For the first time in "Dancing with the Stars" history, a pro was not allowed to dance with their celebrity partner.
Alan Bersten stepped in to take the dance floor with Jenna Dewan for Dedication Night on Tuesday, Oct. 20, after her usual partner Val Chmerkovskiy was suspended for a week. The pro dancer was penalized for a social media post that implied he wanted to slap judge Carrie Ann Inaba
as Will Smith did to Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.The suspension was briefly addressed at the beginning of the episode, when cohost Alfonso Ribeiro simply said that "Val is not with us this week" and explained that Bersten would be subbing in.
Jenna Dewan and Alan Bersten performed a Viennese waltz
During rehearsals, Dewan and Bersten also did not acknowledge Chmerkovskiy's absence or the scandal that unfolded, only noting that it was an "unusual situation" and that Bersten felt "honored to step in and help" this week. Bersten was previously in the competition with celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis, but they were eliminated at the end of Week 3.
He emphasized that they would stay focused on the dance ahead, dedicated to Dewan's mom, Nancy.
After their Viennese waltz to “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers, in which Nancy appeared in a portion of the dance, the judges praised Dewan's dancing abilities. In particular, Inaba told Dewan that she knew the journey "has been a lot" for her. She called Dewan's dance "the ultimate breakthrough," before giving her a 10, Dewan's first of the season.
Dewan and Bersten pair ultimately earned a score of 37/40.
Why was Val Chmerkovskiy suspended?
During the Oct. 13 episode of the hit ABC competition series, Inaba critiqued Chmerkovskiy's wife Jenna Johnson, also a pro, and her partner Harry Shum Jr. for doing a controversial lift during their performance. Chmerkovskiy then shared a since-deleted TikTok story alluding to the infamous moment when Smith went onstage and slapped Rock, who made a joke about the actor's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
"You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night," Chmerkovskiy wrote, referring to Smith's character on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Inaba later addressed the remark on her Instagram, saying, "So this is what we are doing now?"
Chmerkovskiy issued a public apology to Inaba and those affected "outside of our internal 'DWTS' family" in a social media post on Oct. 15, just days before his suspension. "I should have never made the reference that I did and I deeply regret it," he wrote.
But on Saturday, Oct. 17, BBC Studios revealed Chmerkovskiy – who has appeared as a pro on "DWTS" since Season 13 in 2011 – would not be participating in Week 6 of the competition.
"The well-being of everyone who works on 'Dancing With the Stars' is non-negotiable," their statement said. "Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show."
The choreographer also addressed the situation in his own statement: “In a moment where my instinct was to defend my wife, I made a poor decision to reference a meme to ‘keep my wife’s name’ out of the conversation, without stopping to think through what else that reference could imply, which was genuinely never my intention."
“Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was," he added. "The last thing I want is to become a distraction from an important week or from the incredible work my dance partner Jenna Dewan is putting in. Please send Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the whole 'DWTS' family lots of love during Dedication Night. I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!"
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How 'Dancing with the Stars' handled Val's suspension on Dedication Night
