Val Chmerkovskiy is officially making her return to the “Dancing with the Stars” ballroom.
The professional dancer will reunite with his partner, Jenna Dewan, in rehearsals today after being handed a week-long suspension from the show, sources told Page Six.
“The suspension took Val by surprise, but he took it with grace and he understood,” a source told Page Six of Chmerkovskiy, who watched Tuesday night’s book signing show from home.
Another professional, Alan Bersten, stepped in to dance with Dewan in Chmerkovskiy’s absence. Bersten was eliminated in the second week along with his partner, Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis.
A representative for Val and ABC did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Chmerkovskiy took to social media after his wife and fellow professional dancer, Jenna Johnson, was harshly criticized by judge Carrie Ann Inaba.
The post in question was a selfie from Chmerkovskiy that read, “You almost saw Fresh Prince walk into the ballroom last night,” referring to Will Smith infamously slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars over Rock’s joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
BBC Studios, the production company behind “DWTS,” said in a statement: “The well-being of everyone who works on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is non-negotiable.
“Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected to the show. Therefore, he will not be appearing on next week’s show.”
After Chmerkovskiy’s post on social media, Inaba spoke about it on her own platform.
“So this is what we do now?” Inaba said on Chmerkovskiy’s since-deleted post. “Thank you @pagesix and @entertainmentweekly for bringing this to my attention.”
Page Six confirmed via sources close to the show’s production that Inaba saw the social media post and filed a complaint with HR, saying she felt threatened.
Chmerkovskiy publicly apologized to Inaba after receiving his punishment.
“At a time when my instinct was to defend my wife, I made the poor decision to reference a meme to ‘keep my wife’s name’ out of the conversation, without stopping to think about what else that reference might imply, which was truly never my intention,” Chmerkovskiy said in a statement to Page Six.
“Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to be caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was.”
“The last thing I want is to become a distraction from an important week or the incredible work my dance partner Jenna Dewan is doing,” he concluded.
Dewan has received solid scores this season and was at the top of the leaderboard during last week’s “Super Bowl Night.”
During last night’s episode, hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough addressed the controversy.
“As you can see, Alan Bersten is with Jenna Dewan because Val is not with us this week,” Ribeiro said at the very beginning of the episode after each couple was introduced.
Gn entert
