DEREK HOUGH APPEARS TO TAKE A SUBTLE DIG AT SHIRLEY BALLAS DURING DWTS DISNEY NIGHT — AND IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE SCORES SHE HANDED OUT! Disney Night brought plenty of magic to the ballroom, but the judging panel had its own moment of tension when guest judge Shirley Ballas delivered scores that appeared to raise Derek Hough’s eyebrows. The Strictly Come Dancing head judge was making her mark on the American competition when Hough responded with a pointed remark. It wasn’t an outright confrontation, but his choice of words suggested he wasn’t entirely convinced by her scoring decisions.

Shirley Ballas may have trained Derek Hough as a young ballroom dancer, but the Dancing With the Stars judge is seemingly not a fan of her harsh critiques during last week’s Horror Movie Night.

The judge threw some subtle shade Ballas’ way on Monday, while commenting on Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa’s Paso Doble to “Satisfied” from Hamilton. Hough commended Stiles for returning to the ballroom with full force after Ballas gave her a 4 out of 10 last episode for her Argentine tango homage to The Omen.

“It was a bit of a setback, right?” Hough told Stiles, alluding to Ballas’ score. “But a setback is just a setup for a comeback, and tonight you delivered that.”

Sosa screamed with glee as Stiles thanked Hough, who added, “Well done.”

He then launched into a semi anti-Shirley Ballas stance: “Shirley left her shoes here. But listen, they’ll be no 4s, okay?” he told them, tossing Ballas’ small “judging” dance shoes, which she used to critique the couples on DWTS, onto the ballroom floor.

“Get those tiny shoes out of here,” host Alfonso Ribeiro added.

The Strictly Come Dancing judge and “Queen of Latin” was a tough critic last week as she also awarded Tatyana Ali a score of 4 while handing out a 10 to Harry Shum Jr.

Ballas explained her reasoning in post-show interviews, telling Good Morning America in an Oct. 27 interview that the fluctuating scores are a staple on the British version of the reality dance competition show.

“Well, you know, I’m on the Strictly Come Dancing for 10 years in Great Britain, and I always believe whatever’s in my heart I have to put forward, and there’s always a place for somebody to grow. So, if you’re giving out 10s every week, where are they going to grow to?” Ballas told GMA. “I like to give them hope, but also give them a good understanding about the level, to my experienced eye, where they’re at. I’m not very good at doing fluff, it’s very straight down the line for me.”

As for the shocking 4s for Stiles and Ali, Ballas said, “That’s just what I saw.”

“I mean, a 4 for me is a great score,” she insisted to GMA. “When they get a 4 or a 5 in England, they’re like, ‘Yay!’ I could obviously tell here that ‘4’ was a paddle you’re definitely not used to seeing. But, you know, it is what it is. And I have to sleep with myself at the end of the day, so I always do things fair and try to be the best version of myself that I can for people.”

Hough also spoke to Ballas on Extra after the episode, and asked her about the audible gasps the audience let out when they heard her scores. She continued to explain that, to someone with her “education,” 7s, 8s, and 9s are given out to dances that are nearly there, whereas a 10 signals perfection.

“For 20 years, when you get a 5 [in the U.S.], you’re depressed for five weeks,” he told her. “That’s what happens usually. But I also agree with you, though. I agree that those scores — we should give more value to those numbers.”

New episodes of Dancing With the Stars season 35 air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+.