Jenna Dewan's new DWTS partner revealed amid Val Chmerkovskiy's suspension for 'inappropriate' Will Smith Oscars slap joke

Jenna Dewan's new Dancing With The Stars partner has been revealed after Val Chmerkovskiy's suspension from the dance competition series.

The DWTS pro was accused of threatening to slap one of the show's judges, Carrie Ann Inaba, over his wife Jenna Johnson's low score on the same show, prompting in him being pulled from the upcoming week.

Dewan, 45, will instead be partnered with Alan Bersten, who competed earlier in the latest season alongside Giada de Laurentiis before their elimination.

The Step Up actress and Bersten will take to the dance floor together for Dedication Night on October 20.

Dewan is set to honor her mother Nancy while dancing the Viennese Waltz to the hit track Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers. 

Daily Mail has reached out to reps of Dewan and Bersten for comment. 

Chmerkovskiy has received a weeklong suspension from the series after he was accused of threatening to slap Inaba over his wife Johnson's low score this week. 

After this Tuesday's episode, Chmerkovskiy shared a now-deleted post to his TikTok Story, joking: 'You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.'

While he did not specify what he meant, many fans thought he was referring to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2023 Oscars after the comedian made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Chmerkovskiy faced a furious backlash for the post and publicly apologized, but BBC Studios confirmed Saturday that he will be off the series for one week, marking the first time in the history of the show that a pro has been suspended.

'The well-being of everyone who works on Dancing with the Stars is non-negotiable,' BBC Studios said in a statement to the Daily Mail. 

'Val's social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show. As a result, he will not participate in next week's show.'

In reaction to the news, Chmerkovskiy provided a statement to The Daily Mail through his representative, insisting his 'instinct was to defend my wife' but confessing he 'made a poor decision' out of 'bad judgment.'

'In a moment where my instinct was to defend my wife, I 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 insisted. 

When Smith slapped Rock at the Oscars in 2023, he screamed at the host: 'Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!'

Chmerkovskiy said in his new statement: 'Carrie Ann certainly didn't deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was. 

'The last thing I want is to become a distraction from an important week or from the incredible work my dance partner Jenna Dewan is putting in.'

He concluded: 'Please send Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the whole DWTS family lots of love during Dedication Night. I'll be watching and cheering everyone on!!'

Dancing with the Stars insiders close to Chmerkovskiy told the Daily Mail that the backlash started immediately after the pro made the social media post.

Though Chmerkovskiy quickly took down the story, his comments had already started circulating and caught Inaba's attention, sources said.

An insider told the Daily Mail: 'She was not going to let that s*** go. She was furious. Livid. She said it was a threat and that something needed to be done. She wanted an apology but also wanted consequences.'

Insiders told the Daily Mail that Chmerkovskiy apologized to Inaba but that it was not enough for the judge.

'So the producers knew that they had to meet in the middle and punish [Val],' an insider at Dancing With the Stars told the Daily Mail. 'She wanted more, but that's what they ended up doing.'

A source very close to Chmerkovskiy told the Daily Mail that he would 'never do anything violent.'

'Val is a lover, not a fighter,' the source told the Daily Mail. 'He wouldn't slap Carrie, I know that for a fact. He was doing trash talk, like sports. Like complaining about a bad call from the refs. That's all it was.

'And Carrie knows that, but she decided to make it into something that it wasn't. It's just not.' 

Insiders at Dancing With the Stars told the Daily Mail that the cast and crew were split on their opinions about what happened, and that they did not know how the incident would be addressed on the show. 

Another source told the Daily Mail that Johnson was 'not happy at all' with the situation.

'Not one bit,' the source added. 'She's afraid this really derailed her chances of winning. No one is going to vote for Val after this, that's her worry. But it might be fine.'

On this week's episode of the series, Chmerkovskiy was visibly unamused on camera when Inaba critiqued Johnson's performance with partner Harry Shum Jr.

He could be seen on camera looking outraged as Inaba bashed the duo for including a 'lift' during their samba to the song Yeah! by Usher, which is against the rules.

Chmerkovskiy's subsequent TikTok became a lightning rod of controversy, as many fans took to X to bash him.

Amid the backlash Chmerkovskiy took to his Instagram Stories on Thursday to apologize.

'I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post. I have reached out to Carrie Ann to apologize directly and personally and I also want to apologize publicly as I understand my words affect so many outside our internal DWTS family.'

'I should never have made the reference that I did and I deeply regret it. I recognize that I am in a fortunate position to have a platform and to be a role model to some, and I need to treat that with more care by actively pausing to think before I post to ensure what I am sharing aligns with who I am, and who I want to be for you all.'

He added, 'I am truly sorry to Carrie Ann, and everyone I hurt with my careless post. I will do better moving forward ❤️.'

Inaba responded by posting a screenshot of an article covering Chmerkovskiy's comment to Instagram and writing: 'So this is what we are doing now?'

During the episode, Inaba noted that while she 'loved every minute of' Johnson and Shum's performance, it didn't fit the samba.

'If that was a halftime show, amazing, I loved every minute of it. But it’s a samba,' she said.

'And there was a lift,' she added, to which Johnson replied: 'A lift?'

'Yeah it was a lift,' Inaba said, before reading from a piece of paper that said: 'A lift is any movement during which one of the dancers has both feet off the floor at the same time with the assistance or support of their partner.'

According to reports, lifts are not allowed in traditional samba. Inaba ultimately gave them a score of eight.

Johnson was unamused by the response and shook her head. Chmerkovskiy was also seen in the background looking furious.

Afterwards, Chmerkovskiy shared a message to Inaba in a TikTok comment posted under a video of the moment.

'Put some respect on [my wife's] name,' he wrote, adding: 'She's trippin' talking to her like that.'