Dancing With the Stars’ Jen Affleck Defends Partner Jan Ravnik From “Slander”

Dancing With the Stars’ Jen Affleck reacted to “slander” of her partner Jan Ravnik, a dancer on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, after criticism from former pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd.

After former Dancing With the Stars pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd criticized Jan Ravnik’s casting on season 34, the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star responded to online “slander” about her dance partner.

In an Oct. 27 TikTok video, Jen frustratedly typed on her phone while Jan, 30, sat next to her and shook his head as the clip’s audio track said, “Take it down, take it down, take it down, we need it gone. Take it down, that doesn’t represent me or what we need to be doing.”

In response, Jen exuded annoyance and rolled her eyes as she stopped typing. Atop the clip, she wrote, “Me when anyone talks trash about Jan.”

The 26-year-old—who shares kids Nora, 3, Luca, 2, and Penelope, 3 months, with husband Zac—added in the caption, “We don’t tolerate Jan slander in this house.”

She received a wave of support in the comments, including from fellow Dancing With the Stars pro Ezra Sosa, who wrote, “I’ll ride at dawn for this man.”

Three days before, Maks—who performed as a professional on the ABC competition series for 18 seasons between 2006 and 2017—and his wife Peta—who last appeared on season 32 in 2023—gave their honest thoughts about Jan’s first season on the show following his stint as a backup dancer on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

I’m sorry, Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing with the Stars,” Maks, 45, said on the Oct. 24 episode Peta’s The Penthouse With Peta podcast. “There’s zero foundation technique, quality, understanding of the partnership. Bro, I’m getting emotional. It is absurd, and this is unreal how blind we have to be and God forbid say what’s obviously there.”

Of Jen and Jan’s Wicked performance during the Oct. 21 episode, he added, “He had no idea what foxtrot is supposed to look like. How are you going to expect him to teach it and deliver that message in a format that is completely different from even ballroom dancing? We had this criticism weeks ago, and I’m like, ‘Bro is anybody going to explain it to him?'”

Peta, 39, agreed with her husband, sharing she feels “bad” for Jen because she’s “not getting taught the basics that she needs to.”

“He’s a Taylor Swift dancer. It’s the obvious reason why he is hired,” she said. “Apart from that, he’s a lovely guy. He looks great. He obviously is a great dancer.”

However, she added, “Hiring a non-ballroom dancer to teach ballroom dancing to a celebrity as a job is outrageous.”