Carrie Ann Inaba told a ‘Dancing With the Stars’ duo who say they’re like siblings that turning a sister into a lover for one night was ‘all good’

Carrie Ann Inaba is facing questions about a comment she made to Dancing With the Stars duo Daniella Karagach and Ezra Frech, according to Parade. After the pair performed an Argentine tango to the remix of Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” on Grammy Night, the judge said that turning a sister into a lover for one night was “all good.” The dancers are not related, and they have since responded.

Karagach, 33, is a professional dancer, and Frech, 21, is a Paralympian. Inaba called the tango the hardest dance the two had done so far and praised their balance, their ganchos and boleos, and their ability to stay centered while telling the story she wanted. She also praised the intimacy of the routine and described the dance as dangerous, something the show had not seen before.

The Carrie Ann Inaba comment drew an immediate reaction. Karagach made a face when the judge delivered the line, and Derek Hough called the remark weird. Karagach later explained how the two see each other, however, and Frech weighed in separately, so the sister comparison has become the main topic of conversation around a routine that Inaba had otherwise described in very positive terms.

Karagach and Frech say their tango did not give off sibling energy

On the live show, Karagach told Entertainment Weekly that the pair were not going to talk about the comment, while Frech yelled in surprise beside her. She then said that Inaba means love and that the judge is always full of love. Her reply came in an interview during the live show, while the judges’ comments were still fresh.

Karagach said every partnership has its own chemistry and that she and Frech share a family style love. She said they are like brother and sister, however, and that this dance “does not give off sibling energy.” She added that the tango required the two to tune into the character of the routine, and that they are committers who commit to the gig, whatever the dance asks of them.

Frech told Good Morning America that Karagach is like the older sister he never had, with “protective big sister energy, always.” He made the comment in a separate interview after the episode aired, and it was one of several responses from the pair. No other judge’s reaction to the line was reported in coverage of the episode, and no scores were included in the coverage.

Before the performance, Karagach had called the routine sexy and intimate in a rehearsal package, so the romantic tone of the dance was part of the way the routine was presented to viewers. Inaba’s remark about the sister and the lover came as the judge was reacting to that same intimacy, which she had praised only moments earlier in her comments to the pair.

The Argentine tango is a dance known for a close embrace and sharp, precise footwork. Ganchos are hooking movements of the leg, and boleos are whipping swings, and both are closely associated with the style, which is why Inaba singled them out as technical highlights before she moved on to the intimacy of the routine and the sister comment that followed.

Public figures have answered unwelcome remarks before, and Millie Bobby Brown’s furious response to a photographer who told her to smile at the Stranger Things premiere drew similar attention. In this case, the remark came from a judge on a live broadcast, and Karagach and Frech each responded in separate interviews.

Inaba has been on the judging panel since the show premiered in 2005, and Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+, with next day streaming on Hulu. The sister and lover remark was one of several comments from the Grammy Night episode, and Karagach and Frech have now addressed it in more than one interview.

Viewers can watch the pair’s next routine on the same broadcast schedule, where the judges will again score the dance and comment on how the two perform together.