‘Dancing with the Stars’ 19: Karina Smirnoff questions Julianne Hough as judge

Well, it looks like there may already be some controversy brewing in the “Dancing with the Stars” judging department … but can you really be surprised, given that the show hired a former pro who happens to be a sibling of a current one?

We were initially caught off-guard by the Julianne Hough announcement mostly because she really laid it on a little too harshly to some of the pros in her past two guest appearances in the role, but now, someone who didn’t even feel her ire on TV is speaking out. In a statement to Us Weekly, Karina Smirnoff was pretty blunt in wondering whether or not the former champ was right for this gig:

“I think she is a great girl, I’ve known her for many years … I think that she is wonderful, gorgeous, and talented, but I don’t know if it’s ethical that she is judging while her brother is competing.”

Does Karina have a point here? The reason we understand her perspective is mostly just because of the fact that even if Hough is trying to be fair, can you really expect her to be 100% perfect? That is not going to be a particularly easy thing to do here, given the circumstances. It’s not like she is judging a complete stranger, and she also has existing relationships with many of the other pro dancers on the show like Tony Dovolani and Cheryl Burke.

Still, we’re going to try to reserve some judgment until we watch the show every week, though we are very much aware of why she was hired. She may bring old fans back to the show, and her age plays well to the target demographic.

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Photo: ABC