‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pro Calls Out Judges on Scoring

Season 29 of Dancing With the Stars has been filled with controversy, from fans calling out new host Tyra Banks to viewers calling for judges to score one contestant more fairly. Now, a pro has called the judges out for being on different pages when it comes to scoring.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight after Monday night’s episode, pro dancer Artem Chigvintsev said that he believed the judges are not on the same page scoring him and partner Kaitlyn Bristowe and the other contestants.

During the episode, Artem and Kaitlyn performed a Paso Doble inspired by Cruella de Vil, as it was Villains Night. After the dance, judge Carrie Ann Inaba said that she felt like Kaitlyn had given up during the performance.

“It felt like at moments you gave up,” Carrie Ann said to the couple. “You had a moment of chaos there and I saw it in your eyes, and I felt like your spirit dropped. I don’t want to discourage you because I do think you are a fantastic dancer but this was another not-great dance of yours and I apologize.”

Their scores ended up being different from each judge; Carrie Ann gave them a 7, while Derek Hough scored the duo a 9 and Bruno Tonioli gave them an 8. The 24 out of 30 still placed them in the middle of the leaderboard, though.

Artem Called Out the Judges for the Inconsistent Scoring

The low score from Carrie Ann Inaba seemed to bother Artem when he spoke with ET after the episode aired. He told the outlet that her reasoning wasn’t really enough to give them just a 7 out of 10.

“My thought, No. 1 is, does content of the dance not count anymore?” he said, referring to the fact that the routine included advanced choreography. “Because it’s weird to me when we supposedly have to pursue a certain type of dance. I’m not going to speak of any specific couples, but I feel like, is there some kind of a standard now what dance should look like, or what it shouldn’t?”

He said that he believed much of the scoring was inconsistent.

“It’s hard because if you compare the content level of what Kaitlyn has been doing, which Derek actually appreciated and said, like, ‘That was amazing to see a real Paso Doble,’ not just walking around the room and pretending to be a certain character,” Artem added.

Artem Believes The Judges Should Make the Scoring More “Clear”

Later on in the interview, Artem said that he thought the judges should be more clear about what exactly they’re looking for.

“And if they are judging something, then they need to justify the judging,” he said. “Having certain feelings about the dance, this is not really about the feelings you have. You’re comparing a specific dance to a specific other potential dance that already happened on the show. So, you can’t just all of a sudden just be like, ‘Oh, I just didn’t feel this dance, there’s a seven for you.’”

He said that he believed that Carrie Ann should have been more clear if she was going to give them a lower mark, since it seemed that it was more about her personal taste and not constructive criticism.

He also criticized that he believed that they should add more gimmicks into their dances because he believes that’s what the show is looking for.

“Maybe we just need to strip away actual learning how to dance and do more gimmicks,” he said. “Maybe that’s what the judges will appreciate more.”

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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