Not a conspiracy, just the USA judge.
I don't remember them saying that about Carmen. They said something similar about their Olympic season FD and about their past programs in general.
They definitely said it about Carmen in something I watched. With the Olympic FD it was mostly about it not ending up being the story they wanted to tell, but with Carmen it more about there being so much further they felt they could have taken it. It was in the context of the interviewer saying they thought Carmen was V/M's best ever program.