Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba has responded to critiques of her scoring, and she’s doing it with a little help from Taylor Swift.

On Wednesday, October 22, Inaba, 57, posted a TikTok video where she lip-synced to a track from Swift’s chart-topping album The Life of a Showgirl. The song, “Actually Romantic,” played in the background as Inaba applied her makeup.

In the video, she mouthed the lyrics, “But it’s actually sweet, all the time you’ve spent on me / It’s honestly wild, all the effort you’ve put in / It’s actually romantic,” before blowing a kiss to her viewers.

She captioned the video, “My Wednesday morning anthem,” and added hashtags like “#dwts” and “#fyp” with the text, “It’s actually romantic,” displayed on the screen.

Meanwhile, the contestants of Dancing With the Stars season 34 are showcasing their skills during a special Wicked-themed night. Director Jon M. Chu joined Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli at the judges’ table, as the episode, which aired on Tuesday, October 21, began with an important message from […]

Inaba has faced criticism over what some viewers perceive to be harsh scoring on the 34th season of Dancing With the Stars, which is currently airing on ABC.

“Some of your dances are starting to feel like I’m watching the same dance over and over again,” she told Boy Meets World star Danielle Fishel and her professional dance partner, Pasha Pashkov during the October 14 dedication night episode. “Try to give a little bit more variety as far as dynamics. This is also on you, Pasha.”

In an interview with Variety last week, Pashkov called the comments “unfair.”

“I was not happy. I always get protective. For me, that comment felt unfair, especially being that she said that the dances looked similar,” Pashkov, 39, said. “But the thing is, we did have a quickstep, and we had a jive this week. These are two dances that very, very similar.”

Danielle Fishel‘s Boy Meets World-themed jive had some Dancing With the Stars fans in tears at home — but judge Carrie Ann Inaba wasn’t totally swayed by the nostalgia. In one of the most anticipated Dedication Night performances, Fishel, 44, and partner Pasha Pashkov were joined on stage by her former costar William Daniels (a.k.a. […]

“If we had dances that were drastically different, and they felt the same, I’d understand. But, based on the dances that we had, that did not feel like it made sense to me. In my heart, I’m overprotective because I know how hard Danielle is working. I don’t think she deserved that comment,” he added.

On October 15, Inaba tackled criticism of her scoring and accusations of “favoritism” in her Instagram comments.

“Giving Whitney [Leavitt] a 9 but Robert [Irwin] an 8, GIRLLL please get it together,” one person wrote.

Another said, “Can you explain why you gave Whitney a 9 when she was off beat and also has prior dance experience so she shouldn’t be off beat, but Robert and even Jen [Affleck] had a beautiful dance, timing was impeccable and you scored them lower? Just confusing to watch and wondering what goes through your mind when giving those scores.”

Inaba responded in the comments, “It’s okay to disagree about what we see. That’s what makes our show great,” she wrote. “You have a say in the matter. We want you to vote for what you love and believe in. I appreciate your comment and the way you expressed your feelings. ❤️ thank you for your passion and your opinion.”

Inaba has served as a judge on Dancing With the Stars across all 34 seasons since the show began in 2005. She currently sits on the judging panel alongside Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.

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