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The three-time Mirrorball trophy winner believes that a good show of “humility” is needed to “win people over.”
Key Points
- Dancing With the Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy is speaking his mind about a contestant on the series’ new spinoff, The Next Pro.
- Chmerkovskiy said he can “appreciate” that contestant AJ Pritchard is an “accomplished competitive dancer,” but he recoiled from a display of “arrogance” on Monday’s episode.
- “If you are going to show up,” he cautioned, “you’ve got to have humility, in the sense that you’ve got to prove yourself.”
As a three-time winner of Dancing With the Stars, Val Chmerkovskiy knows what makes a great pro. Just as well as he knows what doesn’t.
On Monday, while slicing and dicing the latest episode of the reality juggernaut’s new spinoff, Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, Chmerkovskiy broke down what he saw as warning signs in a certain contestant’s behavior in the rehearsal room.
“I’m getting too comfortable on this podcast,” the Ukraine-born 40 year old joked to Danielle Fishel, his cohost of the new Next Pro companion podcast, Stepping on Toes. Then he went deep on a scene from Monday’s second episode of The Next Pro, in which he warned that AJ Pritchard “makes good TV at his [own] expense.”
“I wish he just kind of wrapped that arrogance into a softer present, you know. I get it, you did your thing, you won some awards, but so did [Natalie Jolley, a six-time U.K. Open champion]. Right? We’ve all got pedigree. Everybody’s won something,” Chmerkovskiy continued.
The scene in question came after host Robert Irwin and visiting pro Brandon Armstrong, who served as Monday’s coach of the week, split the 10 remaining contestants into couples for a storytelling challenge. Pritchard and Selena Hamilton, who both emerged as frontrunners from last week’s premiere, were tasked with deciding whose personal story they wanted to translate into choreography and communicate to the judges through dance.
They ultimately picked Pritchard’s, about his winning the British Open Dance Championship. The choice certainly stuck out, as every other couple went with a story focused on grief, personal identity, or overcoming adversity. During the rehearsal, Pritchard was sometimes brusque with Hamilton, correcting her form with his feet and insisting on certain steps.
Chmerkovskiy took the time to fully explain why that approach to partnership might ultimately cost Pritchard his lead.
“I appreciate that he’s a well accomplished competitive dancer and
he does have experience,” Chmerkovskiy said, noting also that Pritchard competed for three seasons as a pro on the British DWTS forerunner, Strictly Come Dancing. “I understand if he’s coming in with this feeling of, I’m not going to say entitlement, I don’t want to use that word, but... kind of like, ‘What am I even doing here? Why do I have to go through this process if I already I know I’m good enough?’”
Simple question, simple answer: “Dude, then don’t sign up for the show. But if you are going to show up, you’ve got to have humility in the sense that you’ve got to prove yourself. There’s a reason why you’re here and no longer have a job there —so be here, be present, don’t live in the past.”
And there’s more. Chmerkovskiy appreciated that Pritchard winning “the Wimbledon of dance” was a “special moment,” but he “didn’t even hear a word that Selena had to say. I’m not really sure why, because I’m sure she also lived a life and has stories to tell.”
As for Pritchard’s physical approach to correcting Hamilton’s steps, Chmerkovskiy said he’s “going to have some grace on that because that is something that would be done in some rooms.” But on television, specifically on Dancing With the Stars, the pro feels that “you’re not going to win people over unless they’re into that kind of thing... strategically for the show that is a huge turn off.”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Pritchard for comment.
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Chmerkovskiy echoed the judges’ response to Pritchard and Hamilton’s routine. Though Strictly alum Shirley Ballas praised the duo’s “partnering skills” as “outstanding,” she critiqued Pritchard for recycling many of the same moved that stood out from his jive last week. “You need to come here with some creativity, it won’t wash in the United States,” she said.
Armstrong questioned Pritchard’s choice of story: “There’s very few people that have reached the heights of winning the British Open Championship. Which then in turn means there are very few people who can relate to that.”
Hamilton, however, earned some of the highest praise of the night, with Ballas telling the dancer that she “ate [Pritchard] for lunch. They both were marked safe from elimination, and at the end of the night, Miami-based So You Think You Can Dance alum Benji Castro was sent packing.
You can listen to Chmerkovskiy and Fishel’s full conversation on the Stepping on Toes podcast above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
