ABC Carole Baskin and Pasha Pashkov
“Dancing With the Stars” season 29 contestant Carole Baskin from the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King” said in a podcast interview on March 16 that if the producers did an all-star season of early eliminations, she would definitely participate. Plus, find out why she said no to having dinner with host Tyra Banks.
Carole Baskin Was a Controversial ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Contestant
Carole and her partner Pasha Pashkov were the second couple eliminated on season 29. The big cat rescue advocate was a controversial cast member on the show because after the big cat docuseries “Tiger King” premiered on Netflix, it refueled rumors that Carole was responsible for her ex-husband Don Lewis’ death (he disappeared in 1997).
In fact, during the premiere of “Dancing With the Stars,” Lewis’ family bought an ad that aired during the broadcast offering a reward for information about his disappearance and asking if Carole Baskin was involved. You can watch the ad here.
Plus, she was not one of the stronger dancers, earning an 11 from the judges in week one, a 16 from the judges in week two, and a 12 in week three, all of which were some of the lowest scores each week. Many fans were celebrating on Twitter when she was eliminated.
“Thank God Carole Baskin got eliminated on #DWTS. Didn’t think I could take another week of that,” wrote one fan.
“Oh good, Carole Baskin was eliminated. I can breathe easy for the rest of the show now,” wrote another fan.
Carole Said ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Is Like a Family & She Would Absolutely Do It Again
On an episode of “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef,” the host asked Carole about her time on “Dancing With the Stars.” Carole said that she thought it was just lip service when the show’s producers told her it would be like “joining a family,” but it was completely true.
“[I]t’s really been that way. I mean, they reach out, we email back and forth and it’s just been — I felt like the whole time I was there, I was part of a family. And I still feel like these are really close, personal friends,” said Carole, adding that she would absolutely go back if they asked her.
“I would do [the show again]. I don’t think that would happen though, because I didn’t last anywhere near as long as most of their stars do,” said Carole, though Yontef pitched a season of early eliminations, like people who didn’t make it past week three — a “second chance ‘Dancing With the Stars,'” if you will.
“The losers! [laughs] … Yeah. I would do that,” said Carole.
She also said that she’s grateful that the show gave her such a large platform to talk about her cause, rescuing big cats, and she didn’t care what the viewers thought of her.
“I didn’t care what people thought of me, but it really gave me the opportunity to get the main story out there, which is the fact that we’re going to lose the tiger in the wild in the next five years or so if we don’t stop this cub petting right now because it’s just creating a legal smokescreen for all of the illegal poaching that is sucking these cats right out of the wild,” said Carole.
“I really thank the people at ‘Dancing With the Stars’ for giving me not only the platform on their show, but they also lined up so much press that the entire time … [I was] talking about protecting big cats. So that was a huge, huge opportunity,” she added.
Carole Says She Doesn’t Believe What She Reads in the Press About Tyra Banks — but She Did Turn Down Dinner With the Host
Carole had nothing but nice things to say about host Tyra Banks, calling her “so nice” and “so warm and welcoming.”
“I found her to be lovely to work with,” said Carole. “I know that there were an awful lot of nasty things that were said about her in the press. And yet I’m there every day, I’m not seeing any of this going on. So I just don’t believe anything I see in the press anymore.”
She also said when she first arrived in Hollywood, Tyra reached out to take her out to dinner, which Carole thought was a prank call at first because “no way in heck” would somebody like Tyra Banks be calling her. But it was Tyra and she offered to take Carole out on the town.
“She’s like, ‘Let me show you my town. You are in my town. I want to show you around.’ I was like, well, I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to be isolated to this room,” said Carole, adding that she was very nervous about being out in public during the pandemic.
What do you think, “Dancing With the Stars” fans? Would you watch a season made up of all early-elimination contestants?
“Dancing With the Stars” has not yet been renewed for season 31. If it is renewed, it will return in September 2022.