Inaba Calls for New Dancing With the Stars Lift Rule Next Season

Carrie Ann Inaba, a longtime judge on Dancing With the Stars, has called for a new lift rule to be introduced next season and for the show's judges and professional dancers to meet and discuss the rule together. She made the proposal in an Instagram comment, as reported by movieweb.com.

Inaba said she has asked for a session that would bring all the dancers and the judges into one room to go over the history and purpose of the lift rule. According to Inaba, the rule exists to protect safety and fairness on the floor.

She also argued that the show's casting and its audience have changed since the rule was first defined, which is why she wants it revisited before next season. No official changes to the lift rule have been announced for the current season.

Background to the debate

In the Oct. 13, 2026 episode, a judge criticized a lift by backup dancers during Jenna Johnson and Harry Shum Jr.'s samba, and Johnson disputed the ruling. Val Chmerkovskiy defended Johnson in a since-deleted social media post that referenced Will Smith's Oscars slap; BBC Studios suspended him for the Oct. 20 episode despite his apology, and Alan Bersten temporarily partnered Val's celebrity partner, Jenna Dewan, that night. Chmerkovskiy was scheduled to return on Oct. 27.

Inaba has enforced the lift rule before: in 2019 she deducted points from Queer Eye's Karamo Brown for a lift outside the permitted dance styles.