The short version: BBC Studios pulled pro Val Chmerkovskiy from Dedication Night (October 20) after he posted, then deleted, a TikTok that read “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.” The line followed judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s criticism of his wife, pro Jenna Johnson. His celebrity partner, Jenna Dewan, danced a Viennese waltz with Alan Bersten instead, scored 37/40, and received her first 10 of the season, from Inaba. Nobody was eliminated. Horror Movie Night on Tuesday, October 27 is a double elimination, with Shirley Ballas guest judging while Mark Ballas is still in the competition with Maura Higgins. Update, October 25: Val is back. He returned to rehearsals on October 21 and dances with Jenna Dewan on October 27, an Argentine tango inspired by zombie movies (The Hollywood Reporter; ABC).
Update, October 27: Val is officially back in the rehearsal room. In an October 25 Instagram Story, Jenna Dewan said she and Val are doing an Argentine tango to “Uninvited,” inspired by 28 Weeks Later, and E! News says Val looked happy to be back (E! News, October 26).
Meanwhile, co-host Alfonso Ribeiro is not here for the “rigged” talk. On her LEXLOS podcast, former contestant Alexa PenaVega recalled Hayes Grier saying “I think this show’s rigged” during Season 21, and said, “I think the votes matter. I do. But the show’s also produced.” Alfonso replied in the comments: “No chance. We want everyone who’s popular to stay on. It’s basic logic.” Alexa answered that fans should watch the whole clip, because she was “telling a story about sweet Hayes” (Us Weekly, October 26).
The season guide, and where to watch, is on our Dancing with the Stars hub.
Why Val Chmerkovskiy was suspended
On the October 13 episode, Super Bowl Night, Carrie Ann Inaba criticised a lift in the routine danced by Jenna Johnson and her celebrity partner, Harry Shum Jr. Variety reports that Inaba read out the show’s definition of a lift. Johnson is married to Val Chmerkovskiy.
The next day, Chmerkovskiy posted a since-deleted TikTok story: “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.” Deadline, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and USA Today all read that as a reference to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith had said “keep my wife’s name out of your mouth” in that speech. Chmerkovskiy later said the further implication was not what he intended.
Inaba responded on Instagram on Thursday, October 15, in a post she later deleted. “So this is what we are doing now?” she wrote. The Hollywood Reporter says the post reshared a Page Six screenshot of his comment next to a split image of Smith and Chmerkovskiy. Deadline says she thanked the New York Post and Entertainment Weekly for bringing the post to her attention.
On Saturday, October 17, BBC Studios, which produces the show, said:
“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 with the show. As a result, he will not participate in next week’s show.”
“Next week’s show,” counted from October 17, was Dedication Night. USA Today reported that this was the first time in the show’s history a pro was not allowed to dance with their celebrity partner. On the night, co-host Alfonso Ribeiro said Val was “not with us this week” and that Alan Bersten, eliminated with Giada De Laurentiis at the end of Week 3, would step in (Deadline; Variety; USA Today).
What Val said
Before the suspension was announced, he apologised on Instagram. Deadline quotes that post: “I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post. I have reached out to Carrie Ann to apologize directly and personally… I should have never made the reference that I did and I deeply regret it.”
After BBC Studios benched him, he sent a further statement through his representative. The part that explains his intent:
“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 asked viewers to send “Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the whole DWTS family lots of love during Dedication Night,” and said he would be “watching and cheering everyone on.” Variety confirmed Dewan would still dance, with Bersten, to “Unchained Melody,” dedicated to her mother. A source told Variety: “Jenna Dewan is aware and has continued to be a true professional and respectful of the process.”
Dedication Night: Jenna Dewan and Alan Bersten
Dewan and Bersten danced a Viennese waltz to “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers, for Dewan’s mother, Nancy, who appeared in part of the number. USA Today reports that in rehearsal they called it an “unusual situation” and that Bersten said he was “honored to step in.”
Inaba called the dance “the ultimate breakthrough” and gave Dewan a 10, her first 10 of the season. The couple’s total was 37/40. Gold Derby’s judge-by-judge card, which adds up to that total, is Carrie Ann 10, Derek Hough 9, guest judge Kym Johnson 9, Bruno Tonioli 9 (USA Today; Gold Derby).
That 10 was Dewan’s first. It was not the first 10 of the night. The Hollywood Reporter says Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach earned the season’s first 10 paddle, on their way to 37. Gold Derby’s card for that dance is 9, 9, 10, 9, with the 10 from guest judge Kym. Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov then scored 38, with 10s from Inaba and Kym on Gold Derby’s card. The Hollywood Reporter uses Kym’s full surname, Johnson-Herjavec.
Gold Derby also notes that on Super Bowl Night, the week before, Dewan had scored 36 from straight 9s, tied with Frech for the highest judges’ total that week.
