Late-night TV personality Guillermo Rodriguez continues his remarkable run on Season 35 of Dancing with the Stars, defying bottom-tier scores from the judging panel thanks to an overwhelming wave of viewer support.

Partnered with professional dancer Witney Carson, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! sidekick kicked off the current season with a cha-cha that earned just 10 out of 30 points from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli—marking the second-lowest score in the show’s history behind Master P’s 8 in Season 2. Despite consistently placing at the bottom of the leaderboard with subsequent scores of 12 and 15, Rodriguez has comfortably survived every elimination, outlasting three higher-scoring contestants ahead of the show’s upcoming Super Bowl themed episode.

Rodriguez’s staying power is made possible by the show’s current scoring format, which evenly splits the outcome between judge evaluations and public votes. Following the controversial Season 27 victory of radio host Bobby Bones in 2018, producers briefly instituted a judges’ save rule to protect higher-rated dancers. However, executive producer Deena Katz confirmed the mechanism was officially eliminated in Season 32 to give full power back to audience voting, clearing the path for fan favorites like Rodriguez—and previously Andy Richter in Season 34—to make deep tournament runs regardless of technical marks.

Source: Compiled from various sources.