DWTS’ Carrie Ann Inaba Confronts Heckler During Live Finale

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Carrie Ann Inaba is not staying silent.

I was watching the Dancing With the Stars finale on November 25th, and after one of the judges gave their feedback to Jordan Chiles and her partner, Ezra Sosa, someone in the audience yelled out how amazing Jordan is – they called her a ‘queen’! It was a really sweet and supportive moment.

The heckling prompting a response from Carrie Ann, who shouted, “What? What did you say?!”

Co-host Alfonso Ribeiro tried to diffuse the tension by moving on to Derek Hough‘s critique.

“Alright, alright, it’s alright,” he said. “Don’t worry about that—Derek, you’re up.”

Carrie Ann let Jordan and Ezra know that the start of their paso doble, set to Rihanna’s “Breakin’ Dishes,” didn’t quite hit the mark.

It’s great working with you – I really appreciate your energy and how fully you commit to everything you do. When we first started working on this piece, though, your initial energy felt a little overwhelming, and it briefly made the performance feel a bit disjointed.

Carrie Ann recently shared that she tends to be more critical of the female contestants than the male ones. She explained that because she understands the unique challenges women face, she feels she can offer more specific and insightful feedback.

I know I’m not always right, but I’m happy to talk to people and give them a chance to learn and improve,” she explained to Variety. “When I’m talking to another woman, I tend to be more direct, maybe because I think women are often more resilient than men.”

Carrie Ann recently shared that she tends to be more critical of the female contestants than the male ones. She explained that because she understands the challenges women face, she feels she can offer more specific and insightful feedback.

I know I’m not always right, but I’m willing to talk to people and give them a chance to learn and improve,” she explained to Variety. “When I’m talking to another woman, I tend to be more direct, maybe because I think women are often more resilient than men.”

Joining Jordan and Ezra this season are Dylan Efron with Daniella Karagach, Elaine Hendrix with Alan Bersten, Alix Earle with Val Chmerkovskiy, and Robert Irwin with Witney Carson. All of these couples performed dances chosen by the judges during the finale.

For a closer look on the inner workings on DWTS, read on.

As a lifestyle expert, I often get asked about what celebrities earn for participating in popular shows, and Dancing With the Stars is a big one! According to reports from several sources back in 2019, contestants initially make around $125,000 just for rehearsing and getting through the first couple of weeks. But here’s the exciting part: if they stick around and keep dancing, their earnings increase each week! The maximum a star could potentially earn back then was around $295,000 – not bad for a few weeks of foxtrots and waltzes, right?

However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.

The radio personality shared on Jason Tartick’s podcast, Trading Secrets, that the show’s pay structure is unusual. They explained that they didn’t earn anything for the first episode, then made $10,000 for the second. The pay then increased to around $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, and $20,000 per episode, eventually reaching $50,000 an episode if you continue with the show.

In addition to a salary of about $110,000, Bones revealed he earned nearly $400,000 from the show.

ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.

Details about professional dancers’ earnings haven’t been widely released either. However, like the contestants, it appears they earn more the further they progress in the competition.

But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they’re not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.

Jenna Johnson explained on the June 2025 episode of the The Morning After podcast, hosted by Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester, that dancers are typically guaranteed work for a set number of weeks. However, she added that contracts vary and she couldn’t comment on everyone’s specific agreement.

Apparently not.

Professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars, like Cheryl Johnson – who has won with both Olympic skater Adam Rippon (season 26) and The Bachelor‘s Joey Graziadei (season 33) – don’t earn extra money for winning the show’s trophy, now named after Len Goodman. However, she points out there are still benefits to reaching the final rounds, beyond just the prestige.

She explained on The Morning After that reaching the finale means you receive full-season pay plus a bonus. However, winning isn’t about a large cash prize shared with your partner; it’s just a shared trophy.

That doesn’t appear to be the case.

In a 2022 appearance on Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold shared that her pay was reduced by more than half after she moved from being a professional dancer to a troupe member.

The pros get little input when it comes to being matched with a celebrity.

On the May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers’ podcast, Hot Smart Rich, Lindsay explained that participants had no choice in who they were paired with. She said it was simply, ‘Here’s your partner. Make it work.’

In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.

I was listening to Jenna on The Morning After, and she explained how seriously the show takes keeping the cast a surprise! Apparently, the producers really want us to have a genuine, unfiltered reaction when we meet our partner for the first time. A lot of people assume the hosts already know who everyone is, but Jenna said that’s totally not true – they don’t tell anyone! They barely even want us to know the cast beforehand. It leaks sometimes, of course, but they work so hard to keep everything a complete secret until we actually walk in and meet them. It’s all about that initial shock and connection!

As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?

According to former showrunner Rob Wade, the show’s pairings weren’t random. In a 2015 interview with TopMob News, he explained they considered height, body type, personality, and how well people would get along. They avoided pairing people who were likely to clash, as the experience was already very intense. Unlike shows like The Bachelor, they couldn’t risk creating a truly unpleasant situation for the celebrities, the production team, or the audience. Viewers don’t want to watch people who dislike each other, and the show had learned from past mistakes where incompatible pairings didn’t work out.

Let me tell you, being on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is a full-time commitment! As someone who’s been behind the scenes, I can confirm it’s a seriously demanding schedule. Just ask Rylee Arnold, who shared on a recent podcast how they’d rehearse for four hours a day – either morning, afternoon, or evening. But it doesn’t stop there! After those long rehearsals, there are meetings with producers, choreography work, and hours spent studying dance footage. She said it truly takes over her whole life, but she loves it! It’s a ‘no days off’ kind of job – they perform on Tuesdays, then it’s straight back to rehearsals Wednesday through Sunday. Monday is for camera blocking, and then the cycle starts all over again on Tuesday. It’s intense, but when you’re passionate about something, it makes all the hard work worthwhile!

Emma Slater and Britt Stewart shared in an Instagram video in September 2025 that they are mostly on board, but it’s a project they’re working on with the show’s producers.

If you think the quickstep dance is fast-paced, you should see how quickly the costume department works! Costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner explained to TV Insider that they collaborate with set, lighting, and dance teams to create a unique story for each dancer’s outfit. Then, they have just five days – sometimes only half a day per costume, before even adding rhinestones – to create everything. The department employs around 20 people, plus a separate tailoring shop, making it a large operation.

Steven Norman Lee, another costume designer, revealed that dancers often don’t try on their costumes until just hours before the show. While they might occasionally reuse pants for male dancers, most outfits are custom-made each week.

As Gschwendtner added, they do reuse items for group performances or promotional photos, but never for the competition itself. The goal is to keep everything fresh and new each week to maintain visual interest for the audience.

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2025-11-26 05:17