Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) September 16, 2019

The further you dive into conservative corners of social media, the more concentrated the campaign becomes. Echoes of “not being heard” and “not even a fan of the show” are frequent, but they all have the same refrain: vote for Spicer to make a point. The campaign urges conservatives to use their 10 votes to create wall of sorts, seemingly protecting Spicer week to week, placing popularity over skill and accomplishing the goal of keeping him on television.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Ok everyone. Let’s piss off those liberals!



Please help our very own Sean Spicer! Text “Sean” to 21523 right now!



IT’S FREE!



And you can vote up to 10 times. Do it for America! 🇺🇸 Retweet to increase his chances! — Silent no more. 🇺🇸 (@Keep_Texas_Red) October 29, 2019

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

@Tom_Bergeron @DancingABC you do realize if you had kept you liberal mouth shut Sean Spicer would have gone home several weeks ago! Morale of the story don’t piss off Republicans... we vote! #DWTS #Trump2020 🇺🇸 — Sandy (@sandyedavis63) October 29, 2019

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Jeez just called a dumfuck now stupid...you guys don't GET it!! We KNOW Sean is the worst dancer but finally have a way for our voice to be heard not shut down like the left is constantly doing through fakenews & social media! I thought the dems LOVED the popular vote!🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/m5yGYFY1rv — Marcat (@MarcyAnne9) October 29, 2019

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

@seanspicer SPICER/ARNOLD...GO TEAM...listening to you talk w/ @LarryOConnor can not wait to see you all this evening... should be awesome as Frankenstein...we will get you across finish line...thank you for doing this for the regular people of the US...🇺🇸👏🇺🇸👏will vote later — T.I.M. Miller Ret. Milt.🙏🚂🇺🇸 (@timm8466) October 28, 2019

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Had a good laugh reading all of the enraged tweets of incensed libs who hate that @seanspicer is crushing it on #DWTS this season!🤣 Keep up the great work Sean! America’s got your back!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 #MakeDancingGreatAgain 💃 pic.twitter.com/B0gvtaz2Ie — Bradley Stein (@_BradleyStein_) October 29, 2019

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

I don't really watch #DWTS28

But I will for good man @seanspicer and to vote for him to keep him as long as possible.



He's also suctioning the crazy neon like green shirt to help veterans 🇺🇸



👍 https://t.co/cCNBYaJkF5 — 💞 🇺🇸✨🥀😳💬 (@Roxesays) September 21, 2019

While there’s no way to ensure where votes are coming from, that dual system of judges' scores and viewer votes would indicate that fanfare—enough to compensate for bad scores—have to be coming from somewhere. And the votes for Spicer (placeable via text or Facebook) have been large enough to keep him well out of harm's way.

And to all of that, I suppose the bigger question is what exactly is the end game? Clearly it's getting Sean Spicer his own mirror ball trophy and a first place finish to "own the libs," but beyond that—what's the point? It feels more like a desperate grab for conservative relevancy in the entertainment industry its come to loathe.

Part of that vitriol feels reminiscent of past attempts to conjure up a place where conservative ideology fits in with entertainment. The reclaiming of Taylor Swift as a conservative hero was a bust. Roseanne's reboot was dismantled after a rise of racist tweets prompting a swift boycott of ABC, and a boycott of Toy Story 4 percolated after a conservative group deemed a lesbian scene inappropriate. Taylor Swift is doing fine, Roseanne became The Conners, and Toy Story 4 is the third-highest grossing film of the year.

There's something strangely appropriate that an online campaign could be what's keeping Sean Spicer on a reality show. He is the machination of reality television's most well-known figure, and the bowels of the internet prop him up in the same way that old voting hacks like DialIdol kept joke American Idol contestants in contention in the earliest years of the show. But this time, the ploy isn't just a campaign to troll one of America's most popular shows—it's an attempt to make the statement that a mirror ball trophy represents relevance. And they'll take what they can get, even if it's on a dance floor.

Justin Kirkland Justin Kirkland is a writer for Esquire, where he focuses on entertainment, television, and pop culture.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io