Jana Kramer says her Dancing With the Stars run was harder behind the scenes than viewers saw.
The actress, singer and podcast host recently said she nearly quit the ABC competition because she struggled with the way professional partner Gleb Savchenko trained her during rehearsals.
Kramer and Savchenko competed together in 2016 on season 23 and finished in fourth place. On the June 19 episode of her Whine Down podcast, Kramer said the training pushed her close to walking away before the season ended.
Kramer said she understood that his demanding style came from the way he had been trained as a dancer, but said the experience was still difficult while she was living through it.
Kramer Said the Rehearsals Were “Really Hard”
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Kramer discussed the experience with Hannah Brown, who won season 28 of Dancing With the Stars with Alan Bersten. According to People, Kramer said she “struggled” with Savchenko’s teaching style before Brown described it as the “culture and the way that they teach.”
Kramer said the approach became “really hard” for her and recalled telling Savchenko, “Do not speak to me that way. Period.” Entertainment Weekly reported that Kramer also said she reached a point where she told producers, “I’m done, I quit.”
She said that moment did not make the broadcast. The show presented the polished dances and the weekly competition, while Kramer said the rehearsal room carried pressure viewers did not fully see.
Hannah Brown Understood the Pressure
Brown related to Kramer’s comments because she had also worked through a demanding training environment during her winning season. Kramer and Brown both said the professional dancers had been trained under intense expectations before bringing that same discipline to celebrity partners.
Brown’s season ended with a Mirrorball Trophy. Kramer’s season ended one place short of the final three. Both women described the emotional load of learning multiple routines while being judged publicly each week.
Kramer made clear that understanding Savchenko’s background did not make the experience easier in the moment. She said the way she was pushed affected her enough that she considered leaving before the competition ended.
Kramer Has Said Dancing Exposed an Insecurity
This is not the first time Kramer has described Dancing With the Stars as a difficult show for her. In a previous podcast conversation, she said the series was her least favorite competition experience because dancing exposed an insecurity she already had.
People reported in 2025 that Kramer contrasted the ballroom with The Masked Singer, where performing in costume made her feel more protected. On Dancing With the Stars, she said she felt much more exposed because viewers could see every movement and mistake.
Kramer still made it deep into the competition. She and Savchenko reached the season 23 finale and placed fourth behind Laurie Hernandez, James Hinchcliffe and Calvin Johnson Jr.
She and Savchenko Later Reunited on Her Podcast
Kramer’s new comments were not framed as a complete break with Savchenko. Entertainment Weekly noted that she credited him with having good intentions and said he later supported her during a difficult breakup.
Savchenko also appeared on Kramer’s Whine Down podcast in 2021 for an episode titled “Gleb & Flow,” where they revisited their Dancing With the Stars partnership and discussed their most intense training moments.
Kramer’s latest comments add a sharper version of what that partnership felt like at the time: she reached the finale, but the process was difficult enough that she nearly left the show.