--- title: Simone Biles Reminds DWTS Judges She's Not Here to Smile description: The Olympic gymnast clapped back at critiques that she wasn't smiling enough during her 'Dancing with the Stars' performances. canonical: https://time.com/4772305/simone-biles-dwts-smile/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-09T16:29:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:31.454Z og:title: Simone Biles: "Smiling Doesn't Win You Gold Medals" og:description: The Internet is praising her for clapping back on 'Dancing with the Stars' og:url: https://time.com/4772305/simone-biles-dwts-smile/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Simone Biles: "Smiling Doesn't Win You Gold Medals" twitter:description: The Internet is praising her for clapping back on 'Dancing with the Stars' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Simone Biles Reminds Everyone She's Not Here to Smile for the Judges ## Video: Simone Biles: Behind the TIME Olympics Cover [Watch (HLS stream): Simone Biles: Behind the TIME Olympics Cover](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2FIDJXWJ.m3u8) (0:40)  _Published 2016-07-27_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner May 9, 2017 4:29 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner May 9, 2017 4:29 PM UTC [Verified superstar](http://time.com/collection-post/4736292/simone-biles/) and Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles is one of the [greatest athletes](http://time.com/4576340/simone-biles-on-colbert/) of our time. And she has a message for anyone out there who expects her to tone down her level of focus: it’s not happening. “Smiling doesn’t win you gold medals,” she told _Dancing with the Stars_ host Tom Bergeron after getting criticized for her facial expressions [during week eight](http://www.today.com/popculture/simone-biles-fires-back-dwts-judges-smiling-doesn-t-win-t111344?cid=sm%5Fnpd%5Fnn%5Ftw%5Fma) of the TV ballroom dance competition. (Biles and her partner Sasha Farber have consistently wowed audiences with their foxtrots, tangos, and paso dobles over the course of season 24, handily earning her a place in the semifinals next week alongside Fifth Harmony’s [Normani Kordei](http://time.com/4606216/fifth-harmony-camila-cabello/), football player Rashad Jennings, and baseball player David Ross, making for a seriously athletic final field.) She had been critiqued during the course of the evening’s two dances by all the judges for not smiling enough; they argued they found her look either inauthentic or too much like a “metronome.” But her now-iconic comment came after host Bergeron asked her why she wasn’t smiling when the judges _did_ compliment her. Either way, fans are here for Simone, rooting for her fiery response and commitment to trying something new. > [](https://twitter.com/mackiemann/status/861760341553885188) > [](https://twitter.com/EricJ%5FMueller/status/861759470636064768) > [](https://twitter.com/jinde/status/861964627709763584) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4772305/simone-biles-dwts-smile/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4772305/simone-biles-dwts-smile/"},"headline":"Simone Biles Reminds Everyone She's Not Here to Smile for the Judges","datePublished":"2017-05-09T16:29:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:31.454Z","description":"The Olympic gymnast clapped back at critiques that she wasn't smiling enough during her 'Dancing with the Stars' performances.","url":"https://time.com/4772305/simone-biles-dwts-smile/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","dance","Simone Biles"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4772305/simone-biles-dwts-smile/","name":"Simone Biles Reminds Everyone She's Not Here to Smile for the Judges"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Simone Biles: Behind the TIME Olympics Cover","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2FIDJXWJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-07-27T22:36:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2FIDJXWJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4772305/simone-biles-dwts-smile/","duration":"PT40S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4772305/simone-biles-dwts-smile/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```