The recent Dancing With the Stars season brought much backlash from critical fans due to how the judges scored the celebrity contestants.
During Season 33, Carrie Ann Inaba received a lot of criticism. Many felt her critiques were particularly harsh, and some scores were unfair.
Some fans suggested that DWTS should fire her despite her appearance as a judge every season since the show’s premiere in June 2005.
Last month, Monsters and Critics reported on the speculation that Carrie Ann’s career as a DWTS judge might end after her “unpredictable behavior” on the show.
However, former professional dancer Cheryl Burke believes there’s a suitable fix for the judges’ scoring issues, and it isn’t necessarily firing or replacing any of them.
Instead, she suggested that the DWTS judges be more educated in the ballroom dance niche.
Burke said most of the DWTS judges aren’t ‘experts’ in ballroom dance ‘niche’
Earlier this week, Burke answered fan questions on her Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast, including whether DWTS should return to “being stricter regarding true ballroom dancing.”
Burke said they should but added regarding the judges, “You have to know what you’re talking about.”
She said judges needed to be able to back up what they tell the dancers and contestants during their critiques.
“It’s kind of hard unless they get judges that have more ballroom experience,” Burke said on her podcast.
“You can’t really be strict in a genre that you’re not an expert in,” she added.
“You’ve got the majority of your judging panel not experts in the niche of ballroom dancing,” Burke said.
She mentioned only seeing a few Samba dances during Season 33, a ballroom dance she loves.
“I think just like the pro dancers have to continue to educate themselves on their craft, I also feel like the judges should do the same,” she said.
Burke said the judges, including Carrie Ann, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli, should take the adjudicator’s exam.
She added that maybe they had familiarized themselves more with ballroom dance or had taken the exam, but she wasn’t sure because she was “not them.”
Burke said judging has been ‘inconsistent’ since Len Goodman’s passing
Another fan question asked why Burke thought the “judging was so inconsistent this past season,” but Burke said she felt it had been “inconsistent since [former judge] Len Goodman passed away.”
She suggested the late DWTS judge “had authority when he talked because he knew what he was saying.”
“Confidence comes from experience. Comes from knowledge,” Burke said on her podcast.
She mentioned that Goodman previously judged “a real ballroom dance competition.”
Goodman debuted with Carrie Ann and Bruno as DWTS judges in 2005
The late Len Goodman was a professional dancer, dance teacher, and dance competition adjudicator.
He debuted among the original judges on England’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2004 and joined the United States version, Dancing With the Stars, upon its debut in 2005. Bruno also debuted as a judge that season and has remained one of the judges throughout all 33 seasons.
Len retired as a DWTS judge in 2022 amid health issues so he could spend more time with family. He passed away in 2023, and DWTS renamed its Mirrorball Trophy the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy in his honor.
Hough, a four-time trophy winner as a DWTS pro dancer, became the newest judge, ultimately taking the middle spot between Carrie Ann and Bruno after Len’s passing.
Based on Burke’s recent remarks, it seems the current trio may need to educate themselves more about ballroom dance to better serve the show and its contestants while also appeasing fans’ criticisms.
Dancing With the Stars Season 34 is TBA for ABC and Disney+.