Don’t Come for Jen Affleck’s Dancing With the Stars Partner
We’re in the middle of an unusually buzzy season of Dancing With the Stars that has included Hilaria Baldwin, Alix Earle, Steve Irwin’s cute son, and not one but two Secret Lives of Mormon Wives wives. It has also been the debut season for another kind of star: pro Jan Ravnik, Taylor Swift’s hot backup dancer who famously gyrated against a ladder during the Eras Tour. After he was cast as a pro and partnered with SLOMW star Jen Affleck, his presence has ignited some drama in the DWTS universe.
Although Ravnik has accomplished a lot in the dance industry (he was an award-winning competitive dancer in his home country of Slovenia and has performed with Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul, Bruno Mars, and a bunch of other stars in addition to Swift), not everyone is thrilled to see him take on the role of DWTS pro. On Friday, Maks Chmerkovskiy — a DWTS pro himself for 17 seasons between 2006 and 2017 — gave his less than complimentary take on Ravnik while appearing on his wife Peta Murgatroyd’s podcast. In the episode, Murgatroyd, also a former DWTS pro, observed that when it comes to classic ballroom, Ravnik was “learning slowly.” “We have to give him grace for not understanding foxtrot technique — it’s very hard to watch,” she said, referring to his and Affleck’s Wicked night dance to “As Long As You’re Mine” last week.
Chmerkovskiy wasn’t as gentle. “No, we do not have to give him grace. Are you kidding me?!” he began, before accusing Ravnik of having “no idea what foxtrot is supposed to look like.” “I’m sorry, Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing With the Stars,” he continued. “There’s zero foundation, technique, quality, understanding of the partnership.” Murgatroyd acknowledged her husband had a point, claiming Ravnik is a “great dancer” but it’s “obvious” he was hired only because of his connection to Swift. “Hiring a non-ballroom dancer to teach ballroom dancing to a celebrity as a job is outrageous,” Murgatroyd said, adding that Affleck is at a “major disadvantage” with him as a partner.
But Affleck, it appears, feels great about her partner and will not abide any bad-mouthing. On Monday, she posted a TikTok seemingly aimed at Chmerkovskiy and Murgatroyd, in which she mimes angrily typing on her phone as Ravnik tells her to “take it down.” “We don’t tolerate Jan slander in this house!” she captioned the post.
Both Affleck and Ravnik also posted Instagram Stories set to Ravnik’s former boss’s notoriously vengeful song “Look What You Made Me Do.” Lest you mistake this for a clapback, it’s the song they’re dancing to on Tuesday’s Halloween theme night. It’s certainly fitting, though. Let this be a reminder to us all: Don’t cross #MomTok.
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