I think one of the biggest disappointments to come out of last season's Dancing With the Stars is that Val Chmerkovskiy and Janel Parrish didn't start dating in real life. The third place pair had excellent chemistry all season, both on and off the dance floor, so it was only natural that fans started to 'ship them. But now that Chmerkovskiy's moved on to a new partner in Rumer Willis it made me wonder, are Val Chmerkovskiy and Janel Parrish even still friends anymore?
Sadly, I think their relationship — romantic or otherwise — is firmly in the past.
There was a time there that it seemed like the two really would date. Parrish had broken up with her boyfriend midway through the DWTS season, and she and Chmerkovskiy seemed closer than ever. As we saw on the show, he even showered her with gifts for her birthday and attended her party. But now that their season is finished, it seems the two are done as well. Forget dating, I don't even think they're close friends anymore. After she was originally eliminated, Parrish declared to Chmerkovskiy, "I’m not going to say goodbye to you because I know I’m going to see you again.” But she doesn't seem to have seen him lately.
It seems like their last meet up was four months ago, shortly after the DWTS season ended. He came to visit both her and Rumer Willis at their For The Record performance. Since then, though, things have tapered off.
Case-in-point: Parrish hasn't tweeted a single thing about this season's DWTS since the show began on March 16. But since she is friends with Rumer Willis, she sent a "good luck" tweet back in February when the news broke of her participation on the show.
So, DWTS isn't necessarily out of her mind completely, but she's understandably not as involved with it or with Chmerkovskiy as she once was. She will occasionally reference her season, but not as much as she used to. A couple of weeks ago she did post a TBT video of her and fellow contestant Jonathan Bennett hanging out. And she would sometimes post a photo of her and Chmerkovskiy saying she missed him that first month after the show ended.
But since then — in the last three months since the show ended — she's posted only one photo of Chmerkovskiy and herself dancing. It's a big change from when she was on the show and Instagrammed pics of her partner constantly. She's posted more photos of Jonathan Bennett lately than of her once-beloved partner.
She's not the only one who's moved on. Chmerkovskiy went from posting pics of Parrish and himself almost daily to not talking about her at all. These days his Instagram feed is full of #TeamValenRue instead of #TeamJanelskiy.
And I totally get it; they're busy. Parrish is back on Pretty Little Liars which is taking up her time, and Chmerkovskiy has a new partner he needs to concentrate on. I don't blame them for going their separate ways, but I do miss seeing their friendship in the form of sweet tweets and Instagram snaps.
But even though there's not daily evidence that they're still friends, I have to hope that the bond they forged on the show isn't gone forever. Maybe when they get a little less busy they'll reunite someday either for a dance, or even just to hang out, because the world is a little bit brighter with both of them in the same room.
