Former ‘DWTS’ Pro Keo Motsepe Defends Judge Carrie Ann Inaba Over Scoring Backlash

Not everyone is thrilled with Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba's recent scores, but former pro Keo Motsepe has her back.

In a new interview, Motsepe, 34, who appeared on nine seasons of DWTS, acknowledged that the judging panel has been in a “tough spot” when it comes to scoring during season 33.

“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!” Motsepe told the U.S. Sun earlier this month. “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. So if your arm is not like this and it’s like this, they’re going to see it.”

During a recent episode, Inaba, 56, was accused by some fans of judging Chandler Kinney and Ilona Maher harder than her fellow judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli. “I don’t think it’s easy for the judges,” Motsepe said. “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.”

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Inaba, for her part, publicly argued that she was judging performances based on a higher criteria.

“[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," Motsepe added to the U.S. Sun. "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.”

Motsepe went on to reflect on his own past with DWTS. When asked about the show's decision not to bring him back for recent seasons, he replied, “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.”

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He continued: “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.”

Motsepe went on to say that if it's “meant to be” he would "absolutely" come back to the show “whenever” he was needed.

Dancing With the Stars airs simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and streams on Disney+ the next day.