Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba is coming to the defense of season 35 partners Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy.
“Dancers are physical beings. This is like the way we say hello,” Inaba, 58, wrote via the comments section of a creator’s Instagram post. “Don’t try to turn it into something it is not. Have some respect for both Jenna and Val and their partners please.”
Inaba’s comments come after some fans on social media claimed Dewan, 45, and Chmerkovskiy, 40, were inappropriately intimate given their respective relationships with her fiancé, Steve Kazee, and his wife and fellow DWTS pro, Jenna Johnson.
Kazee, for his part, also defended Dewan and Chmerkovskiy in the comments section of the same post, writing, “They don’t have chemistry. They have too much chemistry. They have chemistry in the wrong places. Make up your minds. Y’all really got too much time on your hands. the spouses are unbothered stay hatin.”
He continued, “Also put some respect on my queens name and at least pronounce her name correctly when you try to slander her .”
Days prior, Dewan and Chmerkovskiy stepped out onto the ballroom for Mariah Carey Night and performed a rumba to “My All.” The pair earned a combined score of 24 out of 30 from Inaba and fellow judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, and were ultimately safe from elimination. (DWTS said goodbye to Summer House’s Ciara Miller and pro Brandon Armstrong at the end of the episode.)
“I keep saying that I knew it would be hard. I knew that would be a physically challenging situation. I didn’t realize how emotionally and mentally tough the whole process is too,” Dewan exclusively told Us after the episode on Tuesday, October 6. “But it’s a good tough.”
Dewan, however, has enjoyed how the experience “challenges” her. “That’s why you feel so alive while doing this,” she added. “It’s all the good things, but with that comes all the colors. All the shades.”
Chmerkovskiy, for his part, is proud of Dewan’s progress over the weeks.
“I’ve seen her confidence be humbled week after week. She was humble already,” he shared. “That’s part of the game. I think it’s important to have a little bit of an ego cleanse and have a little bit of a struggle.”
He continued, “It makes moments like tonight that much more triumphant and makes me that much more proud of us. Because without that hardship, you’re not gonna ever enjoy the true nectar of the fruits of your labor. We really labored for the last month and a half and tonight was the culmination of that.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.