Dancing with the Stars has been a favorite for television since the beginning. The weekly television show gives an opportunity for celebrities, or the ‘stars’, to learn from a professional dancer, and compete with them in each episode with styles such as the jive, pasodoble, tango, and waltz. A combination of judge scoring and votes from fans determines stars’ continuation into the next week of competition.
Long-time judge Carrie Ann Inaba is 56 years old and has been judging on the show since 2005. Despite her experience, she’s been continuously unreliable in her score decisions, especially throughout this past season.
One of the biggest issues is the favorable bias Inaba holds towards the male stars of the season. In the most recent episode, Inaba was handing out perfect or near-perfect scores for the men and holding back on dances that the other judges, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, both found immense talent in. For example, Inaba scored the talented star Chandler Kinney a 9, while both Hough and Tonioli gave it a 10. This is extremely surprising considering how Inaba was handing out scores significantly higher than her fellow judges in the previous dances.
This bias is impossible to ignore and has now caused her exit to be pushed by fans. Some are hesitant to remove her however, due to her long-time experience on the show, her being the only female judge, and the decision of who should replace her. Overall, it might be time for Inaba to retire her judging paddle, and finally stop the irrevocable prejudice demonstrated each week.