Jan Ravnik, who accompanied Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour since the beginning till the end, was one of the professional dancers on Dancing With the Stars season 34. Still, some people accused him of being underqualified for the part.

The 34-year-old dancer teamed up with Jen Affleck on the show, but a former professional dancer, Maks Chmerkovskiy, harshly criticised his abilities, going so far as to claim he was chosen because of his connection to the pop superstar, 35.

Chmerkovskiy and his wife, Peta Murgatroyd, reacted to Ravnik’s dancing on her podcast, The Penthouse with Peta podcast, saying, “There’s zero foundation, technique, quality, understanding of the partnership.”

He continued, “Bro, I’m getting emotional. It is absurd, and this is unreal how blind we have to be, and God forbid say what’s obviously there.”

The former dancer went on to declare that hiring Ravnik was a “missed opportunity” to bring someone more experienced, while his wife added, “They hired him. He’s a Taylor Swift dancer. It’s the obvious reason why he is hired.”

However, Swifties quickly jumped to Ravnik’s defence on social media, with one writing, “No ‘understanding of the partnership?’ That man danced with a ladder and made it look hot,” referring to one of his Eras Tour routines.

While another noted, “God even people associated with Taylor are getting dragged ticks me off so bad,” and “It’s giving bitter,” wrote a third.

One Swiftie quipped, “there’s a reason he dances for taylor swift and they’re not.”

Despite fans’ support, Ravnik and Affleck’s team got a shocking elimination in the latest episode after they performed a contemporary dance on Swift’s Look What You Made Me Do.