ABC "Dancing With the Stars" pro Artem Chigvintsev threw shade at the judges after his elimination on the show.
“Dancing With the Stars” professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev seemed tho throw some shade at the judges after his elimination from the competition on Monday, November 7.
During the episode, which was ’90s themed, Chigvintsev and his celebrity partner, Heidi D’Amelio, danced a contemporary piece to “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette. They spent time in rehearsals focusing on bringing out emotions while dancing, as they’d received that advice from the judges multiple times in previous weeks.
Chigvintsev felt that the judges didn’t appreciate their efforts or their final product.
The dancer spoke with Page Six after the show, joking that he was “afraid to speak because I might say something you don’t want to hear.”
“I’m definitely disappointed,” he told the outlet and other reporters. “I think what’s hard is, this show becomes your life. For the past 10 weeks, this has been every second of [our] day … I mean, you just breathe, and sleep, and even dream of this, of what’s happening on the floor, right?”
Chigvintsev Thought D’Amelio Showcased Her Emotions During the Performance
Chigvintsev also told reporters that it was hard to not take the elimination personally.
“I think this week [was] hard because we work so hard to take in the correction from the judges and to, like, really deliver,” he told reporters. “And when you work so hard to bring the emotion out, and then you actually do it, but you don’t get the score, that’s what’s hard.”
He and D’Amelio received a score of 35 out of 40 after receiving three 9s and an 8 from Len Goodman after he told the couple that he didn’t think the dance suited D’Amelio’s personality.
Chigvintsev added, “The emotional part, it’s more challenging than learning the steps – especially for a person who is not a performer. There’s a lot of people on the show how perform for a living … [Heidi] doesn’t, that’s not her job.”
He said that going through the motions to overcome that and then “kind of getting, like, ‘Bye, see ya,’ it does make you feel a little bit like, ‘Ah, well this sucks.'”
Carrie Ann Inaba Offered Her Thoughts on the Situation
Carrie Ann Inaba took to Instagram after seeing Chigvintsev’s comments to clarify how she felt about D’Amelio’s dance and what she meant when she said she wanted to see more emotion from the couple. She started off by saying that she doesn’t usually respond, but she wanted to make an exception.
“I was impressed with how you took our comments to heart and how you coached her into a place where she could be vulnerable… I did see a beautiful and heart opening breakthrough in a few moments of the dance,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories. “And those moments were touching and powerful.”
She said that she believed D’Amelio worked hard and “should be proud of the performance.”
However, she also stated that she understands that women are “held to a higher standard than men in many ways” and she thought “perfection lies in allowing yourself to be uniquely you. And to let the emotions that are yours (and yours alone) come out and be expressed.”
She then addressed Chigvintsev’s comments about the judges possibly not recognizing the effort put into the dance.
“I just want to say that I did see the efforts,” she shared. “And I saw some moments where she allowed the emotional expression we were all looking for. It wasn’t throughout the whole dance, but there was so much progress.”
She went on to congratulate the pair on “a great season.”
“Dancing With the Stars” airs on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Disney+.