Valentin Chmerkovskiy had a warm reaction to Summer House star Ciara Miller’s campaign to be his partner on Dancing With the Stars season 35, calling her public push for a pairing “a huge compliment” when he spoke exclusively to E! News on June 5.
Miller was cast as a contestant on the upcoming season of DWTS earlier this year. In May, during the Met Gala, she revealed she had been “campaigning” for Chmerkovskiy to be her professional dance partner, telling E! News she was “sending out some emails, putting my word in” to try to secure the match.
When asked about Miller’s efforts, the 40-year-old pro dancer said he felt honored. “I’m so humbled because I saw the Ciara video and there are things that I’m not allowed to disclose at this point in the off season,” Chmerkovskiy told E! News in a joint interview with his wife, Jenna Johnson. “So, I felt bad. I wanted to say thank you because what a huge compliment it is to be shouted out that way.”
Jennifer Lopez’s Office Romance hits No. 1 on Netflix worldwide
Valentin Chmerkovskiy reacts to Ciara Miller’s campaign for DWTS partnership
He added, “So, thank you,” but clarified that partnership decisions remain out of his hands: “I am not the one in charge of casting.”
Johnson, a two-time DWTS champion who won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon and season 33 with Joey Graziadei, expressed her own enthusiasm about the potential pairing. “I wanna dance with one of them, honestly,” she said of Miller and fellow season 35 contestant Maura Higgins. “Whichever one, please.”
Miller has said she’s looking forward to dancing the cha cha and waltz on the show. She shared her excitement about the season in an April announcement video, saying she felt the timing was right to join DWTS and that she was ready to “put my energy on the dance floor.”
Sources
- E! News — Val Chmerkovskiy’s exclusive reaction to Ciara Miller’s campaign, his age, and Jenna Johnson’s comments about potential partners
- E! News — Ciara Miller’s announcement of her DWTS season 35 casting and her public campaign for Val Chmerkovskiy as her partner at the Met Gala
