Dancing With the Stars' 10 Biggest Feuds

Kaitlyn Bristowe and judge Carrie Ann Inaba are far from the first pair to clash in and out of the ABC reality hit's ballroom.

By Tierney Bricker Nov 04, 2020 8:00 PMTags
Watch: Kaitlyn Bristowe & Artem Chigvintsev Talk Family Support

Get ready for the most dramatic showdown ever.

No, we're not talking about this season of The Bachelorette. We're talking about Dancing With the Stars as the feud between former Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe and judge Carrie Ann Inaba has been brewing for several weeks and finally came to its boiling point after the Nov. 2 episode

But Kaitlyn and Carrie Ann aren't the first celeb contestant and judge to butt heads in the ballroom and are far from the first pair to take their disagreements to social media and beyond. And the professional dancers are also known to get in on the drama.

Who can forget the tension between Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Hope Solo? Or Cheryl Burke and Iain Ziering? And while Artem Chigvintsev gets along quite well with his current partner, Kaitlyn, and ended up engaged to Nikki Bella (his season 25 celebrity), he once had a star who didn't exactly give her time on the ABC reality hit a perfect score.

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Kaitlyn Bristowe vs. Carrie Ann Inaba

Things are getting thorny in the ballroom after the longtime judge claimed she was being "bullied" by fans of the former Bachelorette. 

"I still get bullied. Right about this time is when people start to bully me because of the way I judge people," Carrie Ann said on The Talk following the Nov. 2 episode of the ABC reality competition. "I can't believe it still happens as adults."

After Kaitlyn's performance with professional partner Artem Chigvintsev, Carrie Ann called the pair out for doing a lift during their jive, which is against the rules.

 "I'm a little torn right now... Can you do a back-tap on your own," she asked Kaitlyn. "I'm going to call that a lift." She ended up deducting points from their performance. 

After her dance, Kaitlyn admitted to Entertainment Tonight she was taken aback by Carrie Ann's comments, saying, "Is it from a place where you believe in us and you want us to do better," she questioned. "Is it coming from a place of, 'I was hard on Hannah [Brown] and you're another Bachelor girl'? Where is it coming from and how are we supposed to take it and bring it into our next rehearsal? What do you want us to channel and use from it?'"

Artem added the critiques from Carrie Ann felt "personal" and that he felt like they are "never going to make [Carrie Ann] happy."

Mischa Barton vs. Artem Chigvintsev

The O.C. star clearly didn't enjoy her very short stint in season 22, with viewers noticing the tension between her and her pro partner right away.

"I had no idea it would be so bad. I got told off by my dancer," she said in a later interview with The Ringer. "I was supposed to control the costumes, I was told that I could do the design aspect of it, that's kind of the reason why I agreed to do it. That didn't happen."

Iain Ziering vs. Cheryl Burke

Cheryl revealed the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, who was her season four celeb, was her least favorite partner ever. 

"My least favorite [partner] would be Ian Ziering," she confessed on Matt Weiss and Theo Von's "Allegedly" podcast. "The fact that his name is not EE-AN and it's EYE-AN makes me want to throw up."

She continued, "I was like crying to executives. I was like is there any way to please to just eliminate us? They're like we can't. We can't do that and I swear, every time I asked, we just kept going. We would last till the end."

Amber Rose vs. Julianne Hough

In season 23, the contestant admitted to feeling body shamed by the judge, saying on her podcast, "Me, and my body, my hips, my ass, my breasts made her uncomfortable."

But the pair addressed the issue during an episode after Julianne apologized and clarified her comments, telling E! News, "My ‘uncomfortable' comment was about the fact that I felt like I wanted more out of the performance—when someone is doing a hot, sexy dance like that without the right amount of energy that is required, it can be uncomfortable to watch. Trust me I'm ALL for a sexy booty dance!! We all know that!!  And any kind of body shaming goes against everything I believe in."

Amber also apologized, saying, "When you said ['I feel a little uncomfortable'], I felt very embarrassed. And I felt like you weren't talking about my dance. But if I misunderstood, then I apologize."

Kirstie Alley vs. Maksim Chmerkovskiy

While the duo became fast friends when they were partnered in season 12 (and again for the All-Star season), Maks later claimed Scientology got in the way of their friendship. 

"She stopped getting along with me," he said on Watch What Happens Live in 2014. "We had a great relationship...But I got a message now that I am associating with other people that she can't be associated with, I am no longer to be spoken with, and sorry, but it is what it is...I think the world of her. I'm not judging people by their religion. I'm Jewish. I don't really believe in science fiction, but whatever."

In response, Kirstie wrote that her former partner has "ass raped" her with the comments. 

Hope Solo vs. Maksim Chmerkovskiy

The famous soccer player and her professional partner did NOT get along when they were paired together in season 13, with Hope later alleging in her memoir that he slapped her during rehearsals. She also wrote that ABC that offered to pair her with another dancer but that she declined because she "didn't want to end Maks' career."

Maks denied Hope's claims, and fired back on a 2015 podcast. "She's just a s--tty person," he said. "People can be bad or good or whatever. You can have a s--tty life growing up. You can have a tough upbringing. You can have history. You can have whatever. But, if you are just a bad person, you know what I mean? There's no excuse for that."

Kate Gosselin vs. Tony Dovolani

The reality star and her professional partner did not have the best time back in season 10, with Tony later saying "a lot of therapy was involved" after the experience, which included him yelling "I quit!" during a rehearsal.

In response to Tony's comments, the mother of eight said, "I think it is a shame that Tony has been left only with a negative impression of our time together, especially after we spent SO many hours, days, nights and weeks working hard together doing our best in the competition."

Charlotte McKinney vs. Bruno Tonioli

The outspoken judge earned criticism for telling the model she was "never going to win the Nobel Prize for quantum physics, but you are easy on the eyes."

But Charlotte wasn't going to let Bruno get away with his comments, telling E! News, "I just believe it was super uncalled for. Especially after last week with the bullying and talking about just being nice and I didn't see where it came from. We weren't talking about being smart or anything like that. So it was just uncalled for."

Brooke Burke vs. DWTS

Serving as Tom Bergeron's co-host for several years after competing (and wining) in season seven, Brooke was blindsided when she learned she was being let go from the show prior to season 18, with Erin Andrews hired to replace her.

"I have enjoyed seven seasons co-hosting DWTS but understand the need for change considering the position of the show at this juncture," she said in a statement to E! News. "I've always been one to embrace change and looking forward to pursuing opportunities I previously wasn't able to entertain because of contractual obligations to the show. I've seen my fair share of shocking eliminations in the ballroom but this one takes the cake."

Abby Lee Miller vs. Maksim Chmerkovskiy

The Dance Moms star was a guest judge in season 18, and it was clear Maks was not a fan. "I really don't care for anything she has to say," he told co-host Erin Andrews of the reality star's critique of his dance with Meryl Davis

Later, Abby slammed Maks' comment as "disrespectful," telling E! News, "I don't think it was hurtful to me, no sweat off of my back. But I think it was a little disrespectful to ABC and to Dancing With the Stars and to a judge." 

CLICK: Did you know these DWTS hook-ups happened?

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.