Carrie Ann Inaba is looking back on 20 years of Dancing With the Stars, revealing what keeps her coming back to the ballroom season after season.
Since season 1 debuted in 2005, Inaba, 57, has worn her heart on her sleeve as one of the three expert judges on the ABC dance competition and proudly waved her paddles — even when she’s met with boos within the ballroom.
“Obviously, the people at home don’t always see what I’m looking at,” Inaba exclusively reveals in the latest issue of Us Weekly, which celebrates two decades of the show. “Sometimes when the audience gets very upset, I’m like, ‘I know.’ I am used to it. I’ve been doing this for a long time. … I saw things slightly different, and that’s OK.”
While plenty has been said about Inaba’s scoring through the years, she simply keeps one aim in mind. “Fairness is the most important thing,” she tells Us. “So sometimes whatever choice I make in the moment, the fairness is the final check for me. What’s fair? Because I feel like I always have to be fair to all of our competitors, and I always have to be really honest.”
The show has transformed greatly since it began, with new generations of pro dancers taking the floor and a couple million more viewers tuning in week after week. Inaba, however, has remained a constant figure, first joined by Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli at the judges’ table. (Following Goodman’s death in 2023, former pro Derek Hough filled his shoes.)
Now in her 34th season as a DWTS judge, Inaba is known for her attention to detail — and has earned a reputation as the unofficial lift police. She tells Us that she was explicitly instructed to look out for the illegal moves.
Carrie Ann Inaba Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images
“That is a rule that was given to me on day one on a piece of paper. And head judge Len Goodman went over that with me,” she explains. “The intention of the rule, which I think people don’t understand, was we would cast people of varying ages and physicality, and if we allowed lifts, certain people would be at a disadvantage. And so it was really about keeping the fairness. … Being on Dancing With the Stars is such a challenge that everyone — if they dare to walk into our ballroom and set foot on that hardwood floor, they better have the opportunity to win.”
Inaba also points out that the live shows move at a rapid pace. “We have 30 seconds to speak — sometimes even less than that — so it’s important that we’re not all saying the same thing [to the contestants],” she adds. “So I chose lifts.”
Having been part of the phenomenon from the beginning, Inaba “can’t believe” two decades have flown by so quickly. “I feel like I’ve lived a whole life as a judge on Dancing With the Stars,” she says. “We’ve watched families grow, we’ve seen people get married, we’ve seen them have children.”
While the family has grown, it’s also lost one very important member. For Inaba, however, Goodman’s “presence” will always be felt.
“I can still hear his voice when I see a certain dance … and I love that,” she tells Us. “I love that his legacy lives on, because it’s not just living on in myself and Derek and Bruno, but it’s also living on in the fans. They know. I am just sad that some of these new fans don’t get the opportunity to meet him.”
Goodman is irreplaceable in Inaba’s eyes, but Hough, 40, is a “wonderful” successor. “Derek came in and found his own way of doing this, and he has a unique opinion that not even Len had, where Derek competed on Dancing With Stars. He won six mirrorballs,” she explains. “So he — like Bruno, myself and Len — has a different opinion, and I think that’s what makes it great, is he stands true to himself. I think Derek has such a great insight into what it takes to win.”
When it comes to who might win season 34 — the competition ends in just three weeks — Inaba says it’s still anyone’s game. With a few unexpected eliminations and some off-camera drama, the season’s “momentum” is still picking up.
“I’m very excited to see what’s going to happen,” Inaba says. “It’s very competitive.”
Cheryl Burke made her grand return to Dancing With the Stars — this time as a judge rather than a pro — and paid tribute to one of the show’s greats. The dancer, 41, served as a guest judge for Halloween Night during the Tuesday, October 28, episode of the ABC reality competition series, appearing […]
Season 34 might be the biggest yet, but according to Inaba, part of DWTS‘ success comes down to “the transformational power of dance.”
“Even though some seasons are harder, some seasons can be challenging, the love that I feel for dancing is so strong. It’s part of my heritage … and it’s helped me so much in my own life that having this opportunity to sit there and help people discover dance, explain it to the audience and encourage people sometimes challenge them to find and have that breakthrough that I recognize when I see, I mean, it’s the best feeling in the world,” she gushes. “It’s nothing I could have ever aspired to.”
As for what keeps her coming back for more, Inaba credits the “crazy, wacky, dysfunctional” family she’s formed behind the scenes.
“We’ve been through various hosts, we’ve been through so many evolutions of the show,” she tells Us. “I think it’s because of that family feeling — we’re so deeply connected that we all just get there and we figure out how to make it work. And I think that’s what family is, right? It’s forever.”
For more on 20 years of Dancing With the Stars, watch the video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET, with new episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.
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