Carrie Ann Inaba’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 22 Blog: Week 5

“Dancing with the Stars” Judge Carrie Ann Inaba is blogging exclusively for Access Hollywood for Season 22 of her hit ABC show. Here is her fifth blog of the season: 

What a night indeed. Switch Up is always a challenging night
for everyone, and nerves and stress go way up, and last night the judges had
some very differing opinions. Maksim Chmerkovskiy came
in as a guest judge and it was fun to have him. As a panel, we agree to
disagree: Meaning, it is our jobs to speak our own honesty, whether or not
anyone else agrees with us. We as a panel come from different backgrounds and that
is what makes it balanced. Last night, Maks joined the judges table and gave
his professional opinions and I think he did a great job. He raised some
interesting points and gave some good insights. The best part is that as our
extended family, watching from home, you get to vote anyway you want. That is
the point. Everyone has a say.  

This morning, unfortunately, I have to go to the doctors for
an iron infusion ( I have very low levels of iron), so I don’t have much time
to write but wanted to address a few things. People have reached out to me via
social media to ask about the paddles and scoring fiasco that happened after
Nyle and Sharna’s performance. 

After every performance, we immediately write down our scores
on a piece of paper. I pass off the paper to my left, [to] one of our producers
who takes it to the booth so that when we are asked to say our scores, the
graphics can come up at the same time for the audience at home. This paper is
the official score and once it goes in, it is in. Last night, after Nyle and
Sharna danced, Maks and Bruno both scored the dance 9, the same as I did. Len
is the only one who wrote down that he wanted to give a 10. Maks and Bruno I
think changed their minds and wanted to give a 10, but the paper had been
turned in. And no matter what, what we write down is the official score and it
can’t be changed. And they decided to give 10s after the deadline so it was not
counted. Personally, I thought it was an outstanding dance and I found the
poetry of his expression mesmerizing, but his top line was not perfect in my
humble opinion. In trying to look at this in the positive, Nyle and Sharna won
the night. Whether they got those two extra points or not from Bruno and Maks,
they still came in on the top of the leaderboard and it did not affect their
standing. The official score was indeed a 37.  Three 9s and one perfect 10
from Len.  

READ: Carrie Ann Inaba’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 22 Blog: Week 4

Back in the day, we used to have electronic key pads, where
we would key in the numbers, but sometimes, we would change our mind and
reenter the score but mid reentering it, the score would disappear and we
wouldn’t know which score was counted officially. It still happens where we can
scribble out the scores before we turn in the official paper, but once the
paper goes in, we cannot change the score. We have standards and practices and
we are an official competition so there are rules that must be in place. This
is one of them.  

Last night was a challenging night for all our competitors. I
appreciated all the hard work that went into each performance and I’m glad that
no one went home after last night’s Switch Up. I think next week we will see
some fantastic performances when the couples are happily reunited with their
original partners. 

READ: Carrie Ann Inaba’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 22 Blog: Week 3

I’m off to the doctors now, and just as a friendly reminder,
women should get their ferritin levels checked because it can be a cause of low
energy. This is my 3rd iron Infusion in 3 years. I may look very tan next
week from the iron infusion, but I think it kind of works because tan skin and
DWTS go together like cookies and cream.  

Take care of yourselves and I’ll see you next week back in
the ballroom. Be kind and be loving and dance like no one is watching!

— Carrie Ann Inaba