The 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. He presented Carrie Ann with a ballroom rule book the following night. 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. 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).
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. 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)?
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! 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.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
