Val Chmerkovskiy is opening up about his Halloween performance with Jenna Dewan, which ended with him biting at her neck for an eyebrow-raising amount of time. Now we finally have an explanation from the pro, who said it all came down to a stunt that didn't go as planned.
Val spoke to Entertainment Tonight about his return to DWTS after a suspension and short-lived feud with Carrie Ann Inaba. Unfortunately people were talking about him gnawing on Dewan's neck for too long, but he had a perfectly good explanation for that:
I had a blood patch in my pocket, and I couldn't get it out in time! Usually, I'd have blood coming out.
It sounds like Val was lingering on Jenna's neck in an attempt to get a blood packet out of his pocket. He then would've been able to slip it up to the neck to break it and make it look like he actually bit The Rookie star.
The neck bite was an unfortunate moment on the 2026 TV schedule and came off as awkward. While there's an obvious understanding that ballroom dancing can be passionate and needs to be sold to the judges, Val's wife, Jenna Johnson, is also on the show. I know I couldn't help but wonder how she felt about that moment, even if she's used to seeing him dance with others.
All this to say, I'm glad there wasn't a big issue there. Jenna and Val did ultimately tie for the second-highest score of the evening, finishing behind Harry Shum Jr's. brilliant Saw routine with Jenna Johnson. At this point, it's looking like we could see both couples in the finale!
Not that anyone expected anything less, given both contestants' dancing experience. That said, Jenna Dewan was not a classically trained ballroom dancer, so to see such skill with her Argentine Tango performance was quite impressive. Harry Shum Jr. was familiar enough with contemporary dancing that it was almost given that he'd get a perfect score when it came time for him to bust those moves out.
The best news for Val Chmerkovskiy is that it seems the feud between him and Carrie Ann Inaba is over, and Dancing With The Stars can proceed without any more controversy on that front. They were very cordial to each other while on stage, so it would appear that the social media comment that led to his suspension is all water under the bridge.
Dancing With The Stars continues its run on ABC on Tuesdays, or readers can stream it with a Disney+ subscription. Speaking of which, Disney night is just around the corner, so it may be a great time to revisit some of the classics to get even more amped about what the contestants have planned for this big night.
