KISS bassist/singer Gene Simmons also served as a guest judge Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli And Derek Houghfor Tuesday night’s (October 8) episode “Hair Metal Night” of “Dancing with the Stars”. The episode saw the 11 couples return to the dance floor with routines to iconic rock ‘n’ roll anthems.

The evening started with the opening dance KISS‘S “Rock ‘n’ Roll All Night”choreographed by Pasha Pashkov and characterized WHITE SNAKE And TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA guitarist Joel Hoekstra.

The dancers competed to classic hair metal songs from the 1980s, among others BON JOVI‘S “Livin’ on a Prayer” And “You Give Love a Bad Name”, AEROSMITH‘S “Walk This Way”, DEPOSIT‘S “Cherry Pie”, EUROPE‘S “The Final Countdown”, TWISTED SISTER‘S “We’re not going to put up with it”, SILENT riot‘S “Come on, feel the noise”, POISON‘S “Nothing But a Good Time”, WHITE SNAKE‘S “Here I Go Again” And SCORPIONS‘ “Rock You Like A Hurricane”.

According to Forbes, Simmons was later criticized for his comments throughout the night, with some viewers calling him “creepy” for his sometimes superficial feedback that largely focused on looks and appearance. The musician gave Phaedra Parks a five, while the other judges all gave her sevens, which started to captivate the audience Parks and her partner, Val Chmerkovskiymade disbelieving faces. Simmons‘s score was all the more confusing considering he didn’t give Parks any negative feedback. He told it Parks And Chmerkovskiy that he was “a big fan of the bad-boy-and-the-bad girl” dynamic of their routine. Simmons also received a chorus of boos after revealing his score Reginald VelJohnsonto whom a cha cha was danced “I Wanna Rock” Through TWISTED SISTER with professional partner Emma Slater.

“Hi Reggie“You’ve got a beautiful woman next to you who can twist and turn it and knows how to move it and all that.” Simmons told VelJohnson before the counts are announced. “But I want to tell you that as a man who has been on stage all over the world for half a century, I’m kind of a big deal. Reggie. It’s all in the attitude. And you have something in that beautiful face. They love you.”

On X (earlier Tweet), where a user has been hacked into Simmonswrite: “Hey gene! I want to remind you that this is a dance show, NOT a beauty pageant. respectfully never come back and thank you #DWTS”. Another user wrote “phaedra got a 5, but he gave up streams a 10… gene simmons count your days. weird and rude comments all night long #DWTS”.

Some blamed “Dancing with the Stars” for invite Simmons primarily on the show. “You can really tell this guest judge is racist and sexist based on the scores he gives!” one person wrote. “This is absolutely ridiculous and a disgusting shame on you for having him as your judge!”

“Dancing with the Stars” is broadcast simultaneously ABC And Disney+ Tuesdays at 8pm ET. You can watch episodes at Disney+ the next day.