Val Chmerkovskiy Reacts to Ciara Miller Wanting Him as DWTS Partner
Val Chmerkovskiy is down to hit the dance floor with Ciara Miller.
After the Summer House alum was cast in season 35 of Dancing With the Stars, she revealed her dream dance partner was none other than the ballroom pro. And Val is just as game as she is.
“First of all, I’m so humbled because I saw the Ciara video and there are things that I’m not allowed to disclose at this point in the off season,” Val, 40, exclusively told E! News at the 33rd Annual Race to Erase MS Gala June 5 in a joint interview with wife Jenna Johnson. “So, I felt bad. I wanted to say thank you because what a huge compliment it is to be shouted out that way.”
“So, thank you,” he added, but “I am not the one in charge of casting.”
And Jenna—who joined the dance competition show as a troupe dancer in 2014 before being promoted to a pro—also thinks it could be a good match-up.
And if the 32-year-old had it her way, she’d snag Ciara or soon-to-be contestant Maura Higgins for herself.
“I wanna dance with one of them, honestly,” she said. “Whichever one, please.”
Val’s comments come two months after Ciara was announced as a contestant on the upcoming season of DWTS. Soon after, the Summer House star shared who she had her sights set on for a dance partner.
"I've been campaigning for Val," Ciara told Erin Lim Rhodes during the Live From E! Stream: Met Gala at The Pierre Hotel May 4. "I don't know if they hear me, but yeah, sending out some emails, putting my word in. We'll see where everyone wants to place me."
As for which dances Ciara is looking forward to learning, she named the cha cha, but she's also "really excited for a waltz."
"Very random," she admitted, "but a box step I've always loved. Like, I want to be in Bridgerton so bad."
But no matter who her partner is, Ciara is simply jazzed to be on the dance floor.
"I had some unfinished business here in New York City that I needed to wrap up, but I am so excited to join season 35 of Dancing With the Stars," she shared of her casting in an April 22 video. "I feel like this is the perfect moment. I feel like I'm opening a new chapter, and I'm so excited to share it with all of you guys. Can't wait to put my energy on the dance floor."
Until cameras for DWTS season 35 start rolling, keep reading for all of the show’s wildest secrets.
Citing multiple sources, Variety reported in 2019 that Dancing With the Stars contestants make $125,000 for the rehearsal period and first two weeks of the show. If they progress beyond that point, the outlet continued, they earn more money each week. At the time, sources told the publication stars could earn a maximum of $295,000.
However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.
"That show pays OK," the radio personality said on a Sept. 2025 episode of Jason Tartick's podcast Trading Secrets. "Like, first episode, no money. Second episode, $10,000. I think it's like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. It ends up being $50,000 an episode if you last."
Also receiving a base salary of around $110,000, Bones continued, "I ended up making close to $400,000 from that show."
ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.
Similarly, little has been shared publicly about how much the pros get paid. But as with the contestants, it seems like the longer they're on the show, the more money they can make.
But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they're not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.
"You're guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks," Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester's podcast The Morning After. "I think there's different contracts though. I can't speak for everybody."
Apparently not.
While Johnson—who won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, as well as season 33 with The Bachelor's Joey Graziadei—says the pros don't get a larger paycheck if they take home what is now called the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, she noted there's still an incentive to make it to the finale (besides bragging rights, of course).
"If you make it all the way to the end, you're getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale," she explained on The Morning After. "If you win, it's not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You're just getting a cute trophy together."
That doesn't appear to be the case.
On a 2022 episode of Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold recalled how her salary was cut "more than in half" when she was demoted from pro to troupe member.
The pros get little input when it comes to being matched with a celebrity.
"You get no say," Lindsay said on a May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers' Hot Smart Rich podcast. "It's very much just, 'Here's your partner. Make it work.'"
In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.
"They really want to keep it a secret until you meet them live," Jenna said on The Morning After. "They want that genuine reaction. So I think people always think we know who we have and we're keeping it a secret. Absolutely not. They do not tell us. They really don't even want us to know the cast. It gets leaked a lot, but they want it very hush-hush until you walk in and meet your partner."
As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?
"It's based on height, build and personality and compatibility," former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015. "We don't pair people who aren't going to get on. It's too intense. It's not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn't do that. That would just be miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don't want to see two people who don't like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn't get on so well."
Put simply, a lot.
"Every day we have four-hour rehearsals," Rylee Arnold, who was partnered with Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik on season 33, shared on a September 2024 episode of the Lightweights Podcast With Joe Vulpis. "It’s either 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m."
But the work doesn't stop once the rehearsal wraps. Rylee noted she might then meet with producers or the creative team, work on choreography or study dance videos."Literally my whole life is devoted to it," she continued, "but it's my passion and it's what I love. So, it makes me so happy."Indeed, it's a no-days-off kind of gig."We have our show day on Tuesday and then it's Wednesday to Sunday, straight rehearsals," Rylee added. "And then Monday we have camera blocking and then Tuesday's show day again."
"Mostly yes," Emma Slater and Britt Stewart revealed in a September 2025 Instagram video, "though it's a collaboration with producers."
If you thought the quickstep was fast, just wait until you hear about the pace of the costume department.
"We meet with the set and lighting designers, dancers and talent and create a story [for each pair]," costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner told TV Insider back in 2017. "Then we sketch out ideas. We have five days, max, to make all the outfits. That’s half a day per costume, not including all the rhinestones. The fitting and trimming we do later. We have about 20 people in our department and then we have a separate tailor shop. It’s a big enterprise."
In fact, costume designer Steven Norman Lee said pairs usually try on their costumes for the first time just hours before showtime. And while the department "might use a pair of pants again for the boys," he continued, everything is generally made custom each week.
As Gschwendtner added, "We do reuse things for group numbers or promo shoots, but not for the competition. We don’t reuse things unless there’s a specific reason to do so. We try to keep everybody fresh and new in something different every week, so it stays interesting."
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