Who will Jenna Dewan dance with after Val Chmerkovskiy's 'DWTS' suspension?
The 'Dancing With The Stars' pro was suspended for lashing out at Carrie Ann over his wife Jenna Johnson
Published October 18, 2026
Jenna Dewan will have a new pro partner for Dancing with the Stars’ Dedication Night after Val Chmerkovskiy was suspended for one week.
The Step Up actress, 45, will take the ballroom floor with pro dancer Alan Bersten on Tuesday, October 20.
The pair will perform a Viennese waltz to The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody in honour of Dewan’s mother, Nancy. Bersten, 32, was eliminated earlier this season alongside celebrity partner Giada De Laurentiis.
READ MORE: Val Chmerkovskiy breaks silence after 'DWTS' suspension
Chmerkovskiy’s suspension follows a now-deleted social media post referencing Will Smith’s infamous Oscars slap. He shared the remark after DWTS judge Carrie Ann Inaba criticised his wife, Jenna Johnson, during her performance with Harry Shum Jr.
“You almost saw the Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” Chmerkovskiy wrote in the post.
On October 17, the pro confirmed he would miss Dedication Night and apologised for his decision.
“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,” he wrote.
Dewan’s fiancé, Steve Kazee, also showed his support, writing on Instagram Stories: “You got this baby! We got you!”
READ MORE: Kim Kardashian shares her one condition for returning to 'DWTS'
