‘Dancing With the Stars’: Carole Baskin Reveals the Next Song She’s Dancing to, and Yes, It’s Cat-Themed

Carole Baskin and Pasha Pashkov are continuing on their “tiger-rific” Dancing With the Stars journey heading into week two of the ABC competition series. The Tiger King personality revealed to Entertainment Tonight Wednesday that she and Pashkov will be dancing the Viennese waltz to “What’s New Pussycat” by Tom Jones next week after making their debut to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor Monday.

“I think a lot of the fun leading up to premiere night was that there was so much unknown and everyone had an opinion on who the couples should be and what they should dance to first,” she wrote in a guest blog for the publication. “If we are going to be able to enjoy that same level of anticipation, I think I’m going to keep the details of our dance a secret until next Tuesday.”

The only thing she would let slip is the challenge that will come with only having one week to “purr-fect” this dance, as opposed to the “luxurious two weeks” they had ahead of the premiere. “I have to work on my posture!” she said of her goals for rehearsal this week. “I can do that. In fact, that’s really not a big lift for me, so I just have to really be aware and commit that purr-fect posture to muscle memory.”

Baskin and Pashkov will have to step it up this week if they want to stay, earning the night’s low score of 11/30 for their premiere dance from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli. “Failing is never an option for me, so being at the bottom of the pack right now just propels me to work harder, dance longer and really work on the performance aspects,” Baskin said.

Despite the lower score, Baskin said she was happy to not have “dropped a step” and stayed on beat throughout the performance. She does need to work on keeping her head level, she admits, as she tends to “float” in a dance calling for a “flat head line.” The Big Cat Rescue founder added, “I figured if I was going to be criticized for something, it would be that and my posture, as Pasha wanted my shoulders down, head back and angled in a haughty sort of pose. …Of the hundreds or maybe thousands of times we’ve rehearsed this dance, this was my very best rendition of it. I was thrilled to have done the best I was physically capable of doing!”