Like her longtime friend and fellow Douglaston, Queens, New York City native John McEnroe, Carillo is known for her colorful turns of phrase, and is credited with coining "Big Babe Tennis" to describe the era in women's tennis dominated by large, powerful players such as Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

[7][8] Carillo's unabashed and opinionated style of commentary has drawn criticism from several top players, notably Andre Agassi, Serena and Venus Williams, and Maria Sharapova.

[6] During NBC's coverage of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics she covered bobsled, luge and skeleton competitions.

Her comment that men's doubles luge is "like a bar bet gone bad" was recognized as "line of the year" in many sports television columns.

In addition, Carillo's work co-hosting the 2002 Closing Ceremony alongside Dan Hicks earned her critical acclaim.

[13] At the 2006 Winter Games in Torino Carillo hosted Olympic Ice, a daily figure skating show on the USA Network.

She co-hosted the daily figure-skating television program with Scott Hamilton, Dick Button, and Jamie Salé and David Pelletier.

Carillo is a commentator for the Hallmark Channel special Paw Star Game premiering July 12, 2015.

"At best, baby cats have the barest, most rudimentary grasp of the rules and regulations of American football and baseball", said Carillo.