Spy: Dancing with the Stars NZ - could TikTok be the secret weapon

Was TikTok the secret weapon of Jazz Thornton and Brad Coleman?

Lotto presenter Sonia Gray's shock Dancing with the Stars exit left many fans confused and some left questioning the transparency of the voting system and some starting a "bring back Sonia" campaign.

A spokesperson for Warner Bros. Discovery told the Herald this week that when voting closed on Monday night, a "technical error" meant some viewers received spoilers, but it did not have any impact on the final result.

Technical issues aside, Spy can't help but wonder if TikTok could be the secret weapon to winning votes and more shock exits for the more famous names in the competition?

The social media app, which features short video clips and often dances along with trending songs, this week reached a mammoth 850,000 views for contestant, mental health advocate Jazz Thornton and dance partner Brad Coleman. The video showed the pair doing a hand slap, a popular TikTok trend right now, spliced with some of their DWTS journey.

Thornton, 27, has an astounding 1.8 million followers and her Tok game has been en pointe and polished leading up to the competition. Cleverly, she used the platform as a countdown to the first show.

The comments on her content are filled with fans rooting for her from all around the world. She also has accounts set up by fans on TikTok and people making video edits of her dances in the hope she will share them. They share her voting code.

Sonia Gray and Aaron Gilmore had a shock exit from the show.

Before the show started, videos of Thornton teaching Coleman TikTok dances got up to 1.3 million views. Her other DWTS-related posts have scored on average 500,000 views.

Thornton tells Spy she thinks it's cool to see people enjoying the content because she and Coleman have so much fun doing it and says mixing up TikTok styles with ballroom is a lot of fun.

"I basically go through and save all these different transition ideas when I see them ... So we have some pretty cool ones coming your way soon.

"We do TikToks as a warm-up before we rehearse. It's fun because it takes a while for Brad to get them, which makes me feel better when I can't pick up the ballroom steps. I also think that people love seeing behind the scenes of the show and rehearsals."

Other contestants with a TikTok presence are comedian Eli Matthewson with 34,000 followers, savvy media gal Brodie Kane with 11,600 followers and former reality show contestant Alex Vaz with 2000. All are mixing it up on the app and other contestants are expected to follow suit.

Thornton kindly shares the Tok love too, Kane and Enrique Johns have appeared in some of Thornton's videos, as they both share the same rehearsal time, as have Vaz and dance partner Brittany Coleman.

There will be more to come, Thornton thinks a TikTok of herself, Matthewson and Rhys Mathewson would go off.