‘Dancing With the Stars’ Guest Judge Flavor Flav Explains Controversial Alix Earle Score

Alyssa Norwin November 5, 2025, 10:06 am

Flavor Flav, Alix Earle, Valentin Chmerkovskiy — Disney/Christopher Willard

What To Know

Flavor Flav was a guest judge on Dancing With the Stars and confused viewers with some of his scoring choices.
Specifically, fans felt it was unfair that the rapper kept Alix Earle from earning a perfect score by giving her dance a 9.
After the show, Flavor Flav explained why he scored the influencer one point lower than the rest of the judges did.

Flavor Flav was the guest judge on the Tuesday, November 4, episode of Dancing With the Stars, and some of his scoring decisions had viewers scratching their heads. Perhaps his most controversial rating, though, was the 9 he gave Alix Earle and Valentin Chmerkovskiy for their paso doble on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night.

The three regular judges, Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Derek Hough, all gave the routine a 10, so Flavor Flav’s 9 kept Earle from earning a perfect score.

“I really wanted to give them a 10, but they wouldn’t let me change it,” the rapper explained to People. “I went, ‘No, no, that was an accident. I don’t want to give them a 9. I want to give them a 10.’ But they was like, ‘Flavor, it’s already locked in. You can’t change it.’ I’m like, ‘Oh man!’ That’s how the game goes, you know what I’m saying?”

Flavor Flav did lock in some 10s throughout the night, though, using his highest paddle for Dylan Efron, Whitney Leavitt, Elaine Hendrix, Jordan Chiles, and Robert Irwin.

This was the second week in a row where Earle fell one point shy of perfection because of a guest judge, with Cheryl Burke also scoring her a 9 during the October 28 Halloween Week episode. However, after the first round of competition this week, Earle was still tied with Leavitt at the top of the leaderboard with her 39 out 40.

Cheryl Burke Criticized by 'DWTS' Contestant's Stepmom Over Halloween Night Scoring

Unfortunately, she was bumped down to third place after the team dances, as her freestyle group only scored a 38 out of 40, while the other team (which included Leavitt and Chiles, who was in second place after round one) locked in a 40 out of 40.

Earle was still able to survive this week’s elimination. Instead, Danielle Fishel was sent home due to having the lowest combined judges’ scores and viewer votes. Seven couples remain as the show heads into the DWTS 20th Anniversary Celebration Week on November 11.

Dancing With the Stars, Season 34, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC