‘DWTS’: Pasha Pashkov Calls Out Carrie Ann Inaba for ‘Unfair’ Danielle Fishel Criticism

Paige Strout October 16, 2025, 9:27 am

Pasha Pashkov, Danielle Fishel, Carrie Ann Inaba, 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 34, Episode 5, ABC, October 14, 2025. — Disney/Eric McCandless

Disney/Eric McCandless

Pasha Pashkov disagrees with Carrie Ann Inaba‘s latest criticism about his and Danielle Fishel‘s Dancing With the Stars routines.

While Inaba loved the nostalgia of the duo’s jive to the Boy Meets World theme song during the show’s Tuesday, October 14, Dedication Night episode, she also stated that Pashkov and Fishel’s performances have begun to feel like she’s “watching the same dance over and over again.”

“I know that sounds really critical,” she told the pair. “But if I don’t give the comments now, she can’t work on this. And I want you to have the best chance for success, so I’m bringing it up now. Try to give a little bit more variety as far as dynamics — this is also on you, Pasha — together, as a team.”

Fishel tried to calm down the crowd as they booed Inaba, stating, “No, it’s okay.” Pashkov, meanwhile, shared his reaction to the judge’s comments in an interview with Variety published on Wednesday, October 15.

“I was not happy. I always get protective. For me, that comment felt unfair, especially being that she said that the dances looked similar,” he said of Inaba’s choreography criticism. “But the thing is, we did have a quickstep and we had a jive this week. These are two dances that [are] very, very similar. If we had dances that were drastically different and they felt the same, I’d understand.”

Danielle Fishel and Pasha Pashkov, 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 34, Episode 5, ABC, October 14, 2025.

He continued, “Based on the dances that we had, that did not feel like it made sense to me. In my heart, I’m overprotective because I know how hard Danielle is working. I don’t think she deserved that comment.”

Last week, Fishel and Pashkov scored 21/30 points for their Disney Night quickstep to The Jungle Book‘s “I Wan’na Be Like You.” The couple landed near the bottom of the leaderboard on Tuesday, earning 29/40 points for their Boy Meets World-inspired jive.

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Though Pashkov may be upset about Inaba’s critiques, Fishel is taking them in stride. “My tango was a story about me overcoming breast cancer. It was also the first episode of Dancing With the Stars where people were being introduced to me again. There was no way I was going to do my first week and not smile and show the way I was feeling,” she told the outlet. “So I had a tango where I smiled, then I had a cha-cha where I smiled, then I had a quick step where I smiled, and now tonight, I had a jive where I was smiling. She’s not wrong.”

Fishel added that she’s excited to show off a different side of herself during next week’s Wicked Night, stating, “All I know is next week, it’s the perfect setup for our Argentine Tango.”

Dancing With the Stars, Season 34, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+ (Streaming Next Day on Hulu)

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