After the judge received backlash over how she scored several performances, including Robert Irwin’s, on Dedication Night, she responded to the criticism on Instagram.
Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba is speaking out after fans criticized some of her scoring decisions on the latest episode.
On Wednesday, Inaba shared an Instagram post, celebrating Tuesday’s Dedication Night episode, in which the stars paid homage to a special person in their lives, and invited the honored guests to be part of their dances. Alongside Inaba and her fellow judges, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, the episode featured the return of DWTS alum, Kym Johnson Herjavec, with Inaba sharing a photo of herself and Herjavec.
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However, many fans took to the comments section of the post to express their frustrations and criticism of Inaba’s scoring of Tuesday’s performances, including her decision to give Robert Irwin and his partner Witney Carson a 8, unlike the rest of the judges who gave the pair a 9. Meanwhile, Inaba scored Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas with 9, while the other judges gave the two all 8s. Influencer Dylan Efron and his partner Daniella Karagach received all 9s from the judges, including Inaba.
“Your favoritism is weird,” a viewer wrote on Inaba’s post, while another fan wrote in a popular comment, “Giving Whitney a 9 but Robert an 8, GIRLLL please get it together.”
“You giving Robert an 8 though! 😮 You know he outperformed Dylan, as much as I love him!” another said, to which Inaba then chimed in and addressed the criticism.
“It’s okay to disagree about what we see. That’s what makes our show great,” she wrote, replying to the user. “You have a say in the matter. We want you to vote for what you love and believe in. I appreciate your comment and the way you expressed your feelings. ❤️”
“thank you for your passion and your opinion. 🙌, ” she added.
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In addition to receiving backlash online, Inaba — who has appeared as a judge on the series for all 34 seasons — was even booed from the in-studio audience over her comments about Boy Meets World alum Danielle Fishel and her partner Pasha Pashkov’s jive routine, which was set to the iconic show’s theme song and featured a sweet appearance from Mr. Feeny himself, William Daniels, 98.
“I love a throwback, but I have to say this. Some of your dances are starting to feel like I’m watching the same dance over and over again,” she said, to which the audience booed.
Inaba went on, “Try to give a little bit more variety as far as dynamics. This is also on you, Pasha.”
Pashkov, meanwhile, reacted to Inaba’s criticism in an interview with Variety.
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“I was not happy. I always get protective. For me, that comment felt unfair, especially being that she said that the dances looked similar. But the thing is, we did have a quickstep and we had a jive this week. These are two dances that very, very similar,” he explained. “If we had dances that were drastically different and they felt the same, I’d understand. But, based on the dances that we had, that did not feel like it made sense to me.”
“In my heart, I’m overprotective because I know how hard Danielle is working. I don’t think she deserved that comment,” he added.
Fortunately, no one was sent home on Dedication Night.
Dancing with the Stars returns for “Wicked Night” next Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+.
