‘Dancing With the Stars’ Lift Rule Enforced by Carrie Ann Inaba, and Fans Are Irked

Dancing With the Stars fans let out a collective grumble when judge Carrie Ann Inaba enforced the rule against lifts on the show Monday night. She took a full point off of actor Brian Austin Green and dancer Sharna Burgess’ score after their Waltz to “Someday My Prince Will Come” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The other judges gave the real-life couple low scores for other reasons, but Inaba’s decision to keep track of the lift rule, when the other judges didn’t, annoyed viewers at home.

“There was a little lift, just a little,” Inaba said. “I got to do it. I have to be fair to everybody.” She then defended herself for following the rule, pointing out it’s in the show’s rule book that you are not supposed to do a lift in the waltz. This drew a boo from the small crowd, but host Tyra Banks kept the show moving along by noting how the other judges said Green and Burgess were “loving each other too much” while performing. “It’s Snow White… I don’t know how you don’t love each other,” Green shrugged.

Despite taking a point off for the lift, Inaba still gave the couple a 6/10. Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli also gave the couple a 6/10, while Derek Hough gave them a 7/10. Their final score was 25/30, which was actually the lowest score of the night. On Tuesday, Green and Burgess will dance to the “He’s a Pirate” theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. In the meantime, here’s a look at how fans responded to Inaba’s lift critique. 

‘Carre Ann saying she judges everyone fairly cracks me up’

Carrie Ann saying she judges everyone fairly cracks me up cause I’m pretty sure she criticized someone for something then turned around and praised the same thing on a different couple 😅😂 #DWTS

— Ashleyyyy (@_AshleyBC) October 12, 2021

“Someone said it but uh Emma and Jimmie had a lift in their dance and Carrie Ann said nothing. Interesting,” one fan wrote, suggesting Inaba missed another lift earlier in the night.

‘If I was Sharna I wouldn’ve thrown that evil apple’

@DancingABC damn it was a dance to Snow White and the song someday my prince will come- what did Len and Carrie Ann think they were suppose to do – fight, be angry. Come on thank goodness for @derekhough because he is only judge seeing what we the audience sees

— Jennifer Summerlin (@jen_nene88) October 12, 2021

“if I was Sharna I would’ve thrown that evil apple straight at Carrie Ann’s head. talkin’ about ‘I have to be fair! There was a lift,’” one fan wrote. 

‘WTH is wrong with those judges’

I feel like 75% of the time Carrie Ann is jealous of the couples. She judges them MUCH harsher (not that it happens too frequently) but yikes. #DWTS

— Kuromi0325 (@stay4508) October 12, 2021

“Wow! Brian and Sharna’s scores are plain offensive. WTH is wrong with those judges? Carrie Ann needs to get over lifts because she’s ridiculous at this point,” one viewer wrote.

‘She’s right’

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“Don’t boo Carrie Ann for taking off a few points for a lift, she’s right and has to follow the rules,” one defender wrote.

‘It makes the ballroom lover in me very content’

Ngl. I love it when @carrieanninaba correctly docks a point for a lift. It makes the ballroom lover in me very content. #DWTS

— BBSavant (@BBSavant) October 12, 2021

“If Iman at 5000 ft y’all can avoid a lift, THEN WHAT IS YOU OTHER SHORT PEOPLE DOING WRONG! This man has managed to avoid lifts and succeeded every SINGLE time,” one fan wrote, praising Iman Shumpert for not lifting his pro dance partner, Daniella Karagach. 

‘They keep cutting Carrie Ann off’

Kenya deserved better then a 7…. More like the 8s like Bruno I get there were lift issues but they were now worse than Amanda’s timing issue #DWTS pic.twitter.com/3RGqVmsuIW

— maddie 💕 (@109maddie) October 12, 2021

“They keep cutting Carrie Ann off,” one fan wrote. Several others noticed that Inaba wasn’t being allowed to finish her full critiques before the show moved on.