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Dancing with the Stars pro dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy is chronicling his season 23 experience exclusively for PEOPLE. Follow Chmerkovskiy, 30, and his partner, Olympian Laurie Hernandez, 16, on Twitter!
Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Laurie Hernandez may have gotten season 23’s first perfect score last Monday, but that doesn’t mean it’s been an easy week for the Dancing with the Stars pair.
“It was a tough week. I was very hard on her and there was a moment where we shed a couple of tears,” Chmerkovskiy says in his vlog, which he records exclusively for PEOPLE. “It was just a lot. It was a very intense week and I’m excited to show you the result of it.”
For Most Memorable Year week, Chmerkovskiy and Hernandez will dance a paso doble, inspired by the young gymnast’s journey to Olympic gold.
“This week, you are going to get to know Laurie in a way that I don’t think a lot of people have got to see yet,” says Chmerkovskiy. “I don’t think people realize the commitment and dedication – and also the loneliness – that comes with pursuing something as crazy as an Olympic medal. And gymnastics is a brutal sport. It’s brutal both mentally and physically.”
“It’s a very intense performance and we have this really cool, unique idea for the beginning [to] symbolize that world of pressure kind of on Laurie’s shoulders from such a young age,” he continues. “There are a lot of components and I hope they all work out because if they do we might see another 10.”
Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
