"I love this new TikTok generation”: Carrie Ann Inaba opens up about what made Dancing With The Stars Season 34 her favourite

Carrie Ann Inaba, though, was in the news for the wrong reasons as a judge on Dancing With the Stars season 34, but that did not stop her from calling it her “favourite”. 

Carrie is judging season 34 of Dancing with the Stars along with Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough. 

In an interview with Variety published on November 11, 2025, she opened up about the latest season and talked about how the “new TikTok” generation has “changed the game” with their passion and opinions. 

She stated, as reported by Variety:

“ The season has been absolutely my favorite — this renewed vigor, this new audience that has come to the table and has brought so much passion and so many opinions. I love this new TikTok generation that has changed the game. It’s really exciting.” 

Carrie Ann Inaba opened up more about judging Dancing With the Stars

For those unversed, Carrie Ann Inaba has been serving as a judge on Dancing With the Stars since its inaugural season.

She observed how this season’s contestants are different from their predecessors. 
During the interview with Variety, she also spoke about how in this year’s edition, everyone has an experience in being a dancer and how it is a way of “coping with life” right now. 

Carrie remarked:

“ But with this new generation of people, not only the fans, but the people on the show, they have a lot of dance experience. They’re all on Tiktok. They’re all dancing. Dancing is sort of a way of coping with life right now. I think people need the release, and it’s a great coping mechanism for life, and so I’m not opposed to it.” 

Ann Inaba also addressed the accusation against her of being unfair to female contestants through the years. 

As reported by Page Six on November 8, 2025, she has faced criticism for not fairly critiquing actress Chandler Kinney and her pro-partner Brandon Armstrong's Viennese waltz performance and favouring Dwight Howard's performance more in comparison during season 33 of Dancing With the Stars. 

Kinney later revealed that she was feeling “a little frustrated” in an interview with Entertainment Weekly because she wanted to understand “what to do”. 

During this year’s edition, too, Carrie faced a lot of heat from the fans for being unfairly critical of Danielle Fishel. 

She was critical of the duo’s performance at the Dedication Night, calling the performance repetitive. 

Inaba talked about this during the interview with Variety and stated that she does “partly” agree that she is a bit harsher in criticizing female celebrities. 

She explained that since she knows what it is to be a woman, she can get into more “ detail” of their performance. 

Dancing With the Stars judge also admitted that it is her responsibility to tell the contestants the truth if she feels someone has not “given it their all”. 

She concluded by stating:

“  And when I speak woman to woman, I’m maybe a bit more frank. Maybe because I feel like women are tougher than men in some ways. This is how I speak with my girlfriends — very blunt and to the point, because I know they want the information. I think there is some truth to what they’re saying, but it’s not exactly what they’re saying.” 

Season 34 of Dancing With the Stars premiered on September 16, 2025, and the winners will be announced on the night of the finals, which will be broadcast on November 25, 2025. 

Stay tuned for more such updates.