Maks Chmerkovskiy is sounding off about Dancing With the Stars casting Jan Ravnik as a professional dancer on the long-running series.
Speaking on wife Peta Murgatroyd’s The Penthouse With Peta podcast on Friday, the 45-year-old former DWTS pro said, ‘I’m sorry, Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing with the Stars.’
According to Maks, 30-year-old Jan, who previously served as a backup dancer to Taylor Swift, has ‘zero foundation technique, quality,’ or ‘understanding of the partnership.’
‘Bro, I’m getting emotional,’ he said while on his soapbox. ‘It is absurd, and this is unreal how blind we have to be and God forbid say what’s obviously there.’
Maks pointed to Jan’s choreography for last Tuesday’s ‘Wicked Night’ as an example.
‘He had no idea what foxtrot is supposed to look like,’ the Latin–ballroom dance champion emphasized.
Maks Chmerkovskiy is sounding off about Dancing With the Stars casting Jan Ravnik as a professional dancer on the long-running series; Ravnik pictured with partner Jen Affleck on the Tuesday, October 21 episode
Speaking on wife Peta Murgatroyd’s The Penthouse With Peta podcast on Friday, the former DWTS pro, 45, said, ‘I’m sorry, Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing with the Stars’
Jan is currently partnered with Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jen Affleck in the competition.
Maks went on to posit, ‘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?
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‘We had this criticism weeks ago, and I’m like, “Bro, is anybody going to explain it to him?”‘
The former DWTS regular clarified that his criticism of Jan is not personal, and moreso directed toward the people responsible for casting him.
‘Jan, whoever he is, I have zero against him whatsoever,’ the father-of-three said. ‘No way. This was a missed opportunity.’
Meanwhile, his wife Peta weighed in, saying Jen is at a ‘major disadvantage’ due to her partner’s inexperience.
‘I feel bad because she’s not getting taught the basics that she needs to,’ she shared, adding, ‘She’s not getting taught the base of the dance.’
And she suggested that Jan was cast due to his affiliation with pop star Taylor, with whom he performed on the Eras tour.
According to Maks, 30-year-old Jan (pictured left in May 2024), who previously served as a backup dancer to Taylor Swift, has ‘zero foundation technique, quality,’ or ‘understanding of the partnership’
Maks pointed to Jan’s choreography for last Tuesday’s ‘Wicked Night’ as an example. ‘He had no idea what foxtrot is supposed to look like,’ the Latin–ballroom dance champion emphasized
Peta weighed in, saying Jen is at a ‘major disadvantage’ due to her partner’s inexperience
The podcast host declared, ‘They hired him. He’s a Taylor Swift dancer. It’s the obvious reason why he is hired.’
She added, ‘Apart from that, he’s a lovely guy. He looks great. He obviously is a great dancer. Hiring a non-ballroom dancer to teach ballroom dancing to a celebrity as a job is outrageous.’
Jen and Jan appeared to respond to Maks’ dig in a TikTok posted to her account on Monday.
The video showed her typing on the phone, mimicking leaving comments, between her rehearsals with Jan.
‘Take it down. Take it down. Take it down. We need it gone. Take it down. That doesn’t represent me or what we need to be doing,’ Jan was pictured lip syncing.
A text on the video read, ‘Me when anyone talks trash about Jan.’
‘We don’t tolerate Jan slander in this house !! @Jan Ravnik @Dancing with the Stars #DWTS,’ Jen wrote in the caption.
Jen and Jan appeared to respond to Maks’ dig in a TikTok posted to her account on Monday, captioned, ‘We don’t tolerate Jan slander in this house !!’
The video showed her typing on the phone, mimicking leaving comments, between her rehearsals with Jan. ‘Take it down. Take it down. Take it down. We need it gone. Take it down. That doesn’t represent me or what we need to be doing,’ Jan was pictured lip syncing
This is not the first time Maks has aired his grievances with the popular ABC series.
In September 2024 he slammed Anna Delvey, branding her a ‘s****y dancer.’
‘There’s so many other people you could choose from,’ he said about the producers’ decision to cast the formerly incarcerated socialite.
He also said her ‘standoffish’ personality was ‘not really going to help her in this competition.’