DWTS Judges Admitted They Hated This Pro Dancer

ABC/Eric McCandless DWTS Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli

On the premiere episode of Overserved with Lisa Vanderpump, NSYNC member Lance Bass spilled some Dancing With the Stars tea about his time on the show — including, he said, that the judges did not care for his professional dance partner, Lacey Schwimmer.

Bass Says a Judge Told Him They Couldn’t Stand His Partner

When Bass and Vivica A. Fox arrived for their dinner party at Lisa Vanderpump’s house, the former Real Housewife and restaurateur brought up that they all have Dancing With the Stars in common — Fox appeared on season three with professional partner Nick Kosovich, Bass appeared on season seven with pro partner Schwimmer and Vanderpump appeared on season 16 with pro partner Gleb Savchenko.

When Fox mentioned that she thought she was eliminated because of her pro partner, Bass said, “Same! We were in the same boat.”

“[Schwimmer] was new, she was the bad girl of ballroom and the judges just hated her and we felt it. We made it to the finale … and then we go have drinks at one of the judges’ houses and they had a little too much to drink and one of those judges was like, ‘You know we can’t stand your partner?'” revealed Bass, adding, “I’m like, ‘Why am I working my a** off then?!'”

Despite the dislike, Bass and Schwimmer finished in third place behind Warren Sapp and Kym Johnson and winners Brooke Burke and Derek Hough. Schwimmer, who was the first So You Think You Can Dance alum to be a professional partner on Dancing With the Stars, went on to appear on seasons eight through 12. In season 11 she reached second place with Kyle Massey, the best performance of her five-season run.

After she left the show in season 12, Schwimmer told SheKnows that she wanted to focus on other aspects of her career.

“There are a lot of things going on in my life that I kind of need [to] step back and focus. I’m trying to partition my time,” said Schwimmer, adding that she would be designing a line of costumes for professional dancers.

Recently, Schwimmer has been busy planning a ballroom dancing convention called “Lacey’s Ballroom Project,” which will travel around the country starting in September 2021.

Bass Also Regaled the ‘Overserved’ Party With a Super Embarrassing Story

During dinner, Bass also told an incredibly funny and embarrassing story about the time he thought he was talking to Julia Roberts … but he was not.

The story took place at the late Kobe Bryant’s celebrity bowling tournament. Bass asked to be on Penny Marshall’s team and was delighted to find out that Roberts was also on the team because he is a huge fan of hers.

“Julia Roberts is also on the team. I’m talking about Runaway Bride and every amazing movie she’s ever done, I’m name-checking her in everything. And about an hour into bowling, I realize that I was talking to Cindy Crawford, not Julia Roberts,” said Bass, sending the dinner party into gales of laughter.

He added, “She was so nice the whole time. She just thought I was the biggest Julia Roberts fan because it was all I could talk about.”

Dancing With the Stars season 30 will premiere in fall 2021. Overserved with Lisa Vanderpump airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on E!.

READ NEXT: DWTS Pro Reveals How She Feels About Tyra Banks As Host