'Dancing With the Stars' Pro Jenna Johnson Loves the Season 28 Changes
Dancing With the Stars has seen a few dramatic shakeups this season, from a brand new elimination rule to some behind-the-scenes creative shifts. Although the changes may have come as a bit of a surprise to long-time fans of the ballroom dancing competition, veteran DWTS pro Jenna Johnson-Chmerkovskiy says the new changes have been a move in the right direction.
Audiences learned of a new momentous judging change during the season's first elimination episode when host Tom Bergeron announced that a rule had been instated that would allow the judges to have the final say over which couple goes home each week. Just as in past seasons, a mysterious algorithm would still combine viewers' votes with the judges' scores to figure out which couples are in the bottom two. But rather than the couple with the lowest score going home, the judges have the power to choose which of the bottom two dancers to save.
The new rule was meant to counteract complaints that the show had become more of a popularity contest than a dancing competition show.
Johnson, who's partnered with Queer Eye star Karamo Brown this season, got to experience the effect of this new rule first-hand last week. Despite an impressive tango set to "Old Town Road" where the couple earned their highest score of the season, Johnson and Brown found themselves in the bottom two against NBA star Lamar Odom and his partner Peta Murgatroyd. Thankfully for the tangoing duo, judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli chose to save them.
"It’s definitely a different feel from what we’ve been used to," Johnson told Woman's Day. "But I think it is nice that the judges get to have a say, especially if you have a partner who has potential. You hope that they see that and that they’ll want to see them grow."
Brown faced some tough criticism from the judges in the first few weeks of the show, particularly from Len Goodman who hadn't given the couple a score higher than a 5 for the first three weeks. But after last week's tango, even Goodman couldn't hold back his excitement and doled out a 7.
"It’s been really awesome because Karamo came into this competition as a non-dancer so our goal for each week has just been to grow and show that growth and I think he’s done that," Johnson said. "I think every week he’s gotten better and shown the judges that he’s getting better and he wants to learn. He’s picking up choreography faster, he understands the movement better, so it’s really fun and exciting."
While the elimination rule change was taking place front and center on the stage, a few new changes were also going on behind the scenes. News broke earlier this month that dance pros are no longer responsible for the creative aspects of their performances — the songs, costumes, and set design. Although to the average viewer it may seem like this is a demotion for the pros, Johnson says it's been an amazing decision.
"I love it and our new [creative] team is fabulous," Johnson said. "It’s really nice because I can just focus on my job which is choreographing and it’s been really nice to come in there and be able to do what I do best instead of feeling pressured to do so many other different things and not feeling as comfortable or confident in those areas, and so I really love the new change, I think it’s working for us,"
Johnson and Brown are currently gearing up for Disney week on DWTS where they'll perform a Disney-inspired routine. When asked for any hints that she can drop about their upcoming dance, Johnson simply said "I think that it fits Karamo perfectly."
Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
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