‘Dancing with the Stars’ Semi-Finals: JoJo Siwa Has a ‘Similar Energy’ to Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy’s Season 26 Partner & Winner Adam Rippon [Exclusive]
JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy have made it to the Dancing with the Stars Season 30 semi-finals. Johnson Chmerkovskiy connected with Showbiz Cheat Sheet over the phone to discuss her and Siwa’s achievements thus far. During our conversation, she admitted Siwa reminds her a lot of her season 26 partner and Mirrorball Champion, Adam Rippon. Could Siwa and Rippon’s similar energies mean another win for the DWTS pro?
Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy and Adam Rippon’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Season 26 win
In season 26, the PyeongChang 2018 bronze medallist and Johnson Chmerkovskiy took home the Mirrorball Trophy. At the time, Rippon was the sixth Olympian to win the esteemed title on Dancing with the Stars.
During the finale, the duo performed a jazz routine to “Anything You Can Do,” earning them a perfect score. “It’s been above and beyond everything I thought it would be,” Rippon said after the performance. Later, their freestyle to “Scooby Doo Pa Pa” earned Rippon and Johnson Chmerkovskiy a 28.
Regardless, after tabulating fan votes and judges’ scores, Rippon and Johnson Chmerkovskiy were crowned the winners. “The Mirrorball has now taken a new meaning,” Rippon said during the finale. “Someone like me is accepted and feel loved.”
Making it to the semi-finals with JoJo Siwa reminds Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy of Adam Rippon
Siwa and Johnson Chmerkovskiy are making history as the first same-sex partners to perform in the American version of DWTS. Soon, they might be the first same-sex couple to win the Mirrorball Trophy.
“The energy that I felt with Adam is a very similar energy that I feel with JoJo,” Johnson Chmerkovskiy tells Showbiz. “[Especially] in relation to our partnership, our chemistry, our trust in each other, and in the overall joy that I’ve experienced throughout the season. [They] definitely [share] similar energies, but I think each partnership is different.”
Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy says working with JoJo Siwa has been a ‘dream and a blessing’
During our conversation, Johnson Chmerkovskiy admitted she felt “a little bit” cheated during her season with Rippon. “I only got a few weeks with him — it was a shortened season,” the DWTS pro explained. “I would have died if I could have had a full 10 weeks with him because truly every day was a dream come true with Adam as my partner.”
Now, Johnson Chmerkovskiy has similar feelings about working with Siwa. And even if they don’t make it through the semi-finals and on to the Dancing with the Stars finale next week, Johnson Chmerkovskiy is still grateful for the experience. “Every day, I honestly say a little prayer of gratitude in my heart that I was partnered with JoJo this season,” she says, elaborating:
“I don’t know when I’m ever going to have somebody as committed, as joyful, as into this experience, [or] as sweet as she is ever again. So really every day has been a dream and a blessing.”
Could her partnership with the pop star mean another Mirrorball Trophy is in Johnson Chmerkovskiy’s future? Watch Dancing with the Stars Mondays at 8 PM ET on ABC.
