Dancing With the Stars contestant Amber Glenn and her partner, Pasha Pashkov, are not letting a few lower-than-expected scores take away from their season.
The pair delivered a seemingly flawless samba to “Mi Gente” during Super Bowl Night, making the “8” scores from Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli a surprise to some viewers. Fans quickly voiced their frustration, arguing that fellow contestants Tyler Cameron and Jackson Olson—whose performances they felt were not as strong as Glenn’s—also received eights from the judges.
Glenn said she appreciates the fans who have defended her, adding that she understands their reaction. As a figure skater, she is accustomed to a judging system with more detailed scoring and explanations.
“It’s super sweet, and that’s also something that happens in skating sometimes,” Glenn told DECIDER during a Zoom interview. “Fans will disagree with judging and what they think and what they see. In skating, luckily, there’s more of a breakdown, so you can understand it. Whereas this is just a random whole number from one through 10. But honestly, at this point in the season, it’s more like five or six through 10. It’s such a short window of scores.”
By Week 5, the judges had yet to award a perfect 10, narrowing the scoring range even further for the couples competing for the Mirrorball Trophy. For Glenn and her supporters, the limited range can be especially difficult to interpret given how quickly the judges must deliver feedback and how little separation there is between the numbers.
“I’m so used to having an in-depth explanation for every single thing, and many of my fans are used to that as well,” she said. “They see me doing some of the more difficult things and really understanding technique, which is a core part of skating. People who have to do things the proper way, who value quality over quantity and also do hard things, usually receive the higher scores because, mathematically, that’s how it works.”
Pashkov offered a possible solution: “We propose going into the decimal system, right? So we can have, like, 7.5.”
“For me, yes. For TV, I don’t know,” Glenn replied. “But for me as an athlete, that makes way more sense.”
Glenn and Pashkov also discussed their viral routines, their rehearsal partnership and what viewers can expect in the weeks ahead during DECIDER’s full interview below.
DECIDER: Every season seems to have one couple whose choreography inspires viewers to recreate their dances online. It feels like you two are that couple this year. What has it been like to see?
AMBER GLENN: It’s been so cute to watch. Of course, people are attempting the tricks, which is great—and a little terrifying. Some have absolutely nailed them, while others make me wonder, “Are they going to end up in the hospital?” Luckily, this week’s version was much safer because people were just using towels. It has been so cool to see everyone put their own spin on it. One person even did it while working at a movie theater. It was adorable and so much fun to watch.
I didn’t realize there were so many people around the world who could do the splits. Is that common?
PASHA PASHKOV: I was surprised too, because I can’t do a split even if my life depended on it. I’m extremely impressed. What was interesting was seeing so many husband-and-wife pairs switch roles, with the men trying it themselves. I was like, “I’m impressed.”
I’ve torn my hamstring twice trying to do the splits, and earlier this week I wondered whether I should attempt the dance.
GLENN: Oh no, that’s not part of your journey, mama.
It’s not in the stars. More seriously, you’ve had an incredible season so far. What clicked most quickly for you, and what are you looking forward to in the coming weeks?
GLENN: Ooh, Pasha, how are you feeling? For me, the rehearsals have been the best part from the very beginning. I’ve genuinely been having such a great time.
PASHKOV: Same, honestly. The rehearsals are long, but I’ve enjoyed every second. Amber locks in and gives 100 percent every time, but we also have a great balance. We do silly, goofy things all the time, so we know how to combine fun with hard work. The entire process has had a great flow. I’m happy with how everything is coming together, and the fact that the results are there too is the cherry on top.
Some fans online have rallied behind you and said the judges are underscoring your performances. How do you feel about that?
GLENN: It’s super sweet, and that’s something that happens in skating too. Fans disagree with the judging and with what they think they see. In skating, there’s fortunately more of a breakdown, so you can understand the scores. Here, it’s simply a random whole number from one to 10. At this point in the season, though, it feels more like five or six through 10, which is such a narrow window. I didn’t even think much about the judging before this. I thought, “I’m going to go dance and have fun,” and then this whole other element appeared. I’m used to getting a detailed explanation for everything, and many of my fans are used to that too. They see me attempting difficult elements and applying strong technique, which is also central to skating. When someone does difficult things correctly and prioritizes quality over quantity, those are usually the higher scores—because mathematically, that’s how it works.
