Dancing With the Stars’ Derek Hough Praises Jan Ravnik Amid Criticism

Look what you made Derek Hough do.

Despite criticism from former Dancing With the Stars professionals Maks Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd, Taylor Swift’s backup dancer Jan Ravnik received high praise from Derek during the Halloween episode on October 28th.

After Jan performed a contemporary dance to Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” with his partner, Jen Affleck, the judge expressed their support.

Derek told Jan, “You’re having an amazing first season! Seriously, it’s fantastic!”

He also mentioned he agreed with judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s comments about the importance of stretching and being mindful of their movements.

Carrie Ann advised Jen to focus on how her entire body was moving. She quickly added that she wasn’t trying to criticize, but offering the advice with genuine care. She wanted to help Jen get better because she believed in her ability to improve.

Before the Halloween episode of the dancing competition, Jan, 30, and Jen, 26, appeared to respond to criticism from Maks and Peta, who had said the Slovenian dancer shouldn’t be a professional on Dancing with the Stars.

Just hours before the show, Jan posted a picture on his Instagram Story. It showed him dramatically bent over next to Jen, who had her hand raised above him. He captioned the photo with a line from Taylor Swift’s song, “I’ll be the actress starring in your bad dreams.”

Jen quickly defended Jan by posting a TikTok video the day before. In the video, she acted out frustrated typing on her phone with the caption, “Me when anyone talks badly about Jan.”

The star of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives jokingly stated in her post that they don’t allow negative comments about Jan in their home.

Maks and Peta, married since 2017, recently questioned Jan’s abilities as a dance instructor and choreographer, commenting on his participation in season 34 of Dancing With the Stars.

Maks, 45, expressed his frustration on the October 24th episode of Peta’s podcast, The Penthouse With Peta, stating there’s a complete lack of basic skills, quality, and awareness of how the partnership should work. He admitted he was upset, calling the situation ridiculous and unbelievable, and lamented the need to ignore the obvious problems.

Peta, 39, sympathized with Jen, explaining that she feels Jen isn’t receiving fundamental instruction.

Honestly, when we were looking for talent, his connection to Taylor Swift was definitely a big plus – it was a natural fit! But beyond that, he’s just a genuinely wonderful person, and let’s be real, he’s incredibly talented and looks fantastic while performing. It’s a winning combination!

And she ultimately sees the issue as bigger than just Jan himself.

Peta stated that it’s absurd to hire someone who doesn’t specialize in ballroom dance to teach a celebrity how to do it.

Along with Jan and Jen, find out who else will be competing on season 34 of Dancing With the Stars.