NEED TO KNOW
Will Jan Ravnik return to the Dancing with the Stars ballroom?
The former Taylor Swift backup dancer made his debut on the ABC series this year and was eliminated in week seven with his partner, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jen Affleck.
He tells PEOPLE his first season as a pro on the show was a “great experience,” but plays coy about what his future on the show looks like. “We’ll see about that,” is all Ravnik, 30, will say when asked if he’d return for season 35. “We’ll see about it. It’s still a long way [away]. This is 2026. We don’t know.”
He’s more focused on the remaining two weeks of this season, as he’s “still rehearsing a lot” ahead of the semi-finals on Nov. 18. “It was stressful to [be] learning everything, but now, I think because I’m already in a flow, it feels so much better,” Ravnik says. “And in two weeks I’m gonna be done probably. I’m gonna be like, ‘Oh, I missed that.’ ”
Disney/Eric McCandless
There was a definite learning curve for the dancer. “I mean, the first two weeks, my colors of the costume was hideous. Let me tell you — hideous,” he tells PEOPLE while attending the premiere of Zootopia 2 in Los Angeles on Nov. 13,
Another aspect of the live show that was “challenging” for him was having to smile all the time. “I’m a person who doesn’t like to smile all the time, and I think I was smiling the entire season. It was challenging for me,” he admits. “Hard smiling all the time.”
Ravnik says he needs “a little break” once the show wraps up in two weeks. “I decided I’m gonna go to Europe. I have some other obligations also that I need to do in Europe,” he shares. “I need snow. I need like holiday spirit.”
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Ravnik was recently the subject of headlines after former DWTS pro Maks Chmerkovskiy called him out on wife Peta Murgatroyd’s podcast, saying that Ravnik’s casting this season “absurd.”
“I’m sorry, Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing with the Stars. There’s zero foundation, technique, quality, understanding of the partnership,” Chmerkovskiy said on the Oct. 24 episode.
JC Olivera/Variety via Getty
Chmerkovskiy later issued an apology video as he said he “would love to meet” Ravnik to “bury the hatchet.” He said, “I want to apologize to Jan for the way my words hurt your feelings.”
Ravnik never responded to the former pro, and even told Entertainment Tonight point-blank he had “no comment” on what Chmerkovskiy said. “Look, I got all the love on this show. All the praise from the judges also, like everyone gave me so much love,” he told the outlet.
Ravnik added, “Whoever is saying, outside, the people who [are] trying to stay relevant and spreading the hate, this is not a way to do it. And I never will spread or take the hate.”
Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+
