Carrie Ann Inabais taking the floor.
TheDancing With the Starsjudge spoke out for the first time after proVal Chmerkovskiywas handeda one-week suspensionfor eyebrow-raising comments he made about feedback Inaba had given his wifeJenna Johnson, making it clear she wants to move on from the drama and focus on the show.
“I have not spoke about what happened because of professional courtesy for those who are still competing,” she wrote in her comments section of a recent Instagram post while replying to Johnson, “and we actually have standards and practices that keep us separated. But I think a part of this ‘headline’ has missed a few important parts of what happened.”
Inaba went on to share that after the tense back and forth during the show, she and Johnson made up privately.
“I think it’s important for everyone to know that Jenna and I hugged it out after the Super Bowl show,” she continued. “Jenna was an absolute professional about it, and two women worked through the moment. It came to my attention later that Jenna was deeply hurt.”
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How DWTS‘ Val Chmerkovskiy Feels About Being Replaced by Alan Bersten Amid Suspension
She continued, “So I also offered to speak with her at anytime. I have also offered to discuss the lift rule and how I enforce it.”
The DWTS judge also assured fans that she and Johnson will always put their best foot forward.
“We were always okay,” she added. “I love and respect you while I have to do my job. And think you are doing great with Harry [Shum Jr.]! That dedication night dance was profoundly important to Asian Americans in our audience.”
Noting that she and Johnson are “two powerful women who are professional and also emotional,” Inaba is waltzing past the criticism.
“In the future if anything I say or do in my role as a judge to speak what I see and feel about your performance on this show hurts you in any way,” she added, “I am always open and available to listen, discuss and find a peaceful understanding. And this has always been true…For me, it is my whole life’s work.”
During the Oct. 13 episode ofDancing With the Stars, Inaba criticized Johnson for including a lift in her samba routine, prompting her husband Chmerkovskiy to write on TikTok in a since-deleted post that fans “almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom.”
As fans began interpreting the comment as a reference toWill Smith’s infamous Oscars slap in 2022, Inaba reacted, too, writing on her Instagram Stories Oct. 15, “So this is what we are doing now?”
Since then, Chmerkovskiy had issued multiple public apologies.
“I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post,”he wroteon Instagram Oct. 15. “I have reached out to Carrie Ann to apologize directly and personally, and I also want to apologize publicly as I understand my words affect so many outside of our internalDWTSfamily.”
Two days later, Chmerkovskiy received a one-week suspension from the competition, barring him from dancing with partnerJenna Dewanon Dedication Night. Shortly after his suspension was issued, he reinforced his regrets to Inaba.
“In a moment where my instinct was to defend my wife,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories Oct. 17, “I made a poor decision to reference a meme to ‘keep my wife’s name’ out of the conversation, without stopping to think through what else that reference could imply, which was genuinely never my intention.”
The 40-year-old added, “Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was.”
Chmerkovskiy is expected to return to the ballroom with Dewan for the Oct. 27 episode.
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However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.
“That show pays OK,” the radio personality said on a Sept. 2025 episode of Jason Tartick’s podcast Trading Secrets. “Like, first episode, no money. Second episode, $10,000. I think it’s like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. It ends up being $50,000 an episode if you last.”
Also receiving a base salary of around $110,000, Bones continued, “I ended up making close to $400,000 from that show.”
ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.
But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they’re not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.
“You’re guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks,” Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester’s podcast The Morning After. “I think there’s different contracts though. I can’t speak for everybody.”
While Johnson—who won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, as well as season 33 with The Bachelor’s Joey Graziadei—says the pros don’t get a larger paycheck if they take home what is now called the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, she noted there’s still an incentive to make it to the finale (besides bragging rights, of course).
“If you make it all the way to the end, you’re getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale,” she explained on The Morning After. “If you win, it’s not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You’re just getting a cute trophy together.”
On a 2022 episode of Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold recalled how her salary was cut “more than in half” when she was demoted from pro to troupe member.
“You get no say,” Lindsay said on a May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers’ Hot Smart Rich podcast. “It’s very much just, ‘Here’s your partner. Make it work.'”
In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.
“They really want to keep it a secret until you meet them live,” Jenna said on The Morning After. “They want that genuine reaction. So I think people always think we know who we have and we’re keeping it a secret. Absolutely not. They do not tell us. They really don’t even want us to know the cast. It gets leaked a lot, but they want it very hush-hush until you walk in and meet your partner.”
As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?
“It’s based on height, build and personality and compatibility,” former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015. “We don’t pair people who aren’t going to get on. It’s too intense. It’s not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn’t do that. That would just be miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don’t want to see two people who don’t like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn’t get on so well.”
