Jenna Johnson (dancer)

Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy (born c. 1994/1995)[1][2] is an American Latin and ballroom dancer and choreographer. She first gained attention in 2013, as she finished ladies' third runner-up on So You Think You Can Dance season 10. Johnson continued her professional dancing career on Dancing with the Stars, winning her second season with her partner, Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon.

Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy
Born	c. 1994/1995 (age 25–26)
Occupation	Dancer, choreographer
Years active	2013–present
Spouse(s)	Valentin Chmerkovskiy ​ ​ (m. 2019)​

Early life

Johnson was raised in Provo, Utah.[1] Her two older sisters, Stacy and Jill, also are dancers.[1] Johnson is a five-time U.S. National Latin Champion, U.S. National Youth 10 Dance Champion, as well as a three-time National Contemporary Winner. In 2012, she represented the United States at the World Latin Dance Champions.[3]

So You Think You Can Dance

Johnson was a contestant on season 10 of So You Think You Can Dance. She first auditioned the show in Memphis, Tennessee. Her two older sisters had auditioned prior to her, but were cut at Green Mile. She was paired with contemporary dancer Tucker Knox and made it to the top 8. Her specialty was Latin Ballroom. She was eliminated on August 20, 2013.[4] In 2016, she was one of the mentors and choreographers on So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation. She competed alongside Jake Monreal and made it to the Top 8 before elimination on August 1, 2016.[5] She returned to season 14 as an all-star, mentoring Kiki Nyemchek, and made it to the Top 4.

Dancing With The Stars

Johnson was a troupe member on Dancing with the Stars from season 18 to season 22. She became a professional dancer on season 23 and was partnered with actor Jake T. Austin.[6] They danced jive and cha-cha and were the first couple eliminated on September 20, 2016.[7] Due to Sharna Burgess sitting out the October 31 and November 7 shows for a knee injury from the October 24 dress rehearsal, Johnson filled in as James Hinchcliffe's partner in weeks 8 and 9 and was their trio partner in Week 10.[8]

After taking season 24 off, she returned in season 25 as a troupe member.[9] In April 2018, Johnson was announced to be a pro for her second time on season 26 and she was paired with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon.[10] The couple reached the finals and won the competition on May 21, 2018.[11] She is one of few dancers to win in her second season and to win after being eliminated first in her previous season.[12]

Following her win, Johnson returned for season 27 and she was paired with reality television star Joe Amabile.[13] Despite continually receiving low scores and criticism from the judges, the pair was consistently saved by the viewers' votes. They ultimately made it to the semi-finals of the competition where they finished in fifth place, tying with Juan Pablo Di Pace and Cheryl Burke.

For season 28, she was partnered with Queer Eye expert Karamo Brown. The couple was eliminated on the seventh week of competition, finishing in eighth place overall.[14]

For season 29, she was paired with Catfish producer and host Nev Schulman. They finished in second place overall behind Kaitlyn Bristowe and Artem Chigvintsev.[15]

Season	Partner	Place	Average Score
23	Jake T. Austin	13th	17.2
26	Adam Rippon	1st	27.6
27	Joe Amabile	5th	19.5
28	Karamo Brown	8th	21.0
29	Nev Schulman	2nd	26.5

Season 23 with celebrity partner Jake Austin

Week	Dance / Song	Judges' score				Total	Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Hough	Tonioli
1	Jive / "Kiss You"	5	6	5	6	22	No Elimination
2	Cha-cha-cha / "Go, Diego, Go! Theme"	6	6	6	6	24	Eliminated

Season 23 with James Hinchcliffe (Weeks 8 and 9, injury replacement)

Because of an injury to Sharna Burgess, Johnson returned to the show as the substitute partner for the INDYCAR driver in Weeks 8 and 9, replacing Burgess. The scores listed reflect her weeks as his substitute.

Week	Dance / Song	Judges' score				Total	Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Hough	Tonioli
8	Viennese Waltz / "You Don't Own Me"	10	—	10	10	30	Safe
9	Jazz / "A Brand New Day" Team-Up Dance (Paso Doble) / "No Good"	9 9	9 10	9 9	9 9	36 37	Safe

Burgess returned in Week 10. Idina Menzel was a guest judge in Week 9, taking Goodman’s place

Season 26 with celebrity partner Adam Rippon

Week	Dance / Song	Judges' score			Total	Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1	Cha-cha-cha / "Sissy That Walk"	8	8	8	24	Safe
2	Quickstep / "Make Way" Team Freestyle / "Instant Replay"	9 9	9/9^1 9/10^1	10 9	37 37	Safe
3	Contemporary / "O" Jive Dance-Off / "Johnny B. Goode"	10 Awarded	9/10^2 2	10 Points	39 41	Safe
4 Finals	Jazz / "Anything You Can Do" Freestyle / "Scooby Doo Pa Pa"	10 9	10 9	10 10	30 28	Winner

¹ Score given by guest judge Rashad Jennings.

² Score given by guest judge David Ross.

Season 27 with celebrity partner Joe Amabile

Week	Dance / Song	Judges' score			Total	Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1	Quickstep / "Fish Out of Water"	5	4	5	14	Safe
2	Foxtrot / "New York State of Mind" Jazz / "The Gambler"	5 6	6 6	6 6	17 18	Safe
3	Viennese Waltz / "You Are the Reason"	6	6	6	18	Safe
4	Trio Salsa / "I'm Too Sexy"	5	5	5	15	Safe
5	Jive / "Zero"	6	5	6	17	No Elimination
6	Argentine Tango / "El Tango de Roxanne"	8	7	7	22	Safe
7	Tango / "Burning Man" Team Freestyle / "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)"	7 9	7 8	7 9	21 26	Safe
8 Semi-finals	Contemporary / "This Year's Love" Quickstep / "Check It Out"	8 8	7 8	7 8	22 24	Eliminated

Season 28 with celebrity partner Karamo Brown.

