Dancing With the Stars’ Carrie Ann Inaba Claps Back at Scoring Critics

Carrie Ann Inaba is shaking off her haters.

Following some backlash regarding her scores on Dancing With the Stars, the judge playfully posted a video of herself lip-syncing to Taylor Swift’s “Actually Romantic”—a song about a lopsided argument—while applying lip gloss.

Carrie Ann shared a heartfelt message on Instagram on October 22, lip-syncing to the song “Life of a Showgirl.” She expressed her gratitude, saying it was touching to see all the time and effort people had invested in her.

Her followers noticed the pointed response, and even her Dancing with the Stars co-host, Julianne Hough, chimed in with an enthusiastic “THIS!” in the comments.

“Love u,” Carrie Ann replied. “I can’t wait for our catch up!”

Look, as a judge on a dance competition, you’re bound to get feedback, and honestly, it wasn’t the first time I’ve had to explain my scoring! Recently, someone on Instagram suggested I was being a little too generous with my scores for Dylan Efron compared to Robert Irwin on the October 14th show. My response? It’s perfectly okay if we don’t see eye-to-eye – everyone has an opinion, and I respect that!

Carrie Ann explained that what sets their show apart is how both the judges’ scores and viewers’ votes determine who stays and who goes. She encouraged the audience to vote for the performers they truly support and enjoy.

Pasha Pashkov, who previously received mixed reviews from judge Carrie Ann Inaba during his performances with celebrity partner Danielle Fishel, acknowledged that some of her critiques felt unjust, but he defended her against criticism online.

Judging the competition is incredibly difficult,” the dancer explained to TopMob News after last week’s show. “It’s easy to share an opinion casually, but actually choosing who stays and goes, knowing millions are watching and you might face criticism, is really tough.

Danielle actually likes that Carrie Ann is straightforward with her critiques. In an interview with TopMob, Danielle explained that when Carrie Ann pointed out their dances were looking too similar, they immediately decided to focus on giving her something different the following week.

That’s why she said DWTS contestants can’t “let critiques go to your head.”

“Whenever it’s over, it’s over,” she noted. “But in the meantime, you are doing it.”

Read on to get to know the DWTS season 34 cast.