Carole Baskin Reacts to Ex-Husband Don Lewis’ Family Airing Ad During ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Premiere

Going into the Dancing with the Stars premiere Monday night, Carole Baskin was all the rage. Even coming out of the premiere, she’s still all people can talk about. The ongoing question on whether her ex-husband Don Lewis really disappeared or whether she murdered him after Tiger King star Joe Exotic claimed so, the question remains. During her national live television debut, the family of Lewis, who were also featured on the hit docuseries, aired a commercial demanding answers on what happened to Lewis, but Baskin says she isn’t surprised.

“I have not seen the ad,” she said according to Entertainment Tonight. “I am not at all surprised. It’s just been a huge publicity stunt on their part so what more could they possibly do than that?” Following the Season 29 premiere, viewers took to social media to air their thoughts on all the changes, including new host Tyra Banks’ debut. Naturally, fans were going to talk about Baskin, her performance, and continue discussing their thoughts on whether she had something to do with Lewis’ disappearance or not, but she says as long as the spotlight is on the cats, she doesn’t care what people talk about.

“Spending time worrying about what I’m doing is probably not a really good use of your time,” she said. “I’m not worried about what people say because even when they’re saying things that [are] negative, it’s keeping the conversation out there [about cats] in the public eye. As long as I can keep that conversation out there, I can keep the cats in the spotlight and that’s my goal.” She added, “Find something to do that’s worthwhile with your life.”

While her performance was highly anticipated going into the night, her performance was saved for last. She also came in last place with the lowest score of the night. However, she did admit that she has absolutely no dance experience prior to going on the show. Dancing to “Eye Of The Tiger,” Baskin was decked out in a pink animal print dress with her staple flower halo.

Something else that caught the attention of many was judge Derek Hough’s version of the Carole Baskin “remix” of Megan Thee Stallion’s song “Savage.” “Carole Baskin, ya danced the Paso, ya smashed it,” Hough said to the tune of the song. Naturally, fans went crazy on social media laughing at the fact that the pro dancer turned judge at the nerve to sing that in front of her, but according to Baskin, she feels everyone should start singing his version.

“You know, I know and hate the original song, so I was so glad he reframed it for me,” she said. “Now I will hear his words instead of the original words, so thank you, Derek. People should sing Derek’s version.”