'DWTS': How Val Chmerkovskiy Really Feels About His Partner Olivia Jade

10/05/2021 12:03 am EDT

Every season of Dancing With The Stars has a controversial contestant. For Season 30, that title goes to Olivia Jade Giannulli, the 22-year-old daughter of Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli. Her parents both spent time in jail for their roles in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal, as prosecutors said they paid to have Olivia Jade and her sister Isabella admitted to the University of Southern California as crew recruits even though they never participated in rowing. The scandal hasn't been specifically mentioned during DWTS, and her pro dance partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, only has praise for her dancing abilities.

"I'm plreasantly surprised," Chmerkovsky said of Giannulli's dance skills in an interview with HollywoodLife before Monday's Britney Spears tribute episode began. "It's a competitive season. There's a lot of really good dancers on the show, which doesn't always happen," he added. Giannulli's first two dances went well, and she earned enough votes from fans to avoid being in the bottom two.

Giannulli has been "exceeding" his expectations each week, Chmerkovskiy said, calling her performance impressive and inspiring. "I'm grateful and I'm having a blast. I've been on the how for a long time. I've had amazing partners, and she's one that's up there. I want to do my best to have an opportunity to go the distance with her," he said.

As for how Giannulli thinks of her dance partner, she noted how he keeps her accountable. "I need that. I need someone to be tough on me and be like, hey, get it together. Do this step correctly. It does motivate you," she told HollywoodLife. "I'm having a great time. I'm biased, but I think I have the best partner of all time."

The second ABC announced Giannulli would be competing in this season of DWTS, the show went on the defensive. Host Tyra Banks told Entertainment Tonight she thought the social media influencer was "so brave" for joining the show. "I think people don't know her, they know what happened to her," she said in September. "She has said that she did not know about what was going on and it's really sad, and it's very hurtful when something publicly happens but you had nothing to do with it. So I trust that she says she didn't know." New Dancing With The Stars episodes air on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. 

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