Val Chmerkovskiy is excited that his celebrity partner Olivia Jade has "earned" her chance to showcase a new side of herself to Dancing With The Stars viewers. Olivia and Val performed the salsa to Lizzo's hit track "Juice" on Monday's opening night episode. While Olivia appeared confident on the dance floor, she and Val received an impressive score of 25/40 for their first performance.
Olivia Jade was a popular YouTube personality with over a million subscribers. With her videos on fire, Olivia partnered with major brands such as Sephora, even creating her own eyeshadow palette to be sold in their stores. Everything came crashing down in early 2019 when her parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty for bribing their daughter's way into the University of Southern California. Lori spent two months behind bars and was released in December. Mossimo, on the other hand, was allowed to serve the final days of his five-month sentence under house arrest last April. Since then, Olivia has started to make her return to the public eye, reappearing on social media in January and breaking her silence on the scandal last year as a guest on Jada Pinkett Smith's Facebook Watch series, Red Table Talk.
In a conversation with multiple outlets right after production wrapped on Dancing With The Stars premiere night, Val told Screen Rant Olivia has "earned" her way to ABC's stage. "I think this is a great experience for Olivia, but this is an experience that she has and continues to earn every single day," Val said. "She came into the room with the desire to do her best, to learn the craft. She respects the show, she loves the show, she's a fan of the show, so like I said all I want to do is teach her how to dance and let her shine." Val added that her parents may have given the influencer her physical appearance, discipline, and talent, but it's now time for Olivia to step up to the plate and take everything she learned and turn it into something she can be proud of. "I'm just a small part in her story... which is going to be long and prosperous and beautiful, and I'm excited for her."
Olivia was also encouraged by her older sister, Isabella, supporting her in the audience for premiere night. "It was great having my sister in the crowd," she said. "She's my best friend in the world, so her support is everything, and it brings a level of comfort knowing my older sister is there watching me." Olivia added that her entire family has been supporting her throughout this process, and her sister has been consistent in advising her to breathe and rid the nerves before the music begins playing Monday nights on the ballroom floor. "I think I was most nervous just honestly [about] being in a completely different element, doing something I've never experienced before -- performing in general, dancing, but I'm glad. I think it went great." Olivia feels like her premiere experience went well, and she's looking forward to learning more moves and techniques from her partner Val.
Now that Olivia and Val got the nerves of premiere night out of the way, it'll be an exciting journey from here. The Dancing With The Stars judges believe the 21-year-old influencer is one to watch this season as she has already perfected long lines within her various moves. As viewers hold on to their seats to see how far Olivia will go, they also anticipate a Lori sighting in the audience.