PASHKOV: We propose going into the decimal system, right? So we can have like 7.5.
GLENN: For me, yes, for TV, I don’t know. But for me as an athlete, yeah, that makes way more sense.
To pivot a bit, you guys are part of the fab four as people are calling it, with Dani [Karagach] and Ezra [Frech]. What has having them in the competition meant to you?
GLENN: I mean, Pasha, you’ve gotten to experience having your wife with you in a competition before. For me, it’s been great having a fellow Team USA athlete because we really understand each other’s mindsets. And I think it’s probably great for Pasha and Dani too because it’s like, they have similar partner vibes, if that makes sense. It all works out really well, in my opinion, because we tell each other like, “Oh, that was awesome, you should do this.” And we’re always like, “Oh, but I could have done this.” And we are always telling each other not to be hard on ourselves. It’s this understanding of wanting to hype each other up because we know that we’re hard on ourselves.
What do you make of the fans who are genuinely asking the question: “Can the Mirrorball Trophy be split in two?”
GLENN: Literally, can we pull a Hunger Games? Like, if we both, if us two make it to the finale, it’s like, instead of it being like District 12, it’s just like, we just stand there, we’re like, “We will not be broken apart.” It must happen, which is unfortunate, because it comes down to probably votes and stuff, and that cannot be exactly the same. It’s just like… You can’t make us.
Coming back to this week, you’ve got dedication night and you’re dancing to “Breathe Me” by Sia. Talk a little bit about that decision and who we’re dedicating this to.
GLENN: Pasha actually found the piece of music after I told him the kind of story and who I wanted to dedicate it to. I knew that it was gonna be my sister and it was going to be about my mental health journey and my struggles, especially around 10 years ago when I was kind of at my worst and she really helped me out of that. So I was really lucky that Pasha found this incredible piece of music and has done a fantastic job at choreographing.
PASHKOV: I think the story is very clear and straightforward. It’s a powerful story. What I told Amber right away, I said that the goal of this is to make somebody feel seen. If they feel seen and if they get moved and inspired by this story and it helps them, if we even just help one person out there, that’s already goal accomplished. So Amber is a very, very open person. I think her superpower, her super strength is her vulnerability. She’s always talked about her journey very openly for many years now. I feel like now this is a new platform where she gets to share her story but also a new medium, which is dance. We’re doing contemporary and contemporary is a storytelling style of dance so our goal, is to tell the story as best as we can and hope to move someone and inspire someone and help someone.
The tears are going to be flowing; I just know it. I’ll wrap here: Amber, you’ve talked about wanting to do this for Pasha and wanting to win it all for him. What would it mean for you guys to be up there on that stage and holding the Mirrorball together?
GLENN: I mean, that’d be incredible. The reason why I had mentioned that is because I understand what it’s like to be working towards something your entire life. And even though, of course, I can’t imagine as a kid, you’re like, “I’m gonna go on Dancing With The Stars and win the Mirrorball Trophy,” That’s not like the end all be all, I’ve seen how much work Pasha’s put in every single season, into every single celeb, no matter what their potential is. Seeing that for so long, I really want to do the best that I can because I know that I have the athletic ability to be able to work hard, put in the hours, put in the effort. So I just wanna make sure that I do everything I possibly can to see us succeed, because I’m used to just doing it for myself and maybe for my team as well, but I’m the only one standing up there on that podium usually. I, only once, at the Olympics for the team event, have gotten to experience sharing in a success like that and that was one of the best feelings in the world. And I wanna be able to experience that with Pasha.
PASHKOV: Thank you, that is very, very sweet. And you are the most deserving of it.
GLENN: I’ve only been working at it a few weeks, it’s not like the pros. We’re working hard for a few weeks at this thing, like the celebs, but it’s like, it’s the pros that are the core of this, they are ones that deserve to have that hard work recognized.
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