Source: Entertainment Weekly

Flavor Flav would like it to be known that he didn’t mean to make his Dancing With the Stars guest-judging stint so chaotic — especially when it came to his scoring of influencer Alix Earle and her pro dancer partner Val Chmerkovskiy.

The legendary Public Enemy rapper served as the guest judge on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night Tuesday, and surprised everyone in the ballroom when he gave Earle and Chmerkovskiy a 9 for their paso doble, denying the pair the first perfect score of season 34.

Speaking with PEOPLE the night of, Flav was adamant that the scoring had been an accident, and he intended to award the couple a 10.

“I really wanted to give them a 10, but they wouldn’t let me change it,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee told the outlet. “I went, ‘No. No, that was an accident. I don’t want to give them a 9. I want to give them a 10.’ But they was like, ‘Flavor, it’s already locked in. You can’t change it.’ I’m like, ‘Oh man.'”

The rapper lamented that “that’s how the game goes,” but his regret was clear.

Earle and Chmerkovskiy performed the first of the night’s three paso dobles, giving viewers some hair-flipping metal moves to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.” Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli all held up 10s, which made Flav’s 9 especially brutal.

“39 out of 40 for Alix and Val so far,” cohost Julianne Hough noted. “Interesting!”

To be fair to Flav, he did seem to struggle with his scoring and paddle-handling throughout the night.

In a post on his X account after the show, Flav reiterated that his scoring had been an accident. “As a judge on #DWTS,,, you hit your score on a computer first,,, then hold up the sign,” he wrote, explaining his flub. “I accidentally hit 9 for someone and told the crew I meant to hit 10,,, and they said they can’t change it and there’s nothing I can do. That girl deserved perfect 10s.”

He added: “Y’all saw me looking down at the computer confused and couldn’t get the words out because I was watching the computer and then couldn’t find the other paddle cuz I was ready to go with my 10. I found my girl afterwards and apologized and let her know what happen , she was cool”

This is the second week in a row a guest judge has prevented Earle and Chmerkovskiy from getting a perfect score. Last week’s score, however, was not an accident. Former pro and two-time champ Cheryl Burke gave the duo a 9, after which Earle’s stepmom, Ashley Dupré Earle, slammed Burke’s looks in a TikTok video. She has since apologized.

Amid the night’s unpredictability, Tuesday’s show saw Boy Meets World star Danielle Fishel get sent home after performing a contemporary routine to “Dream On” by Aerosmith with her partner Pasha Pashkov.

When asked about what her time on the show has meant to her, Fishel responded, “It’s meant everything. It has truly been life changing, and every single moment, including this one, has been joyous.”

Pashkov told the actress, “You are now my friend for life.”

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+, and streams the next day on Hulu.

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