Do we like them?

Do we like Karina Smirnoff?

Our score: 6 out of 10. Nothing harmful found and some public good on Ukraine, but I could only open two pages, so there's too little to score higher.

Karina Smirnoff was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and spent her first 14 years there before moving to the United States. She went on to become a national and world champion dancer. Spectrum News says she appeared on Dancing with the Stars for 18 seasons, which makes her one of the show's longest-serving pros.

The big stoushes in her story are the showbiz kind: injuries on the show, tabloid chatter and broken engagements. I couldn't find a court case, a lawsuit or a credible allegation of mistreating anyone. A few gossip sites pushed 2026 rumours about retirement, secret weddings and even a death hoax, but none were backed by a major outlet, so they're tabloid territory and I've left them out.

On the harm check, I went looking for anything she's said or done about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, vaccines or the climate. The search came back empty, with no harmful posts and no culture-war campaigning. I also couldn't find any politicians or movements she's backed. Silence isn't a gold star, but it's not a red flag either.

Her clearest public stand was after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Spectrum News reported she used her social media, with over 200,000 followers, to counter misinformation about her homeland. She said the platform lets her “tell the truth as we know it”, and that “The most logical thing for all of us is to want peace.” Where you land on the war itself is your call, but she was speaking as someone with ties to the place.

Spectrum News also covered an immersive art show in Los Angeles in March 2022 that was billed as raising money for Ukraine, and it describes her as a professional dancer and native of Ukraine. I couldn't open anything that spells out how much she did or raised, so I won't oversell it. No big charity of her own turned up.

So the verdict is a lean yes. She's got no harmful record that I could find, and she spoke up for her homeland at a time when it counted. The gap is that most of her coverage is old showbiz gossip, and I couldn't read it in full. If she does something new, this score could move.