Fan-favorite Dancing With the Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy did not win the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy for Season 33. However, he did get to present the trophy to his wife Jenna Johnson and her partner Joey Graziadei after winning Season 32 with Xochitl Gomez. That win marked his third one since joining as a pro in Season 13. However, it wasn’t always easy for him, as he recently opened up about how he got humbled really fast during his first season.
Chmerkovskiy explained that he was awfully confident about showing up all the veterans when he joined DWTS while on Lightweights Podcast with Joe Vulpis. However, unfortunately, that was not what happened, as he recalled this humbling and eye-opening experience:
My first season, I came in, I’m like, ‘These guys are all rich and fat. I’m gonna come in here with my technique and stamina and athleticism, and like, I’m just gonna run over everybody.’ And I didn’t. I got eliminated second, should have probably got eliminated first. I was humbled really quickly.
You can’t really blame him for being so confident, especially since he was still so new to Dancing With the Stars. He’d appeared on the show in the past before becoming a pro, so he probably thought he knew what it was all about in terms of coming out on top. Plus, he'd been a successful competitive dancer and he'd been watching his brother, Maksim, thrive on the series.
However, being a pro is different than being a competitive dancer because along with simply dancing well, you have to be a good choreographer, teacher and TV personality. To that point, Chmerkovskiy elaborated on the specific skill set pros need to have, saying:
My first season, I thought I was gonna kill it on Dancing with the Stars, and I didn’t. Because there’s just [a] completely different skill set that you have to have. You have to be a great teacher, you got to be a great choreographer, you got to be a great performer. And performer is split into – as a dancer and as an on-camera personality. The OGs, the legends, the ones that have a lot of wins, are the ones that check out all three. Whereas in the competitive world, there’s just an athleticism and a physical discipline that you have to have.
It took some time for Chmerkovskiy to really find his footing on the show, but it all paid off.
Even though his second season was only slightly better, as he came in 10th place rather than 11th, his luck turned around the following two seasons, as he came in third and second, respectively.
Then, when it came to Season 15, the all-star season, he convinced himself he didn’t have a shot since he didn’t do so well during the regular season.
However, the pro revealed that he really clicked with his partner Kelly Monaco, and they wound up making it to the finals. Chmerkovskiy said the season was a “turning point” for him, as he performed with a great partner and really honed in on all the skills needed to be a successful pro on DWTS.
He made it even farther the following season with Zendaya, with many, myself included, still upset to this day that the two didn’t win it all.
He then went on to win Season 20 with Rumer Willis, Season 23 with Laurie Hernandez and, most recently, Season 32 with Xochitl Gomez.
With Dancing With the Stars occasionally bringing on new pros, it’s always fun to see just how far they will go and how they improve during their first season. As for Val Chmerkovskiy, it seems like he’s learned from his earlier seasons, but that doesn’t mean he still isn’t confident from time to time because who can blame him?
While Chmerkovskiy came into Dancing with the Stars with too much confidence at first, now he's worked his way up to the point where that feeling is totally warranted. And we can't wait to see him continue to thrive on the ABC series! The most recent season of DWTS is available to stream with a Disney+ subscription.
