No matter what kind of entertainment background the celebrities appearing on Dancing With the Stars have, it’s no easy feat to impress the judges. Over the years, A-listers and their professional partners have done some pretty incredible work. Each season, it seems at least a few manage to snag those elusive perfect scores — a 10 from each of the three judges.
It’s extremely difficult to get straight 10s from Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, Len Goodman and Derek Hough, who sat in for Len during season 29, but critiquing each team after all their hard work is more challenging than it seems.
“When we get to our seats, I check my paddles, double-check my notes and make sure my pen is working,” the Hawaii native wrote on her blog “The Carrie Ann Conversations.” She continued, “Before we go live, I always say a prayer: to have the courage to speak my truth and to do so with love and compassion in my heart, to uplift others and that nobody gets hurt. I take a deep breath, and then we’re live!”
Some of the changes made to the format of the show through the years have added stress to their already tough job. During season 28 in 2019, a new voting system went into place. Viewers can now only vote during the live broadcast, which means west coast fans are voting blind, and then the judges decide who gets the boot out of the bottom two duos.
“I’m a little stressed out by it … It’s hard at the end to choose who we want to stay,” Carrie told Entertainment Tonight at the time about the change.
However, she admitted that it may help keep the better dancer around. “We’ve had people in the past that were amazing that went home suddenly,” she continued. “That is what we are trying to avoid here, so even though I don’t like it [and] it makes me a little bit nauseous … it’s really important to do. And I’m happy we have the opportunity.”
Check out the gallery below to remember all of the perfect 10 performances that have graced our screens.