![Bristol Palin on 'Dancing With the Stars'](https://web.archive.org/web/20101120111958im_/http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tvsquad.com/media/2010/11/bristol-palin-dwts.jpg)
There's been a lot of conspiracy theorizing about
Bristol Palin's survival on
'Dancing With the Stars,' even after so many clearly stronger competitors have been eliminated.
The prevailing theory is that Tea Partiers, rallying around a mission they've dubbed 'Operation Bristol,' are gaming the voting system and favoring Palin -- not for her ballroom skills but because they're political supporters of her mother, Sarah Palin. It's a theory that's been cited not just by industry observers at outlets like
TV Squad or
The Hollywood Reporter, but also by the show's executive producer,
Conrad Green. It even got an airing from ABC's
Jimmy Kimmel. During his post-show interview with
Brandy and her partner
Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who were shockingly voted off on Tuesday despite having earned a perfect score from the judges on Monday,
Kimmel asked the pair, "Do you believe there is an organized tea party voting bloc? Maksim, you're from Russia, right, you know about these blocs and this sort of thing."
Now, women's site
Jezebel claims to have evidence that conservatives are exploiting a loophole in ABC's e-mail voting system to cast extra votes for Palin. Jezebel's evidence, however, is far from conclusive.