Last week, Kendra Wilkinson landed on the bottom of the Dancing With the Stars leader board with an 18 but managed to stay in the competition thanks to her fans at home. Whilst she remained unhappy with the score it was some of the comments by judge Carrie Ann Inaba about her being "afraid of elegance" that really upset the reality TV star.
This isn't the first night that Wilkinson has come under fire for her technique and her posture, with reference to some particular assets of hers being mentioned by the judges in the past when they have given their scores. Previously Wilkinson has fired back to these criticisms in regards to her lack of previous dancing of this kind, and it is a well known fact that Kendra was previously a stripper and elegance isn't necessarily a requirement for this kind of dance. However, these comments by Inaba really seemed to touch a nerve for Wilkinson on the night and reduced her to tears backstage, later she explained this as her hormones taking over, which her partner Louis added was a joke.
Whatever the reason for this reaction she did add to reporters on the elimination night that when it comes to elegance:
"We have our own definition. Elegance is what [my husband] Hank [Baskett] sees, not what Carrie Ann sees. That's what I care about.
She further added why these comments hurt coming from this particular judge:
"Another woman telling me about elegance eats away at my ego. I'm a huge Carrie Ann fan, and she's [usually] so sweet, but that one comment – I felt belittled at that moment and embarrassed."
Is Kendra right to air these concerns about this particular judge? Just because Carrie Ann is normally a certain way does that mean that her remarks should always be this way? As Kendra is coming from a background that exudes sexuality rather than elegance as it is discussed here it could be considered as a factor that might cloud the judgement of the panel. With any kind of reality competition such as this the contestants background will give some pre conceived notions as to who and what the performer is like. It seems to hurt Kendra more that it was Carrie Ann that made these comments and not one of the male judges. Her career has focused on receiving praise from a male centric audience, so it is not surprising that she seeks some positive reinforcement from a female and why these remarks hurt all the more and take away some of her confidence.
It will be interesting how Kendra will fair tonight, she is performing the 'Foxtrot' for American week and hopefully she will be able to shake these comments and give a performance that both Carrie Ann and herself can call elegant.