Who is still in, and what they scored
The Hollywood Reporter’s list of celebrities still competing after Dedication Night is Tatyana Ali, Tyler Cameron, Jenna Dewan, Ezra Frech, Amber Glenn, Maura Higgins, Jackson Olson, Harry Shum Jr., Julia Stiles and Connor Wood. No one went home. The scores below are the totals in that recap. The dances and the judge splits are from Gold Derby, and each split adds up to the Hollywood Reporter total.
| Celebrity | Pro on the night | Dance | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amber Glenn | Pasha Pashkov | Contemporary, “Breathe Me,” for her sister Brooke | 38 (10, 9, 10, 9) |
| Jenna Dewan | Alan Bersten | Viennese waltz, “Unchained Melody,” for her mother Nancy | 37 (10, 9, 9, 9) |
| Ezra Frech | Daniella Karagach | Contemporary, “Bloodline,” for his mother Bahar | 37 (9, 9, 10, 9) |
| Harry Shum Jr. | Jenna Johnson | Foxtrot, “Stop This Train,” for his wife Shelby | 36 (9, 9, 9, 9) |
| Julia Stiles | Ezra Sosa | Contemporary, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” for Heath Ledger | 36 (9, 9, 9, 9) |
| Maura Higgins | Mark Ballas | Paso doble, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” for Ireland | 35 (8, 9, 9, 9) |
| Tatyana Ali | Jan Ravnik | Viennese waltz, “(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am,” for James Avery | 32 (8, 8, 8, 8) |
| Tyler Cameron | Sharna Burgess | Contemporary, “Supermarket Flowers,” for mothers | 32 (8, 8, 8, 8) |
| Jackson Olson | Emma Slater | Quickstep, “L-O-V-E,” for his mother Laura | 32 (8, 8, 8, 8) |
| Connor Wood | Rylee Arnold | Viennese waltz, “Piano Man,” for his father Pete | 32 (8, 8, 8, 8) |
Judge order in the splits is Carrie Ann, Derek, Kym, Bruno, as Gold Derby lists them.
Harry Shum Jr. is still in the competition, partnered on the night with Jenna Johnson.
Two other moments from the episode, as The Hollywood Reporter reported them. Tyler Cameron’s dance came with news that he and fiancée Tate Madden are expecting a girl, their first child. Julia Stiles’s tribute to Heath Ledger was joined by surviving cast from 10 Things I Hate About You.
Tatyana Ali’s 32 was for James Avery, her Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star.
Next week: a double elimination, and Shirley Ballas
There is no saved result to parse from October 20, because the show sent nobody home. The Hollywood Reporter says Horror Movie Night, the next episode, will eliminate two couples.
That episode is Tuesday, October 27. TODAY’s Dedication Night live file gives that date and the theme. Shirley Ballas, a judge on DWTS: The Next Pro, will guest judge. Mark Ballas is still competing: he danced with Maura Higgins on Dedication Night and is in the “still in” list above.
Val is back for October 27. The Hollywood Reporter reported on October 21 that he was back in rehearsals that day and will finish the season with Jenna Dewan. ABC’s Horror Movie Night lineup, released October 22, has Dewan and Chmerkovskiy dancing an Argentine tango to “Uninvited” by Damned Anthem and Kendra Dantes, inspired by zombie movies (The Hollywood Reporter; ABC).
Dedication Night, the week he sat out, drew 7.36 million viewers, the show’s biggest non-finale audience in six years. More in our ratings and Horror Movie Night story.
Where to watch
In the US: Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET, simulcast on ABC and Disney+. Episodes stream the next day on Hulu (The Hollywood Reporter). The Hollywood Reporter also notes that live voting is during the East Coast broadcast, including for West Coast viewers who want a vote to count, and that each viewer gets up to 10 votes per couple, per method (ABC’s site and text).
In the UK: a UK channel or streamer for Season 35 is not yet confirmed in the sources we used for this guide.
What we don’t know yet
- Who leaves in the double elimination. That result does not exist yet.
- A UK home for the season.
Sources
- Deadline, “Dancing With the Stars Suspends Val Chmerkovskiy for TikTok Referencing Will Smith Oscar Moment” (October 17, 2026): deadline.com
- Variety, “Dancing With the Stars Pulls Val Chmerkovskiy After Inappropriate Carrie Ann Inaba Slap Joke” (October 17, 2026): variety.com
- The Hollywood Reporter, “Grab the Tissues, It’s Dedication Night on Dancing With the Stars” (October 20, 2026): hollywoodreporter.com
- USA Today, “How DWTS Dedication Night addressed Val Chmerkovskiy’s suspension” (updated October 20, 2026): usatoday.com
- Gold Derby, “Dancing With the Stars recap: Dedication Night” (October 20, 2026): goldderby.com
- TODAY, “Dancing With the Stars Season 35, Dedication Night” (October 20, 2026): today.com
- The Hollywood Reporter, “Val Chmerkovskiy Returns to Dancing With the Stars After One-Episode Suspension” (October 21, 2026): hollywoodreporter.com
- ABC press releases, Horror Movie Night lineup and Dedication Night ratings (October 22, 2026): detpress.com
- E! News: See DWTS’ Jenna Dewan, Val Chmerkovskiy Reunite After His Suspension (October 26, 2026)
- Us Weekly: Alfonso Ribeiro Addresses Alexa PenaVega’s Joke About ‘DWTS’ Being Rigged (October 26, 2026)
