“DWTS ”guest judge Shirley Ballas earns gasps after handing Julia Stiles a shockingly low score
“DWTS ”guest judge Shirley Ballas earns gasps after handing Julia Stiles a shockingly low score
Ryan ColemanWed, October 28, 2026 at 1:15 AM UTC
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Shirley Ballas and Julia Stiles on ‘DWTS’Credit: abcKey Points -
Dancing With the Stars week 7 guest judge Shirley Ballas gave Julia Stiles a terrifyingly low score on Horror Movie Night.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge and “Queen of Latin” legend handed Stiles a 4, while her fellow judges gave the Save the Last Dance star 7s and 8s.
“I didn’t find that there was much tracing on the floor,” Ballas critiqued. “I found [the] gauchos too slow, not fast enough. I need sharper, controlled legs. Also, posturally, it wasn’t quite in the right place.”
Shirley Ballas heard there was a score inflation problem on Dancing With the Stars and said, “Don’t worry, I’m on my way.”
Each season of the reality dancing competition likes to spice up the judging panel from time to time by bringing in a guest judge. From former pro and two-time Mirrorball champion Kym Johnson to former host Tom Bergeron, experts and fan faves alike can skew the judges’ usually aligned, if not deadlocked, scores up and down.
But nobody was prepared for Ballas.
The longtime judge on Strictly Come Dancing — the British forerunner to Dancing With the Stars — and retired pro dancer so legendary she earned the nickname “The Queen of Latin,” Ballas warned at the top of the episode that she wouldn’t be taking it easy on season 35’s competitors just because she’d traveled stateside to judge them. And she proved that with the first dance out the gate.
Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa on ‘DWTS’Credit: abc
Silver screen icon Julia Stiles and her pro partner, Ezra Sosa, had a fantastic go of it last week. Stiles’ Dedication Night tribute to her 10 Things I Hate About You costar Heath Ledger, which saw her reunite with the film’s ensemble on stage, earned rave reviews and her highest score yet — a 36.
But she took a considerable tumble this week with her and Sosa’s Argentine tango homage to The Omen. While all the judges had their points of critique, Ballas’ was the most technically precise.
“First of all, I thought the conversation between the two of you was quite nice. But generally, overall, I didn’t find that there was much tracing on the floor,” Ballas explained, adding that she found the “gauchos too slow, not fast enough. I need sharper, controlled legs. Also posturally, it wasn’t quite in the right place for Argentine tango for me. But a good start.”
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Bruno Tonioli remarked, “Wow, excuse me,” after Ballas’ comments, and then offered the most positive perspective of the night, praising Stiles as a “mistress of seduction” who danced with “style.” Carrie Ann Inaba felt that “this one was a little more tense” compared to the last two weeks’ dances. “You just didn’t seem like you were as free as we have been developing over the last few weeks.” Finally, Hough said that because “the music felt big,” Stiles’ and Sosa’s dance “felt just a little timid, a little careful, a little tiptoeing.”
That was all well and good. Except for Tonioli, the judges seemed aligned that this was Styles’ weakest dance in a long time, but it still had merit. Then they handed out their scores.
Tonioli gave an 8, and Hough and Inaba gave 7s. At this point in the trajectory of DWTS, a 7 might as well be a 4 — but then Ballas actually handed out a 4. There were audible gasps in the ballroom as Ballas revealed her paddle, prompting Stiles to cover her mouth with her hand.
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Stiles and Sosa kicked off Horror Movie Night with a score so low it will be hard to beat, but Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik also struggled with a 28.
New episodes of Dancing With the Stars season 35 air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC and Disney+.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
