Gleb Savchenko Criticizes Carrie Ann Inaba's Judging, Supports Suspended Val Chmerkovskiy

Former “Dancing With the Stars” pro Gleb Savchenko has publicly criticized judge Carrie Ann Inaba's judging, specifically her remarks about a samba routine performed by Jenna Johnson and Harry Shum Jr. Savchenko's comments came in support of Val Chmerkovskiy, Johnson's husband, who was suspended from the show for one week.

In a TikTok video, Savchenko stated, "I just watched Jenna [Johnson] and Harry [Shum Jr.]’s samba and I think it was a very entertaining dance and was really cool." He acknowledged that the dance might not have been a traditional samba, describing it as "a bit flat-footed, it was like a hip-hop samba." However, Savchenko strongly disagreed with Inaba's call of a lift during the performance, asserting, "if I was a judge instead of Carrie Ann, I would never, ever, ever call out that lift."

Savchenko, who competed on “DWTS” for 12 seasons, argued that what Inaba identified as a lift was merely a "trick" that has been featured on the show numerous times. He elaborated, "Jen didn’t lift him, he didn’t lift Jenna, it wasn’t done in the couple so I think it’s bulls—t." The 43-year-old dancer suggested that Inaba may have felt compelled to make the critique for television purposes, stating, "Probably, Carrie Ann just had to say something because she’s the lifts police of ‘DWTS.’ I think she was just doing her job creating a good TV moment, but I’d say team Val on this one. Period."

Chmerkovskiy was suspended following a social media post that referenced the 2022 Oscars incident involving Will Smith and Chris Rock. In the now-deleted post, Chmerkovskiy wrote, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” a reference to Smith slapping Rock on stage. Inaba responded to Chmerkovskiy's post via her Instagram Stories, questioning, "So this is what we are doing now?"

Following his suspension, Chmerkovskiy issued a statement acknowledging he "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."

Chmerkovskiy's dance partner, Jenna Dewan, is scheduled to dance with pro Alan Bersten during his one-week suspension. The pair will perform a Viennese waltz in tribute to Dewan's mother.