‘Dancing With the Stars: Juniors’ Honey Boo Boo Admits To Flirting With Judges To Get Higher Scores

Honey Boo Boo knows her way around a competition. The Toddlers and Tiaras veteran turned Dancing With the Stars: Juniors contestant told Hollywood Life that she is ready to win a mirrorball trophy—and it sounds like she’ll do whatever it takes to get one.

Honey Boo Boo, whose real name is Alana Thompson, told the celebrity site that she enjoyed competing on the inaugural season of the ABC kiddie competition “so much.” The tween reality star is partnered with rising dance star Tristan Ianiero and is being mentored by DWTS pro dancer Artem Chigvintsev.

But Honey Boo Boo paid special attention to the judges— Dancing With the Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy, DWTS: Athletes champ Adam Rippon, and renowned choreographer Mandy Moore— during the pre-taped dancing competition. The Here Comes Honey Boo Boo star told Hollywood Life that she even resorted to some harmless flirting.

“You kind of got to flirt with the judges! You have to always be like, ‘OH MY GOD, you’re an amazing judge! Doesn’t that give you a better score?! Right?!”

While she can’t dish on how far she made it in the competition, Honey Boo Boo did tease that she is “very happy” about the results. She even revealed that she now loves dance and wants to continue dancing in the future.

Honey Boo Boo has been a household name ever since she made her TV debut on TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras in 2012. She proved to be so popular that she landed a self-titled TLC spinoff. Still, the reality TV veteran admitted to Good Housekeeping that competing on Dancing with the Stars: Juniors was “one of the harder things” she’s ever done.

“It was a little hard to get down the steps and get the numbers and the counts down. It took me a whole entire day to learn the counts because it was so hard. [At first] I didn’t get that you had to count to the music.”

In addition to Honey Boo Boo, the Dancing With the Stars: Juniors cast includes 13-year-old Miles Brown (Black-ish) and Tripp Palin, the 9-year-old son of former DWTS finalist Bristol Palin. Other celebrity kids on the show include Mackenzie Ziegler, 14 (YouTube’s Total Eclipse); Mandla Morris, 13 (son of Stevie Wonder); Addison Osta Smith, 13 ( MasterChef Junior); Ariana Greenblatt, 10 (Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle); Jason Maybaum, 10 (Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home); Hudson West, 10 (General Hospital); Sky Brown, 10 (surfing superstar); Akash Vukoti, 9 (Scripps National Spelling Bee winner); and Sophia Pippen, 9 (daughter of NBA champion Scottie Pippen and Real Housewives of Miami star Larsa Pippen).

Dancing with the Stars: Juniors airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.