‘Dancing With the Stars’ Has a Judging Problem

Courtesy Mary FamaThe Carrie Ann Inaba hate started in earnest back in season 5 of Dancing With the Stars, when she called out pro Tony Dovolani for performing an illegal lift during his Viennese waltz routine with Jane Seymour. Tony’s response? He presented Carrie Ann with a ballroom rule book the following night.

“Because she does not know anything about ballroom, I figured she should at least read the rule book,” Tony told People at the time. “I highlighted the parts I wanted her to read, including the description of what a lift is.”

He claimed that Carrie Ann “laughed about it and gave me the finger,” but regardless of how she reacted, a dangerous precedent was set. From then on, pros, participants, and viewers alike seemingly decided that Carrie Ann Inaba was not deserving of respect.

It’s true that—unlike Len Goodman and Derek Hough—Carrie Ann does not have a competitive ballroom pedigree…but neither does Bruno Tonioli. It’s also true that Carrie Ann is the only judge to consistently call out illegal lifts…but, as she explained in a 2017 Facebook post, “I am the only one who takes off a point for lifts, which I think is fair, because if we all did, the contestants’ scores would suffer greatly for something that is not that serious of a crime.”

I think that most people’s problem with Carrie Ann stems not from her lack of ballroom experience or “lift policing” but rather deep-rooted misogyny. Don’t believe me? Let’s get into it.

During season 29, when Carrie Ann deducted a point from Kaitlyn Bristowe and Artem Chigvintsev’s jive for an illegal lift, fans accused her of unfairly targeting Artem (who, as you might recall, she’d dated from 2006 to 2009).

“At this point, it starts being a little personal,” Artem told Entertainment Tonight in an interview following the episode. Rather than acknowledging that a lift did, indeed, take place, he accused Carrie Ann of being a bitter ex, which led to a flood of online bullying.

A few years later, while chatting with The Sun, former pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy (who previously said, “Fuck Carrie Ann, next question,” backstage to reporters after he and Hope Solo landed at the bottom of the leaderboard during season 13) again called Carrie Ann’s ability into question.

“I don’t know what Carrie Ann is saying at all,” he said, later adding, “So far, I haven’t heard anything that would resonate for a dancer in a dance rehearsal.”

And, of course, we can’t have this conversation without talking about Val Chmerkovskiy’s reaction to Carrie Ann flagging an illegal lift during his wife Jenna Johnson’s samba with Harry Shum Jr. this season.

Was it a bit snarky for Carrie Ann to read Jenna the NDCA definition of a lift on-air (for the second time, I might add, as this same exact scenario also happened during season 28)? Perhaps. But it’s undeniable that Val’s reaction was disproportionate to the supposed crime.

In addition to (seemingly) threatening physical violence against Carrie Ann with what he claimed was simply a “meme,” Val also made a “joke” to Entertainment Tonight about knowing where Carrie Ann “parks her car” following the September 29 episode, noting that he would give it “a different design” if Carrie Ann continued to be “too hard” on his partner, Jenna Dewan.

Even after Val received a suspension for his remarks, several fans concluded that Carrie Ann was to blame. A rumor even spread that Carrie Ann was the one to contact BBC Studios’ HR department, which has since been debunked by outlets like E! News and People.

It’s not just the male pros who seem to have it out for Carrie Ann. It’s Derek and Bruno, who—rather than supporting and siding with their colleague—pull faces and crack jokes when her critiques don’t land well with the dancers. It’s the audience members, who boo in response to anything less than high praise. It’s the fan base at home, taking to comment sections to criticize Carrie Ann’s ability and motives and tone and attitude and clothes and hair. No matter what she says, she can’t seem to win.

Call her inconsistent if you want (although, for the record, when Carrie Ann said, “Who cares about lifts?” after Witney Carson and Robert Irwin’s foxtrot, it was because it was a Dedication Night routine honoring Robert’s late father, Steve Irwin). Call her a bit tougher on the female dancers (although she’s admitted herself that she’s “maybe a bit more frank” with women because “I feel like women are tougher than men in some ways”).

What you cannot do is make her feel unsafe for doing her job. This is people’s livelihood, yes. But it’s also a reality show teaching influencers, athletes, and nostalgia stars how to ballroom dance for our entertainment. It’s really just not that deep.

During a November 2025 interview with Variety during season 34, Carrie Ann revealed how the “cruel” comments she sees online affect her. “It’s made me scared,” she said. “It’s not so much that I get hurt as I get afraid, because it feels like they’re like attacking me verbally, so I shrink down a little during the season, especially after week five or six. That’s when it usually starts to happen.”

And during Dedication Night this season, I saw exactly that as Carrie Ann delivered her feedback for Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas’s paso doble. When she pointed out the lift in the routine, she was sheepish, almost apologetic, before quickly moving on. Because, as always, she couldn’t win. If she didn’t call it out, she would be deemed inconsistent. And if she made a bigger deal of it, she would be crucified on social media all over again.

So to all the DWTS fans who have been calling on Carrie Ann to be quiet, sit down, learn her place, or fall in line: Congrats! You did it. You’ve silenced another woman. I hope you’re happy.

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