Ready to chase that mirrorball once more! Val Chmerkovskiy has confirmed that he will return to the Dancing With the Stars ballroom for season 32.
“Yes, I am coming back next season. I’m very excited,” Chmerkovskiy, 37, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting his Subway partnership with brother Maksim Chmerkovskiy. “I had an amazing season 31, so hopefully I could ride the momentum into season 32.”
Val, who first joined DWTS as a pro dancer in 2011, partnered with Gabby Windey for 2022’s season 31. The pair finished in second place behind Charli D’Amelio and Mark Ballas. Season 31 was also a family affair for the Ukraine native, who competed against sister-in-law Peta Murgatroyd and enlisted wife Jenna Johnson‘s help with a few routines.
“I think both of them are gonna be on next season,” Val teased to Us. “I know both of ’em are excited.”
Johnson, 29, sat out season 31 amid her pregnancy with the couple’s son, Rome, who arrived in January.
“Jen, you know, I got rid of my stiffest competition by impregnating her,” Val quipped to Us. “I don’t know if I could do it two seasons in a row, but she is so inspired and she’s yearning to be back on Dancing With the Stars, so I’m excited to see what she creates next season.”
Murgatroyd, 36, for her part, danced with Sex and the City‘s Jason Lewis. They were eliminated during Week 1. Several months later, the Peta Jane Beauty founder announced that she is expecting her second child with Maksim, 43.
“Honestly, me personally, I’m looking forward to … the sleepless nights [which] I enjoyed [with Shai]. I’m fine with [the lack of sleep], but like, when he was crying, I was coming in and I was in the corner posting up and just kind of rocking him to sleep,” the Masked Dancer alum told Us, referring to the pair’s 6-year-old son. “I had as much fun doing it as somebody looking at like, ‘Oh, you know, this is an amazing [time].’ It was selfish and I’m looking forward to another selfish period of time of enjoying a baby.”
While Maksim is eager to meet his second child — another baby boy — with the New Zealand native, he has no plans to be on the Disney+ show this year. He did, however, tell Us what it would take to get him back in the ballroom. (Maks previously exited the dancing competition in April 2018.)
“Just ask me politely,” he quipped. “Honestly, with me, all it always takes is just gimme a hug. If you can get through the ‘what it looks like’ and the unapproachableness … and into the hug area, it’s just an immediately different Maks.”
Val chimed in: “Just give him a Subway sandwich and he’ll sign up!”
The dancing brothers have teamed up with the restaurant to launch the expansion of its Subway Series menu, which is a collection of signature sandwiches developed by Subway’s culinary team and ordered by name or number.
“We’re, first and foremost, immigrants to this country and our history took us to Brooklyn, which is [a] very sandwich-happy culture to begin with,” Maksim told Us, gushing that the Subway Series now includes both his and Val’s go-to orders. “Everything’s on the go. Our life was always very active in terms of dancing and obviously, between rehearsals, you don’t have a lot of time to do anything. So sandwiches became a big part of that [with] quick, on-the-go meals.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
