Super Bowl Night on Dancing With the Stars was not the first time that Carrie Ann Inaba has called out an illegal lift, and it certainly won’t be the last. After Jenna Johnson and Harry Shum Jr.’s samba routine to “Yeah!” by Usher, Carrie Ann kept it real with her feedback, calling out the pro for incorporating a lift into her routine.
CAI even had the NDCA definition of a lift ready to go, telling Jenna, “A lift is any movement during which one or both dancers has both feet off the floor at the same time with the assistance or support from their partner.” And while some fans thought Carrie Ann was referring to the troupe-assisted backflip that Harry performed (which is totally fair game), I believe she was actually referencing a moment towards the end of the dance when Jenna fell back into Harry’s arms and her feet did, for the briefest moment, both leave the ground.
You can watch again for yourself, with the troupe-assisted lift taking place around 1:01 and the possible illegal lift taking place around 1:11.
The backlash to Carrie Ann’s comment has been...a LOT, mostly stemming from the fact that CAI has historically been a bit inconsistent in calling out lifts. DWTS fans first started chattering about the “lift police” back in 2017 during season 24, when Carrie Ann really began cracking down on illegal lifts.
At the time, she penned a note to fans on Facebook, explaining, “From day one it was decided that there would be no lifts in the proper Ballroom and Latin dances, just like in a true ballroom and latin dance competition, since that was the original basis of the show, to learn ballroom dances.”
She later added, “Over the years, we have expanded our dance styles to include dances such as the Jitterbug, Argentine Tango, the Charleston, Salsa, Jazz, and Contemporary where lifts are allowed. However, lifts are still not allowed in Rhumba, Cha Cha, Jive, Paso Doble, Samba, Tango, Waltz, Viennese Waltz, Fox Trot, or Quickstep because those are the rules for these styles.”
What’s more: “I have always taken a point off for when lift rules are broken, just as Len always takes a point or two off when there isn’t enough proper content of the Dance Sport styles. I am the only one who takes off a point for lifts, which I think is fair, because if we all did, the contestants’ scores would suffer greatly for something that is not that serious of a crime.”
That said, there have been instances when CAI has let a lift slide. For instance, she didn’t penalize the illegal lift that Witney Carson and Robert Irwin performed in their foxtrot to “Footprints in the Sand” during season 34—though, to be fair, it was a Dedication Night dance honoring Robert’s late father, Steve Irwin.
She also didn’t penalize Derek Hough and Bindi Irwin’s Dirty Dancing-inspired lift back in season 21 during their rumba to “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”...probably because you simply can’t dance to that song without doing that famous lift.
Also: Troupe-assisted lifts are legal, as evidenced by the fact that Carrie Ann excused the lift in Val Chmerkovskiy and Sailor Brinkley-Cook’s tango to “Mamma Mia” during season 28.
In conclusion: CAI may be tough, but she’s just calling it like she sees it!