Former Dancing With the Stars pro Keo Motsepe has defended judge Carrie Ann Inaba after some fans accused her of being “sexist” and “biased” against the show’s women performers.
The dancer and choreographer, who first appeared on DWTS in 2014 for the 19th season, recently spoke with The U.S. Sun, where he said the judging panel is in a “tough spot” when it comes to scoring.
“Here’s the thing, if anyone comes on the show and they have dance experience, they’re going to come, and week one is just boom! Up there, right?” Motsepe said when asked about the accusation that Inaba gives lower scores to the female contestants.
“The judges are subconsciously and automatically going to place you on that level, right? So they’re going to pick every single thing that you do wrong,” he continued. “So if your arm is not like this and it’s like this, they’re going to see it.”
Viewers recently slammed Inaba for giving Pretty Little Liars star Chandler Kinney a 9 as opposed to the 10s she received from fellow judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli. She received similar criticism for only awarding women’s rugby player Ilona Maher an 8.
Inaba defended her scoring by explaining that because Kinney and Maher chose two of the hardest dances, she was judging their performances based on a “higher criteria.”
Motsepe shared similar sentiments, stating, “[The judges] are going to find things because they want you to keep that level that you came with because you can’t come so strong and then it goes away. They’re going to pinpoint every single thing then, but then you have other celebrities who come on the show with no dance experience and they just keep on improving and growing.”
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“I don’t think it’s easy for the judges. You see what I’m saying?” he added. “Where with someone who does not have as much dance experience, you have to look for something that you like. Could be ‘I didn’t like how you transferred your foot from foot to foot.’ So it’s very detailed.”
In addition to defending the judges, Motsepe also touched on the show’s producers’ decision not to bring him back in recent years. Motsepe last served as a pro in Season 29, when he was partnered with the late Anne Heche.
“I think fans need to understand that as much as the pros have so much to do on the job with our partners, the producers have a lot of work, even more,” he explained. “They deal with the crew, they deal with us, the pros, they deal with the PTs and they deal with literally so much. Sometimes I look at them like, how are you doing all of this?
“So you also have to give that credit to the producers,” he continued before adding that if it’s “meant to be” he would “absolutey” come back to the show “whenever” he was needed.
Dancing With the Stars, Season 33, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Streaming Live on Disney+
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