Jan Ravnik’s reputation as Taylor Swift‘s backup dancer precedes him, but unfortunately, her song wasn’t the good-luck charm he might’ve hoped for on Dancing With the Stars.
The dancer and his celebrity partner, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives‘ Jen Affleck, were eliminated on the show’s Tuesday (Oct. 28) episode after performing a contemporary number set to the pop superstar’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Look What You Made Me Do.” Honoring the night’s Halloween theme, Ravnik channeled a rugged vampire while Affleck wore a spooky blood-red outfit.
After spinning, flipping and twirling their hearts out, the pair received a score of 34 from the judges. Later in the episode, they were eliminated.
“I got all the love from this show,” Ravnik said in a post-show interview with Entertainment Tonight, noting that he was “proud” of Affleck, regardless of the results.
The episode comes shortly after the Slovenian performer drew criticism from former DWTS pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd, who called Ravnik’s casting on the show into question on a recent episode of the latter’s The Penthouse With Peta podcast. “Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing With the Stars,” Chmerkovskiy said at the time.
“There’s zero foundation, technique, quality, understanding of the partnership,” he continued, while Murgatroyd added, “Hiring a non-ballroom dancer to teach ballroom dancing to a celebrity as a job is outrageous.”
But while speaking to ET, Ravnik responded to the criticism by saying, “the people who’s trying to stay relevant, spreading the hate, this is not a way to do it.”
Ravnik was a fan favorite on Swift’s global Eras Tour, during which he supported the 14-time Grammy winner for nearly two years on the road. The dancer has continued working with Swift even after the trek wrapped in December 2024, appearing in her recent music video for Hot 100-topping The Life of a Showgirl single, “The Fate of Ophelia.”
Watch Ravnik and Affleck dance to “Look What You Made Me Do” below.