Due to a death in the family of Jenna's childhood best friend Lindsay Arnold, Jenna stepped in to dance with former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer for weeks 8 and 9.[16]

Week	Dance / Song	Judges' score			Total	Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1	Salsa / "Juice"	6	5	6	17	No Elimination
2	Quickstep / "Let's Go Crazy"	7	5	7	19	Safe
3	Jive / "I'm Still Standing"	5	5	6	16	Safe
4	Tango / "Old Town Road"	7	7^1/7	7	28	Bottom two
5	Samba / "I Just Can't Wait to Be King"	7	7	7	21	No Elimination
6	Contemporary / "Someone You Loved"	9	8	8	25	Safe
7	Paso Doble / "Survivor" Team Freestyle / "Sweet Dreams"	9 8	8 8	8 8	25 24	Eliminated
8	Jazz / "Come Sail Away" ^2Dance Off / "Gonna Make You Sweat"	7	7	6	20	Safe
9	Argentine Tango / "Bills, Bills, Bills" Foxtrot/ "Story of My Life"	7 6	7^3/6 6^3/6	6 6	24 26	Eliminated

¹ Score given by guest judge Leah Remini.

² Stepping in for Lindsay Arnold to dance with Sean Spicer.

³ Score given by guest judge Joey Fatone.

Season 29 with celebrity partner Nev Schulman

Week	Dance / Song	Judges' score			Total	Result
		Inaba	Hough	Tonioli
1	Foxtrot / "The Way You Look Tonight"	7	7	6	20	No Elimination
2	Cha-cha-cha / "Dynamite"	7	7	7	21	Safe
3	Argentine Tango / "Angelica"	8	8	8	24	Safe
4	Rumba / "Because You Loved Me"	8	8	8	24	Safe
5	Quickstep / "Take On Me"	8	9	9	26	Safe
6	Jazz / "Good Vibrations"	9	9	8	26	Safe
7	Paso doble / "Swan Lake Remix"	10	10	10	30	Safe
8	Viennese waltz / "Stuck with U" Cha-cha-cha Relay / "Rain on Me"	9 Awarded	9 3	9 points	27	Safe
9 Quarter-finals	Jive / "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"	9 Immune	9 from	9 Dance off	27	Safe
10 Semi-finals	Foxtrot / "Sign of the Times" Contemporary / "If the World Was Ending "	10 10	10 10	10 10	30 30	Safe
11 Finals	Paso doble / "Swan Lake Remix" Freestyle / "Singin' in the Rain Remix"	10 10	10 10	10 10	30 30	Runner-ups

Personal life

On June 14, 2018, Johnson and fellow Dancing with the Stars ballroom-dance professional Valentin Chmerkovskiy announced their engagement.[17] They married on April 13, 2019.[2]

References

1. Mann, Court (July 14, 2013). "Provo's Jenna Johnson in top 16 of 'So Think You Can Dance'". Daily Herald. Provo, Utah. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2019. ...the 18-year-old...
2. Dugan, Christina (April 13, 2019). "Dancing with the Stars' Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson Are Married". People. Retrieved April 14, 2019. ...Johnson, 25...
3. "Jenna Johnson". ABC. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
4. "'So You Think You Can Dance' cuts Jenna Johnson and Tucker Knox". RealityTVWorld.com. August 21, 2013.
5. "'So You Think You Can Dance' eliminates Jake Monreal and Jordan Wandick, determines Top 6 dancers". RealityTVWorld.com. August 2, 2016.
6. "Dancing with the Stars Cast Revealed: Everything to Know About Season 23". People. August 20, 2016.
7. "Eliminated 'DWTS' Star Jake T. Austin Reveals Biggest Regret, Predicts Season 23 Winner". Entertainment Tonight. September 20, 2016.
8. "Dancing With the Stars Sharna Burgess Sidelined With Knee Injury". E! News. October 31, 2016.
9. Gomez, Patrick (August 28, 2017). "Find Out Which Former Pros are Returning to the Dancing with the Stars Troupe for Season 25". People. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
10. Thorbecke, Catherine (April 13, 2018). "Adam Rippon, Tonya Harding and more superstar athletes to face-off in Dancing With the Stars season 26". ABC News. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
11. Natalie Stone; Karen Mizoguchi (May 21, 2018). "Dancing with the Stars: Athletes Crowns Adam Rippon as Its Season 26 Champion". People. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
12. "Jenna Johnson is fourth 'Dancing with the Stars' pro to go from last to first place". GoldDerby.com. May 23, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
13. Murphy, Desiree (September 12, 2018). "'Dancing With the Stars' Season 27 Cast Revealed -- Meet the Celebs and Their Pro Partners!". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
14. "DWTS: Find Out Who Gets Sent Home on Halloween Episode". PEOPLE.com.
15. "'Dancing With the Stars' Crowns Season 29 Champion!". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
16. "'DWTS': Lindsay Arnold's Family Tragedy Forces Her to Skip Dance". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
17. "Dancing with the Stars' Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson Are Engaged!". People. June 14, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018.

External links

• Jenna Johnson on Instagram