Dancing with the Stars Judge Carrie Ann Inaba Talks About the Contestants

Female: Miss Carrie Ann Inaba just wrapped up the most popular season ever for Dancing with the Stars. Now, she’s the one in the hot seat on the cat-themed reality show, Housecat Housecall. Take a look.

We’d like to welcome Carrie to the show and we’re going to get to all the Dancing with the Stars dirt but first, we want to talk about your new adventure, Cats.

Carrie: Yes, cats. It’s actually an old adventure because I have five cats.

Female: That’s amazing. You recently moved in with your boyfriend and you guys kind of merge your two families together.

Carrie: Right. I have three and he had two. And so, we all merged together and we were fortunate enough that Purina Cat Chow invited me to work with them on a show called Housecat Housecall and Doctor Katrina, the cat whispered, she came over and she really gave us some amazing tips on how to do with our cats.

Female: So, how is it going now with all five of them? Do they get along?

Carrie: Yeah. Believe it or not, yes. I think a lot of people give cats a bad reputation because they think that there not trainable. But they are if you actually know how they work and what they're cycles are like. She really explained a lot of things and now, our household is very good and I'm sleeping at night, no cat disruptions all night. It’s great.

Female: Oh that’s nice that the families are all get along.

Carrie: It is. It’s very important when you have five, yes.

Female: Oh definitely and I know they're like family to you. Let's talk about your day job, Dancing with the Star.

Carrie: Yes, my day job.

Female: You guys are on hiatus right now but the season just ended, not too long ago. Derek Hough and Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls won. Was that surprising at all?

Carrie: You know actually right before the final vote was announced, I had this weird thing that Evan might win. I mean, maybe it was a long shot. I’m sort of one who kind of votes for the—and I love the—and I have this weird thing, “Okay, he might win and then unfortunately, he didn’t. But I think the best dancer won, Nicole and Derek were phenomenal.

Female: Now, a lot of people thought it wasn’t fair because Nicole has such an extensive dance background. Is that fair? We’ve seen other dancers on the show.

Carrie: Yeah, I think we’ve had many dancers on the show. Mario Lopez, we had Sabrina Bryan, we’ve had a lot of people but I think no one knew how extensive her background might have been because we don’t audition people before they come on the show. And because she was a singer, usually the singer is not as much of the dancer as the other people in groups, so we thought maybe she wasn’t going to be that great of a dancer. She proved as wrong but she did also improve. I mean, she was phenomenal.

Female: Yeah, she was great. She really made it look so easy, didn’t she?

Carrie: Yeah, it was great season.

Female: Who has been your favorite contestant through all the seasons?

Carrie: My favorite contestants, I think Jerry Springer and Kelly Osbourne.

Female: Really?

Carrie: Yeah, they were so interesting to me as people and watching Kelly Osbourne sort of blossomed. I think our show can be very transformational for people. And Kelly Osbourne, I think really benefited from what the show is about. And I love watching it.

Female: Well, why do you think this season was the most popular so far? Was there something different?

Carrie: Yes. First of all, the most incredible dancing with Nicole and Derek, Evan Lysacek and Aaron, all of them were amazing. So, we have the bar set really high for the dancing. But we also had these really interesting characters. We had Kate Gosselin who people worth I myself to was fascinated with her until she did paparazzi and then I said “Okay, we’re done.” And then we had people like Pamela Anderson and Buzz Aldrin. We just really have great characters. I really enjoyed it.

Female: Yeah. Okay, let's talk about some of the love connections on the show. We know there’s been some. Through the years Maksim and Aaron, that’s kind of a rumored romance and also, Chad Ochocinco and Cheryl. Can you give us any inside into those?

Carrie: I can just say, well, I don’t know much because I don’t hang out with them but I was so happy to hear that maybe Aaron and Maksim are going out now because I think they're the cutest couple in the world. I love the way she gives him so much like she gives him a little bit of like that talk and I think that’s great for him because he’s pretty tough. Cheryl and Chad, I don’t know if that’s really going to work or what. I know he’s got his other dating show coming up. So, I wish him well in that show.

Female: Okay, in just one quick question, who’s the one celebrity you’d like to stay on the show?

Carrie: Lindsay Lohan.

Female: Lindsay Lohan, all right, let's—Carrie Ann for that.

Carrie: Thank you.

Female: And you can watch Carrie Ann Inaba on Dancing with the Stars and their appearance on Housecat Housecall on the animal planet. You can check your local listings for times.