‘Dancing With the Stars’ Judge Carrie Ann Inaba ‘Very Disappointed’ With Juan Pablo Di Pace Elimination

Carrie Ann Inaba understands the outrage of Dancing With the Stars fans following the shocking elimination of Juan Pablo Di Pace and Cheryl Burke during Monday’s semi-finals.

The Dancing With the Stars judge took to social media with a self-described “rant” after the duo was sent home following two perfectly scored performances leading up to the finale, sparking the outage of fans who said the elimination perfectly illustrated why fans’ votes are relied on too heavily over the opinions of the judges.

“I just walked in the door from the semi-finals of Dancing With the Stars, and I have to say, I’m very disappointed with the outcome,” she said in the first clip. “Juan Pablo and Cheryl should be in the finale next week. You guys need to vote please.”

In another video, she continued, “OK, I’m still on about it, but it’s like, how do you go home in the semi-finals when you’ve been the highest scorer and you just got a perfect 60?”

Di Pace clearly appreciated her advocacy, reposting the videos on his Instagram and adding the caption, “Bless you [Carrie Ann Inaba].”

Judge Len Goodman also came out against the results of the voting during Monday’s episode, telling the boo-ing crowd of the elimination, “Listen, I know the American people would like fair play, but mostly we like justice. And there’s no justice here.”

Following the premature end of his time on the ABC dance competition, Di Pace took to Twitter to address the fan reaction, writing, “Thank you so much for the outrage 🙂 all I’ll say is I’ve had the time of my life DANCING and I’m so glad you guys recognized that! At the end of the day I got to do what I love.”

Tuesday, Burke also added her two cents to the situation, sharing alongside a photo of the duo on Instagram, “From the first time we met, to our last dance together, this journey has been nothing short of incredible. Dancing with you, [Di Pace], was like dancing my first season all over again — every week I left feeling more inspired than the last,” she shared. “Thank you for sharing my passion for true ballroom dance, for trusting me to choreograph difficult, technical routines, and for having the work ethic to perfect them week after week.”

Despite the shocking elimination, Burke said, “It was invigorating to be able to dance at that level and I am so proud of all we accomplished. While I’m heartbroken that this season has come to an end for us, I am eternally grateful for the experience that we shared in the ballroom and that we got to share with all of you watching.”

Competing in next week’s DWTS finale are model Alexis Ren and pro partner Alan Bersten, country radio personality Bobby Bones and pro partner Sharna Burgess, Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch and pro partner Keo Motsepe, and Zombies actor Milo Manheim and pro partner Witney Carson.

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

Photo credit: ABC/Eric McCandless