Val Chmerkovskiy on Instagram: Did He Really Unfollow Carrie Ann Inaba & Others After the DWTS Suspension?

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Val Chmerkovskiy on Instagram: Did He Really Unfollow Carrie Ann Inaba & Others After the DWTS Suspension.

When a dancer in the spotlight of a live show gets suspended, attention usually turns first to the network, the press release, and maybe a brief statement. With Val Chmerkovskiy, things are playing out differently: The Dancing with the Stars pro has been making headlines for days not because of his choreography, but because of what's happening on his Instagram account.

The trigger is a suspension within the show. The question raised by the US entertainment portal Just Jared in its October 19, 2026 piece reads verbatim: "Did He Really Unfollow Carrie Ann Inaba & Others?" – in other words: Did he really unfollow Carrie Ann Inaba and others? The very phrasing in question form shows that the answer remains open so far.

If you're interested in reality TV and its side plots, this is still something you should keep an eye on. In US casts, an Instagram unfollow has come to count as a small statement – comparable to a grumpy appearance at a press conference.

What's been reported so far

The source so far is a single piece from Just Jared. The outlet writes that Chmerkovskiy has been "in the headlines for several days because of what happened recently." Exactly what this refers to, the teaser leaves open.

Chmerkovskiy is part of the regular roster of Dancing with the Stars pros, and Carrie Ann Inaba is part of the show as a permanent jury member. When a dancer changes his following behavior on Instagram in the middle of a suspension, the tabloid press's attention is guaranteed – especially since the follower lists of those involved are publicly visible.

What remains open so far

Several points cannot be answered from the available coverage:

• What exactly triggered the DWTS suspension
• Which people besides Carrie Ann Inaba may be affected
• Whether Chmerkovskiy himself has made any public statement
• How many accounts were removed, when, and in what order

Just Jared teases a longer piece without answering the open questions. Anyone wanting to know more should therefore look directly at the original article – and wait to see whether Chmerkovskiy himself or the DWTS production follows up with a statement.

Why the topic is making waves

Even without confirmed details, the attention shows how heavily social media signals are weighted in reality TV formats today. A single click on "Unfollow" is now read as a statement more often than any official statement – especially when the person affected stays silent.

What this means for you: As long as you only know the headline, you don't know anything concrete yet – neither the extent of the unfollows nor the motivations. Until Chmerkovskiy or DWTS speak up, the incident remains above all an indicator of how small the friction surface has become at which a cast story can still ignite in 2026.