DWTS’ Carrie Ann Inaba Reacts to Both New Pros Getting Eliminated

“Hailey's been here for a while,” Carrie Ann added. “She's been on the dance floor. She knows what's up. They just had a rough night.”

Indeed, while Sarah Jane and Hailey put their best foot forward, their jive to Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” only earned 14 out of a possible 30 points. The evening’s lowest score, however, belonged to actress Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik, who earned 12 points for their jive.

As for the highest score, that went to Traitors’ Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas, whose foxtrot earned them a whopping 21 points.

Even Carrie Ann admitted, “I was surprised by Maura tonight.” 

“Just thinking back, like that was a mind-blowingly great performance for week one,” the judge continued. “It had all the nuances. It was just very sensual, and the way she was gliding across the floor. I mean, I know there was smoke on the floor, so we couldn't see all the footwork. But she was floating.”

And while Maura proved her skills might be better suited to dancing than sniffing out traitors, much of her success does lie with veteran pro Mark, whose teaching, choreography and staging skills were put on display. 

As Carrie Ann noted, “There's a lot to strategy. There's a lot to understanding what the show is about.”

Yet even the longtime judge isn’t ready to predict the season’s finalists.

“I always try to stay away from expectations because it can really mess you up as a judge,” she said. “Like you got to be really careful.”

To learn more about the celebrities hoping to extend their time in the ballroom, read on.