Drama at ‘Dancing With the Stars’ over ‘unfair’ Carrie Ann Inaba

Drama is taking center stage on “Dancing With The Stars” as Season 34 of the popular competition show shimmies into the finals this month. 

Tuesday’s shocking elimination of actress Danielle Fishel and pro dancer Pasha Pashkov incensed viewers — many of whom believed Fishel was unfairly criticized by judge Carrie Ann Inaba.

“The judging was very skewed,” one insider told The Post, noting that Inaba is particularly hard on female contestants.

Even Fishel’s “Pod Meets World” podcast co-hosts — who also starred with her on the sitcom “Boy Meets World” — voiced their suspicions that something didn’t feel right.

“At this point, it’s starting to feel like a personal vendetta,” Rider Strong said on a recent episode of the podcast. “Are [judges] open to the potential that Danielle might be working her ass off?”

Co-host Will Friedle specifically called out Inaba, who show fans have long speculated goes easier on particular contestants.

“Carrie Ann has her favorites, and she’ll have two or three that, no matter what they do — they could walk on the stage, trip, hit their face — and she’d be like, ‘You tried so hard, 9!’” he said, referencing the show’s 1-10 scoring system. “Then Danielle does the best thing, where she’s doing triple flips, and [Inaba will] be like, ‘You’ve gotta hold your shoulders different, too.’ And it’s like, what the f–k?”

The insider also noted how show judges “would be extremely critical of Danielle, yet they would praise [fellow Season 34 contestant] Andy Richter. If they’re actually judging, Andy would be held to the same standard.”

Comedian Richter, 59, is filling the show’s underdog archetype this season and defied the odds once again Tuesday when he made it through the elimination round unscathed — while Fisher was kicked out. (Contestants are saved or eliminated based on a combination of judges’ scores and fan votes.)

Summing up a prevailing sentiment on social media, one fan posted on Instagram: “Carrie Ann has a longgggggggg history of picking on the ‘popular girl.’”

After her performance this week, Fishel drew a connection on “Pod Meets World” between “DWTS” and “the impossible standards placed on women, both from society and from ourselves.”

A week earlier, Inaba had told Fishel she needed to “use the [entire dance] space because you are a tiny little woman.”

“I’m a tiny little woman, but she’s big on the inside,” Fishel responded on the show this week. Inaba apologized for any hurt feelings.

Earlier in the season, dancing pro Pashkov called an Inaba critique “unfair” after she said his routines with Fishel were “starting to feel like I’m watching the same dance over and over again.”

And last season, former show pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy dismissed Inaba’s judgements.

“I’m a fan of constructive criticism. I’m a fan of criticism that has a foundation that I can take and then do better. Right? There’s none of that [with Inaba],” he told The Sun. “You know, I don’t know what Carrie Ann is saying at all.”

The drama, however, is proving to be a ratings boon.

ABC raked in 6.63 million viewers for the show’s “Wicked-themed” night of on Oct. 21 — the largest same-day audience for the show since the beginning of the 2020-2021 season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Since its season premiere five weeks ago, “DWTS” has grown its audience each week.

What’s more, the 20-year-old show is winning with younger audiences: nabbing its best ratings from 18-to-49-year-old viewers in years, according to the same report.

Yet the perception of unfair judging, particularly by Inaba, is nothing new.

Last season, contestant and Disney actress Chandler Kinney faced similar criticism from Inaba when she and partner Brandon Armstrong performed an impressive Viennese waltz — only to have Inaba tell her flatly: “That wasn’t perfection.”

Upsetting fans even more: The notion that Inaba favored NBA veteran Dwight Howard despite Kinney’s dancing appearing more technically proficient.

In 2023, Inaba was booed in the ballroom when she was the only judge not to give “Vanderpump Rules” star Ariana Madix — who, like Fishel, was partnered with Pashkov — a perfect 10 after citing “awkward moments” in the dance routine.

And the judge was often critical of “The Bachelorette” contestant Hannah Brown, who went on to win Season 28 of “DWTS.” In one teary moment, Brown refused a hug from Inaba — saying she felt frustrated by feedback she’d received on the show.

Inaba cheekily defended herself against the haters two weeks ago by posting a TikTok of herself lip-syncing to the song “Actually Romantic” by Taylor Swift: “But it’s actually sweet / All the time you’ve spent on me / It’s honestly wild / All the effort you’ve put in/ It’s actually romantic / I really gotta hand it to you, ooh / No man has ever loved me like you do.”

A close source told Page Six that part of the problem may be that, in the social media age, “DWTS” has turned to contestants who come onto the show with already developed fandoms that are easily annoyed by criticism.

“Casting has changed,” the source said. “They always have an athlete, they always have an older celeb. Always someone everyone will recognize — and some other people that maybe viewers kind of knew … They didn’t used to have social media stars now they do.

“Now the younger generation is very tuned in. They’re watching it. They’re voting,” the source added. And “DWTS” casting directors “adjusted the show accordingly to meet the moment, with [contestants] like Alix Earle,” the influencer who is on this season.

And if the fans on social media aren’t on your side, tenure on the show can be rocky — and short.

Just ask famous fraudster Anna “Delvey” Sorokin, competed in Season 33 with pro dance partner Ezra Sosa and was the first to be eliminated from the competition.

While she told Page Six this week that the people working on the show were kind, Sorokin said, “Tt was the people on social media, the fans, who were the worst.”

The source noted that it’s not easy being a judge on any competition show, when you can be viewed as the spoilsport ever time a fan favorite gets booted.

“I would have to imagine they feel some sort of pressure not only to satisfy the audience, but they’re judging — that’s what their job is. They have to judge it and they have to be honest about it. They can’t really protect other people’s feelings,” the source said,” the source said.

“At the end of the day, it’s a TV show.”

And every good reality show needs a villain.