- Val Chmerkovskiy tells PEOPLE about participating in the debut season of Hulu’s new competition show Got to Get Out
- Got to Get Out follows 20 television personalities living under one roof for 10 days, fighting for a chance to win $1 million as they work to get out of the house
- After 20 seasons as a pro on Dancing with the Stars, he explains that this experience was a different type of reality television than he’s used to
Val Chmerkovskiy is still learning the ropes of reality television.
After 20 seasons as a pro on Dancing with the Stars, Chmerkovskiy, 39, branched out into a different type of competition show on Hulu’s new series Got to Get Out. In a recent interview with PEOPLE, the dancer reveals what it was like to be fully immersed in the game.
“Even when we went to sleep, we had a mic on us, and we had cameras in the room,” he shares, comparing the experience to his DWTS gig. “On Dancing with the Stars, we are mic’ed up, but again, we come into work, we do our thing, and we leave work — there is no coming in or out [on Got to Get Out].”
“The game was 24/7, which puts so much pressure on everybody there,” he adds. “People lie to each other. You could be talking to somebody and really going deep into the conversation, and you find out that that person is just trying to distract you.”
A self-proclaimed “yes-man,” Chmerkovskiy says he went into it with an open mind despite the show being out of his comfort zone.
“I knew that it wasn’t going to be forever, so I was just kind of like, ‘YOLO. Let me really enjoy all of it, even this really uncomfortable situation,’” he recalls, confessing that there was one habit he made sure to change: ”I don’t sleep in PJs, so that took adjusting.”
Got to Get Out follows 20 television personalities living under one roof for 10 days as they work to get out of the house and potentially win $1 million. While Chmerkovskiy isn’t a stranger to the spotlight, he admits, “I quickly realized that I’m not a reality star.”
“I am a person who is really good at their craft,” he explains. “I’m a master of my craft, and I love what I do, and Dancing with the Stars just is a format that captures my process and broadcasts it to the world.”
“I’m not at the dinner table turning it on,” he laughs. “I mean, the first dinner we had, the Housewives are on a different level. They’re just different, and I couldn’t tell where reality stopped and started.”
Another aspect of the show that he had to adapt to was being away from his wife, Jenna Johnson, and their 2-year-old son, Rome. “That was probably the hardest part,” Chmerkovskiy says. “We don’t have our phones on us, so it was really pretty much isolation for 10 days.”
“It flew by, but at the same time, it felt like a lifetime,” he continues.
In the future, Chmerkovskiy says he would be open to doing a reality show about his life with Johnson (who is also a pro on DWTS), although he jokes he might be “too moody.”
“That was the whole thing in the house as well,” he notes. “I love people, I love being around people, but I love being by myself.”
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Got To Get Out is available to stream on Hulu.
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