Mumbai: Choreographer and reality show judge Terence Lewis disclosed in an interview with Pinkvilla that fun moments shared by judges in ‘India’s Best Dancer’ were scripted to boost TRPs.
“I would never do that. I have never done it in 10 years of judging — I have never got up and brought a contestant on stage, saying, ‘Please ma’am.’ On India’s Best Dancer, our creative director told me, ‘Terence, please just go, it’ll look good. I’ll cut the moment and then the music will play.’ I was like, ‘I have to do this?’ She said, ‘Yes, we need good TRPs. People have already seen a lot of dance. Our contestants are great anyway, but if the judge also does something, the audience sitting at home will enjoy it more,’” the choreographer revealed.
Blaming the audience for preferring such scripted segments over actual performances, he added, “I never believed it. I said, ‘Bakwas (rubbish). Why would anybody be interested in seeing a judge do all this nonsense?’ But then they showed me the ratings — when I went on stage to bring a contestant, the ratings spiked. They have minute-to-minute data showing exactly when the audience switched or kept watching. It’s very sad to say this, but the maximum spikes in viewership happened during yeh masti (this fun). So now the audience is to be blamed, kyunki dance toh aap dekhte rehte ho (because you keep watching dance). So yes, it is scripted.”
The dance reality show has completed four seasons. The fourth season, hosted by Aniket Chauhan and Jay Bhanushali, had Karisma Kapoor, Geeta Kapur and Terence as judges.
The fifth season will be premiering later this year.
