Dancing With the Stars pro Witney Carson was not aligned with judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s critique of her and Guillermo Rodriguez’s Mariah Carey Night performance.
“I think it depends on the song and it depends on the character. Mariah Carey is very much a diva. I don’t think Guillermo’s light dims no matter what. His light will always shine,” Carson told TV Insider on Tuesday, October 6. “I felt like that was an ‘out of pocket’ comment from Carrie Ann.”
Carson and Rodriguez performed a samba to “Obsessed” on Tuesday night, but Inaba was left wondering what had happened to Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick.
“What was going on?” Inaba asked. “No, I’m serious. Where’s all your joy? That special thing that you bring every time. I felt like you were dimming your light a little bit in this dance.”
As the audience began to boo loudly, Inaba added, “This is what I get paid for, people!”
“I want to tell you because I don’t ever want you to dim your light,” she said. “Because you’re special and you have a natural gift that we need. I want it more. Don’t ever not smile in a dance. I need your light. We all do!”
Carson and Rodriguez ultimately earned 13 points out of 30 — the lowest score of the night — but were ultimately safe from elimination. The show instead said goodbye to Summer House’s Ciara Miller and partner Brandon Armstrong.
Rodriguez later shared that he did not agree with Inaba’s remark.
“I disagree because I was trying to be a diva,” Rodriguez explained to People on Tuesday. “It’s a samba move. It’s Mariah Carey. So I was trying to be a diva and I think I did a good job.”
“No matter what Guillermo does, his light will always shine,” Carson added. “No matter if he’s pretending to be a diva or he’s pretending to be Rihanna or he’s got a smile on his face. There’s no swaying that and I think, obviously, America can tell and that’s why we’re still here.”
At the end of the day, Rodriguez and Carson are feeling grateful for the support they have received from their fans.
“I’m very happy, very excited, that we have a lot of people behind us,” Rodriguez said. “And hopefully, you know, they keep coming, they keep voting for us so we can keep going.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
