Danielle Fishel’s ‘Boy Meets World’ co-stars think the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ judge has a ‘personal vendetta’ against her.
Rider Strong admitted on Saturday’s episode of his Pod Meets World podcast that he was “suppressing his anger” as he watched the judges score Fishel’s performance.
“I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. At this point, it’s starting to feel like a personal vendetta,” Strong, 45, confessed. “Are you all open to the possibility that Daniel might be working hard?”
Co-host Will Friedle felt the same way, specifically calling out judge Carrie Ann Inaba and accusing her of unfairly favoring certain contestants when it comes to scoring.
“Carrie Ann has her favorites, and there are two or three things that no matter what they do, they could walk on stage or trip or get hit in the face. And she was like, ‘Nine of you, you worked so hard!’
“Daniel does his best when he does triple flips, but when he says, ‘You have to change the way you hold your shoulders,’ I’m like, ‘What?'” Friedl, 49, enthuses.
Strong and Friedl aren’t the first to question Inaba’s judgment this season.
Fishel’s professional partner, Pasha Pashkov, called out the choreographer for her “unwarranted” criticism of Fishel’s “Dedication Night” routine, which also happened to be an homage to Fishel’s other “Boy Meets World” co-star and mentor, William Daniels.
The routine was a fan favorite, and despite having many of Fishel’s co-stars at the ballroom to cheer them on, the dance duo only received 29 points out of a total of 40 from judges Inaba, Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and guest judge Kim Johnson-Herjavec.
Inaba, 57, in particular, said she was unimpressed with the routine, saying it felt like she was “watching the same dance over and over” every week, while receiving loud boos from the audience.
“I wasn’t satisfied,” Pashkov told Variety. “I’ve always tended to be defensive. To me, that comment felt unfair, especially since she said they danced similarly.”
“But actually, this week we had a quickstep and we had a jive. Those two dances are very similar,” he explained.
“If we had dances that were very different and they felt the same way, I think it would be understandable. But based on the dances we danced, I didn’t think it made sense to me.”
“In my heart of hearts, I think I’m being overprotective because I know how hard Danielle works. I don’t think she deserves that comment,” he concluded.
Fishel, 44, is adamant that he accepts the judges’ criticism, which he hopes will help him improve each week of the competition. She admitted to the magazine that Inaba’s feedback was “not wrong” and wanted to prove them wrong regarding her and Pashkov’s next routine.
