Advertisement

'DWTS' pro Jenna Johnson was nervous to do 'a very sensual dance' with JoJo Siwa

Kylie Mar
·Host & Producer, Yahoo Entertainment
·4-min read

It was Janet Jackson night on Dancing With the Stars Monday, as the eight remaining couples battled it out for a spot in the semifinals. Afterwards, JoJo Siwa's partner, Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy, joined Yahoo Entertainment's Last Night Now to recap the show.

JoJo and Jenna made history during the Season 30 premiere when the two women became the show's first same-sex dance partners. Asked if she feels like this season with JoJo has been different from past seasons, in which, she was paired with a male partner, Jenna admitted, "I think, with JoJo, what's different from some of my male partners is that I can't rely on moves that I know will work, or that I know will feel good, or look good, or that I've done in the past. Everything that I'm doing this season is new."

Prior to Monday night's episode, JoJo posted on her Instagram saying this week's salsa dance is her "favorite," and that she and Jenna had been working on something they thought was "impossible." That impossible move ended up being what Carrie Ann Inaba called "cirque du salsa," as JoJo held and spun Jenna, who was in an upside-down spread-eagle position.

"I giggle because I'm, like, I don't think that JoJo signed up for the show thinking that she was going to be lifting another human week after week," shared Jenna, who added, "But we both have had to sit down and be, like, if we want to compete with the other couples who are doing these lifts, doing these spins, we also have to do them."

During the show, JoJo said, "Tonight, I feel like Jenna really pushed me for strength. We wanted to do something we hadn't done yet before, and that was seriously intense lifts."

During the second half of Monday's DWTS, JoJo and Jenna faced off against Olivia Jade and Jenna's husband, Val Chmerkovskiy, in the Dance Off round. The two couples danced a rumba to Janet Jackson's "That's the Way Love Goes," but it was JoJo and Jenna who had Carrie Ann exclaim: "that passion and chemistry was palpable!"

Even viewers on Twitter couldn't help but point out the insane chemistry between JoJo and Jenna:

"I told Jojo, week one, the only dance I didn't want to do this season was rumba," Jenna revealed. "I didn't want to do it because it is a dance of love, and it is a very sensual dance that requires a lot of chemistry, and it works really well for a male and a female, and I just didn't know if I would be able to commit to a rumba, or if I would be able to pull it off, honestly, with another female." Fortunately, JoJo and Jenna ultimately embraced the opportunity.

"I just told Jojo, like, we've gotta go there and we've gotta sell it, because if we look uncomfortable doing it, the audience is going to feel uncomfortable watching it," said Jenna.

While the ladies nailed the rumba and won the Dance Off, ultimately, it was a bittersweet night for Jenna as hubby Val and Olivia were eliminated. As for what we can expect to see from Jenna and JoJo next week, Jenna shared, "We are going to go a more emotional route, which I don't think people have seen from JoJo yet. I feel like we've seen many different shades of her, but we haven't seen this sort of shade. So I'm excited to kind of tap into that, and I'm just really excited for what we have planned."

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Watch 'Dancing With the Stars' contestant Suni Lee running off the stage after feeling sick:

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.