Kaitlyn Bristowe responded to Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba after she suggested the former The Bachelorette and The Bachelor star had given up in the competition.
During yesterday’s (October 26) show, the longtime judge told Kaitlyn during her critique that it “felt like [her] spirit dropped” and said it looked like she “gave up” during her dance. But Kaitlyn didn’t take the comments lying down and admitted in an interview immediately after the episode that she disagreed.
Kaitlyn spoke to Entertainment Tonight , even joking about The Talk co-host’s eyesight.
“It’s not in my character to give up. If anything, I might get tired at one point, but I’m pushing through as hard as I possibly can. I would never give up,” she said, adding that the claims hurt her.
“A few things hurt my feelings, but I have to remember, ‘OK, I’m on a show where there’s judges, and I have to take everything they say and I can’t change it.’”
“I would like to say, ‘Carrie Ann, LensCrafters called and your prescription is in,’” she joked.
She added that she felt bad for her partner, Artem Chigvintsev, who works for hours on their routines. The two received a score of 24 out of 30 for their Cruella de Vil-inspired Paso Doble to Rihanna’s “Disturbia” during Villains Night. It was their lowest score since Week 3.
She said that Artem puts in “so much hard work” to create the choreography and said being given a seven out of 10 this far into the competition was “just hard” to take.
Despite the criticism, Artem revealed that they’ll be trying to get back to top form next week when they perform a jive that will be different from what they’ve done before.
He teased during the joint interview that it will “definitely [be] a different [kind of] dance” and will have a “totally different vibe.” Next week’s show will see two couples eliminated . The episode is titled “Double Elimination Night – Use Your Vote!” as a nod to the election.
Despite their low score, Kaitlyn and her partner avoided being in the bottom two.
Monica Aldama and Val Chmerkovskiy were eliminated after receiving the lowest scores from the judges. They performed a Jazz dance inspired by Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to the song “Fever” by Beyoncé. They were in the bottom alongside Jeannie Mai and Brandon Armstrong, who performed a Paso Doble to Nelly Furtado’s “Maneater.”