Maksim Chmerkovskiy is making it clear he thinks Taylor Swift’s former backup dancer Jan Ravnik has “no business” appearing as a pro on “Dancing with the Stars” this season.
Chmerkovskiy, 45, who danced as a pro for 17 seasons on “DWTS,” explained on the Oct. 24 episode of his wife Peta Murgatroyd’s “The Penthouse With Peta” podcast that he thinks Ravnik lacks the skills to teach his celebrity partner, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Jen Affleck, how to perform the elaborate ballroom dances featured on “DWTS.”
Chmerkovskiy’s observations about Ravnik, who debuted on ABC dance competition this season, came as he and Murgatroyd critiqued all of the “DWTS” couple’s most recent routines.
“There’s zero foundation, technique, quality, understanding of the partnership. Bro, I’m getting emotional,” Chmerkovskiy said of Ravnik, who traveled the world with Swift as an “Eras Tour” dancer.
Ravnik’s resume includes collaborations with several other pop stars, including Paula Abdul, Bruno Mars and Mariah Carey. Ravnik danced alongside Carey in her 2021 television special “Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues,” and also performed on the Billboard Music Awards and Dick Clark’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” according to his bio on the Joffrey Ballet School’s website.
“It is absurd, and this is unreal how blind we have to be and God forbid say what’s obviously there,” Chmerkovskiy added.
Chmerkovskiy cited as an example Ravnik and Affleck’s foxtrot routine, which earned the couple 32 out of 40 points from the judges.
“He had no idea what (the) foxtrot is supposed to look like. How are you going to expect him to teach it and deliver that message in a format that is completely different from even ballroom dancing?” asked Chmerkovskiy. “We had this criticism weeks ago, and I’m like, ‘Bro, is anybody going to explain it to him?’”
Murgatroyd, 39, said she appreciated the “moody and dramatic” quality of the couple’s foxtrot and also admired their beautiful “partner work.” But, the actual “foxtrot elements” simply “didn’t hit,” she added.
“He’s learning,” Murgatroyd, who danced as a “DWTS” pro for 15 seasons, added of Ravnik. “He’s learning slowly. It’s his first season. We have to give him grace for not understanding foxtrot technique.”
Murgatroyd agreed with her husband that being partnered with Ravnik has put Affleck at a “major disadvantage.”
“I feel bad because she’s not getting taught the basics that she needs to,” she said. “She’s not getting taught the base of the dance.”
Chmerkovskiy, who said he had nothing against Ravnik personally, agreed with Murgatroyd that Ravnik’s lack of ballroom dancing skill is “not his fault.”
Ravnik’s history with Swift is “an obvious reason” he was cast on “DWTS,” noted Murgatroyd.
“Apart from that, he’s a lovely guy. He looks great. He obviously is a great dancer, but …hiring a non-ballroom dancer to teach ballroom dancing to a celebrity as a job is outrageous,” she said.
TODAY.com reached out to Ravnik and ABC for comment and did not immediately hear back.
