The ballroom has seen tears, tantrums and shocking eliminations across 35 seasons, but it has never seen this. Val Chmerkovskiy, one of the most decorated professionals in Dancing with the Stars history, has become the first pro in the show’s history to be suspended — and the road to that unprecedented punishment runs straight through a tense feud with longtime judge Carrie Ann Inaba, a disputed lift, and one ill-judged social media post that referenced the most infamous slap in television history.
Chmerkovskiy, a fixture on the ABC competition series since season 13, will sit out one week of season 35, missing the Oct. 20 Dedication Night episode. His celebrity partner, Jenna Dewan, will dance with a substitute professional while he watches from the sidelines. Here is how a single critique of his wife’s routine spiraled into the biggest ballroom controversy in years.
The night it all started
The fuse was lit during the Oct. 13 episode, when Chmerkovskiy’s wife, fellow pro Jenna Johnson, took the floor with her celebrity partner, Harry Shum Jr., for week 5’s Super Bowl Night. The pair performed a samba to Usher’s “Yeah!”, and the routine landed well with the crowd.
Inaba, however, had notes. She praised the performance’s entertainment value but criticized what she saw as a lack of traditional samba content. Then she raised a more serious objection: the choreography, she said, included a lift — a move prohibited in traditional ballroom and Latin dance styles.
Johnson looked genuinely stunned. “A lift?” she asked. Inaba then produced a piece of paper and read the show’s official definition aloud: any movement during which one of the dancers has both feet off the floor at the same time, with the assistance or support of their partner.
It was an awkward, drawn-out moment, and it ended with Inaba awarding the couple an 8 out of 10, contributing to a total score of 33 out of 40. Cameras caught Chmerkovskiy standing behind his wife and her partner as the scores landed, shaking his head in clear disapproval.
The post that changed everything
The disagreement might have ended there. Instead, Chmerkovskiy took it online.
On Oct. 14, he shared a TikTok post — since deleted — that read: “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.” The line was immediately understood as a reference to the Oscars slap: Will Smith’s onstage assault of Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, after Rock joked about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
He doubled down elsewhere, commenting on a separate TikTok video that zoomed in on his live reaction to the scores: “Puts some respect on her name. Shes trippin talking to her like that.”
The reaction was swift. Many fans read the “Fresh Prince” remark not as a joke but as a veiled threat of violence aimed at Inaba, and the backlash built quickly. What might have played as a husband defending his wife instead became a question about whether a beloved pro had crossed a line no one on the show had crossed before.
Inaba responds, then the apologies begin
Inaba addressed the comments publicly on Oct. 15, in an Instagram post that has also since been deleted. Sharing a screenshot of Chmerkovskiy’s remark, she wrote simply: “So this is what we are doing now?”
Later that same day, Chmerkovskiy issued a public apology on his Instagram Stories, revealing that he had also reached out to Inaba privately. “I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post,” he began. “I have reached out to Carrie Ann to apologize directly and personally, and I also want to apologize publicly as I understand my words affect so many outside of our internal DWTS family.”
He went on to acknowledge the responsibility that comes with his platform. “I am truly sorry to Carrie Ann, and everyone who I hurt with my careless post,” he wrote. “I will do better moving forward.”
It was not enough to close the matter. After news of his suspension broke on Oct. 17, Chmerkovskiy released a second statement, explaining that his intention had been to defend his wife rather than to suggest violence toward the judge. “Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was,” he wrote.
Notably, as of Oct. 19, Inaba has not publicly responded to either the apologies or the suspension itself — a silence that has only added to the tension hanging over the ballroom.
Why the suspension is a first
BBC Studios, which produces the series, left no room for interpretation. “The well-being of everyone who works on Dancing with the Stars is non-negotiable,” the studio said in a statement. “Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show. As a result, he will not participate in next week’s show.”
The punishment is a one-week suspension. Chmerkovskiy will miss the Oct. 20 episode, and he and Dewan remain in the running for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. He is expected to be eligible to return for the Oct. 27 episode, although BBC Studios has not yet confirmed when he will be back in the ballroom.
Pros have been eliminated, injured and replaced before. None, in three and a half decades of the franchise, has ever been formally suspended. That is what makes this moment bigger than one deleted post: the show has now drawn a public line around how its stars behave online.
Who dances with Jenna Dewan?
With Chmerkovskiy sidelined, pro Alan Bersten will temporarily step in as Dewan’s partner for Dedication Night. Bersten knows the season 35 ballroom well — he competed in it himself, alongside celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis, before the pair were eliminated in week 2.
For the Oct. 20 episode, Dewan and Bersten will perform a Viennese waltz to The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” in honor of the actress’s mother, Nancy. Dedication Night is traditionally the most emotional episode of the season, which raises the stakes: Dewan must build chemistry with a brand-new partner, in a matter of days, for the performance most likely to define her season.
Whether Chmerkovskiy returns on Oct. 27 to resume the campaign — and what the temperature between him and the judges’ desk will be when he does — remains the ballroom’s biggest open question. For now, the first suspension in DWTS history stands as the defining story of season 35, and the ballroom will not feel normal again until its most famous defender is back on the floor — or the show tells us he is not coming back at all.