The reason there were only 2 judges on the Dancing with the Stars Season 34 premiere is that longtime judge Carrie Ann Inaba was absent due to illness. ABC chose not to bring in a guest judge to replace her for that episode, which marked the first time Inaba had missed judging a performance in the show's 20 seasons. As a result, the contestants in the premiere were scored only by the two judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, for a maximum possible score of 20 points instead of the usual 30 or more. Carrie Ann Inaba was expected to return for the following episode.