Firing back. Carrie Ann Inaba may be a tough judge on Dancing With the Stars, but she has no plans to change her ways, she revealed during the Tuesday, November 3, episode of The Talk.
“I still get bullied. Right about this time is when people start to bully me because of the way I judge people. I can’t believe it still happens as adults,” the Talk cohost, 52, explained following the Monday, November 2, episode, in which she received backlash on Twitter for her judging of Kaitlyn Bristowe and Artem Chigvintsev‘s jive. “I want to tell people who bully: It doesn’t make me change the way I judge. I’m not about to change because you try to bully me. It only makes me stand stronger in my convictions and what I believe in.”
Inaba, who has been a judge on the ABC competition series since its 2005 debut, went on to defend her experience.
“Just so you all know, for all of you trying to bully me about it, I judge the way I judge from my background,” the choreographer said. “That is my job to do it and I will always do it based on my own conscience, not because you’re trying to tell me what to do.”
During Monday’s episode, Chigvintsev, 38, and Bristowe, 35, were both visibly upset after receiving criticism from Inaba just one week after she gave them a low score of a 7.
“At this point, it starts being a little personal,” the Strictly Come Dancing alum, 38, told Entertainment Tonight about the judge’s comments. “I feel it’s definitely, maybe not a different standard, but I feel like it’s different expectations. I don’t know. I’m watching back the dance itself, it’s like, ‘Oh, you can kick sharper!’ Well, I can say that about everybody who dances on the show today. I don’t know. It’s really odd.”
The former Bachelorette, 35, admitted she was confused by Inaba’s remarks and invited the Hawaii native to come on her “Off the Vine” podcast to discuss them.
“It’s always reassuring to talk to other people and have them asking those same questions because we come back and we’re like, ‘Huh?’ We’re good at accepting constructive criticism. We’re like, ‘OK, great, now let’s apply it. Thank you for the wonderful feedback,’” the Dew Edit designer said. “With this one, it’s like, ‘Huh? OK?’”
Meanwhile, on social media, many fans were angry at Inaba’s score of a 25 out of 30. “Wow it’s almost as if Carrie Ann dislikes Kaitlyn as much as she disliked Hannah last season, for no reason,” one fan pointed out. Another added, “Seriously what the hell does Carrie Ann have against Kaitlyn?”
Fans also were quick to point out that Chigvintsev used to date Inaba. The pair met on the set of So You Think You Can Dance in 2006 and were in a relationship for two and a half years until their 2009 split.
“Carrie Ann and Artem used to date. Just saying,” one Twitter user wrote with a gif of a woman sipping tea. “Carrie Ann and Artem dated …. for 3 years I didn’t know … explains so much,” another added.
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
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