Since when has the “Dancing With the Stars” ballroom become a battleground?
As regular DWTS watchers know, professional ballroom dancer Val Chmerkovskiy was suspended from the ballroom this week after a comment on social media led viewers to believe that he was threatening judge Carrie Ann Inaba.
During week five on Oct. 13, Inaba called out professional ballroom dancer Jenna Johnson, who is also Chmerkovskiy’s wife, for including a perceived “lift” in her samba with star Harry Shum Jr.
Lifts are not permitted in traditional styles of ballroom dancing, including the samba.
Although Johnson was confused by the critique, Chmerkovskiy took to TikTok to say, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” a reference to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards.
My first problem with this entire situation is that the competition show is called “Dancing With the Stars,” not “Dancing With the Pros.” The professional dancers are not the people who should be receiving the majority of scoring, comments and critiques.
We already had “Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro” this past summer to pit professional dancers against each other. The point of DWTS is for non-ballroom dancing celebrities to learn the art form, improve each week and hopefully take home the Mirrorball Trophy.
Shum Jr.’s score should not have any relation to whatever choreography mistakes Johnson makes.
Secondly, are we really punishing people for jokes online? Chmerkovskiy privately and publicly apologized to Inaba for the post, writing that his initial intention was to “keep his wife’s name” out of any criticism.
BBC Studios later issued a statement that “Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show.”
I am a firm believer in that consequences should always match the actions of something that is wrong. If Chmerkovskiy’s comment was really that egregious (and for the record – I thought it was funny and I thought Inaba was rude), then just revoke his social media privileges for the remainder of the season, or even for a week.
As DWTS becomes more modernized, the stars’ and pros’ Instagram and TikTok pages have become a major way for them to gain clout, following and votes. If Chmerkovskiy’s social media usage was the problem, then his social media usage can also be the solution.
Week Six this past Tuesday was Dedication Night, where the stars choose to dedicate their dances to a person or place in their life that has had a profound impact on them.
This is a deeply meaningful night of the season, so much so that no one got eliminated during Tuesday’s episode. Because of Chmerkovskiy’s suspension, his star partner Jenna Dewan was dancing with eliminated pro Alan Bersten.
Although the choreography was objectively well executed (it was still choreographed by Chmerkovskiy), Dewan obviously never had the chance to truly perform this dance with her original partner.
I also feel like it was a slap in the face to Chmerkovskiy (no pun intended) that Tuesday’s episode was Dewan’s highest score of the season, earning two 10s from the four judges for her Viennese waltz with Bersten. One of the 10s, of course, came from Inaba.
Shum Jr. and Johnson also received high scores, earning all nines and their best scores of the season.
It seems to me that Inaba just had a power trip last week, resulting in a pro getting suspended from the ballroom, a star having to dance with a new partner and couples simply getting high scores anyway.
But I’ll still be sitting in front of my TV next Tuesday, texting “EZRA” to 21523.
