Dancing With the Stars contestant Amber Glenn and partner Pasha Pashkov are not sweating a few scores that are lower than they might have hoped for.
After a flawless samba to “Mi Gente” during Super Bowl Night, some fans were shocked to see the pair receive an “8” from both Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli. The scores were met with outrage as some fans pointed to the fact that fellow contestants Tyler Cameron and Jackson Olson — who viewers argue did not perform nearly as well as Glenn — both earned eights from the judges.
Glenn says she’s grateful for the fans who have taken it upon themselves to come to her defense, and that she understands where the frustration comes from, especially coming from the world of figure skating, where scores are a little more nuanced.
“It’s super sweet and that’s also something that happens in skating sometimes,” Glenn told DECIDER in a chat over Zoom. “Fans will disagree with judging and what they think and what they see. And in skating, luckily there’s more of a breakdown so you can kind of understand, whereas this, it’s just this random whole number which is one through ten. But honestly, at this point in the season, it’s like five or six through ten like it’s such a short like window of like scores.”
As of Week 5 of the competition, the elusive “10” has yet to be handed out, making the window of scores even smaller for the competitors vying for the Mirrorball Trophy. For Glenn and those who are in her corner, it’s even harder to process, considering the short time period in which the judges are able to provide feedback, and the lack of gradation amongst the scores.
“I’m so used to having like an in-depth explanation for every single thing. And many of my fans, especially, are used to that. So they see me doing like some of the more difficult things, really understanding technique, which is a core part of skating as well, is people who really have to do things the proper way or are really like quality over quantity and also do like hard things,” she says. “Usually, those are the higher scores because mathematically, that’s how it works.”
To that, Pashkov responded, “We propose going into the decimal system, right? So we can have like 7.5.”
“For me, yes. For TV, I don’t know. But for me as an athlete, yeah, that makes way more sense,” she says.
For more on the pair’s season so far and what they have in store for the upcoming episodes, check out DECIDER’s full interview with Glenn and Pashkov below.
DECIDER: It seems like every season there is like one couple whose dances, whose moves are being replicated online. And I kind of feel like you guys are the couple right now. What is that like to see?
AMBER GLENN: It’s been so cute seeing because like, of course, there are like the tricks that people are trying, which is great and slightly terrifying. Some people have nailed it, some people, I’m like, oh, okay, are they gonna be in the hospital? But luckily this week much safer, they just have been using towels. But it’s been so cool seeing people just doing things in their own ways. There was even someone who was at their job in a movie theater, like doing it. It was so cute. It’s been so much fun seeing this.
I didn’t realize so many people in the world could do the splits. Is that like a thing?
PASHA PASHKOV: Same because I cannot do one if my life depended on it, so I’m like super impressed. The interesting thing is that there were a lot of husband and wife duos where they would switch roles and the guys would try to do it, and I was like, “I’m impressed.”
I’ve actually torn my hamstring twice, both times trying to do the splits, and earlier this week I was like, “Should I try and do this dance?”
GLENN: Oh no, that’s not in your journey, mama.
It’s not in the stars. But seriously, you guys have had such an incredible season so far. What clicked fastest for you both and what are you most looking forward to in the coming weeks?
GLENN: Ooh, Pasha, how are you feeling? Cause I know right away, I’ve been enjoying the rehearsals the most. I really have been having a great time.
PASHKOV: Yeah, same, honestly. Of course we have long, long rehearsals, but I’ve been enjoying every second of it. Amber, you know, she locks in and she always puts in 100 percent. However, at the same time, I feel like we have a great balance. We do silly, goofy stuff all the time, you know, we know how to balance fun with hard work. And it’s just been a great, great flow. So I’m just happy with the whole process. And the fact that the result is coming together as well and there is a good payoff, it’s just a cherry on top.
Speaking of the result, I know that there are some fans online who are rallying behind you guys and saying that they feel like you’re being underscored. How do you guys feel about that?
GLENN: It’s super sweet and that’s also something that happens in skating sometimes. Fans will disagree with judging and what they think and what they see, and in skating luckily there’s more of a breakdown so you can kind of understand, whereas this, it’s just this random whole number which is one through ten. But honestly, at this point in the season, it’s like five or six through ten, like it’s such a short like window of scores. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this, I didn’t even really think of judging, I just thought like, “I’m gonna go dance and have fun.” And there’s this aspect of like, “Oh my God, this is so strange.” I’m so used to having an in-depth explanation for every single thing. And many of my fans, especially, are used to that. So they see me doing some of the more difficult things, really understanding technique, which is a core part of skating as well —people who really do things the proper way or are really like quality over quantity and also do hard things — usually those are 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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