Val Chmerkovskiy is back on set of Dancing With the Stars after being benched for the week, and apparently there was conversation behind the scenes about the length of his suspension—with Carrie Ann Inaba pushing for him to have a lengthier time away from the show.
A source tells The Sun that Carrie Ann felt “threatened” by Val’s “Oscar Slap” comment, and that she “and the show’s decision-makers were not initially on the same page about how to handle the fallout. She pushed for Val’s suspension to last longer than one week.” Apparently, producers “stood by Val” and went with the weeklong suspension, which means the pro will be back onscreen next Tuesday for Horror Movie Night.
This comes amid a source telling TMZ that “Carrie Ann was so heated over Val’s remarks, she raised the issue with BBC Productions' HR department.” Though, sources don’t seem to be on the same page, because another insider “would not confirm whether Carrie complained” and insisted that BBC “launched the investigation after seeing the joke.”
Either way, Carrie and Val will come face-to-face next week when she judges his dance with Jenna Dewan. Presumably, they’ll have a chance to hash things out behind the scenes before appearing on camera together!