DWTS’ Lindsay Arnold Recalls Getting ‘Demoted’ After 1st Season on ABC Competition: ‘A Total Pay Cut’
usmagazine.comOpening up. When Lindsay Arnold joined the professional lineup of Dancing With the Stars in March 2013, she thought she hit the career jackpot — until being demoted to a troupe member.“Dancing With the Stars called, and they were like, ‘We want you to do this season,’ so I pushed [college] back again,” the So You Think You Can Dance alum, 28, explained during the January 31 episode of Jason Tartick’s “Trading Secrets” podcast. “Then, I think after that first season of Dancing With the Stars, I realized, like, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t need to go to college right now.’ … It just fell into place.”Arnold’s first season aired in March 2013, when she was partnered with boxer Victor Ortiz during season 16.
However, she claimed he had a “difficult personality,” which hindered their working relationship and contributed to her “demotion.”“Then, I was given the boot down to troupe for four or five seasons,” she recalled to the Bachelorette alum, 33. “And then brought [back] up to pro.
I wasn’t ready. I just was not ready. Honestly, that was probably one of the hardest parts of my career even though it’s such an incredible job; it’s an amazing job.”While she gushed about her DWTS work now — including her season 25 win with Jordan Fisher — she admitted that she was initially saddened to be downgraded to a troupe member for those four seasons. (The troupe members do not dance with celebrity partners but rather perform in intro or “bumper” numbers with the other pros.)“In hindsight, I know that I wasn’t quite ready.
I needed to find out who I was, first of all,” Arnold said, noting her salary was cut in half. “And, what’s interesting is, when I say to you that it is a different kind of work, but you put in more hours on troupe sometimes than
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