Val Chmerkovskiy Says Sailor Brinkley Cook and Rumer Willis Are Both ‘Strong’ and ‘Thoughtful’

Now that Sailor Brinkley Cook has taken mom Christie Brinkley‘s place on Dancing With the Stars, the 21-year-old’s professional partner on the hit TV series, Val Chmerkovskiy, notices some overlaps between Sailor and Rumer Willis — his partner for season 20 who helped him pull out the win.

“You know, there are a lot of similarities,” he told Closer Weekly and other reporters after the October 7 episode. “There are a lot of parallels, and it is not just celebrity parents. I think it’s more about individuals that those incredible celebrity parents raised. Both families did a great job raising young women that are strong [and] thoughtful.”

Val noticed how much Sailor and Demi Moore‘s daughter with Bruce Willis have changed over the years too. “With the help of the show Rumer found herself in a lot of ways and reimagined herself and her confidence,” he said. “And I think Sailor’s doing the same. In both cases the family couldn’t be more supportive. So there are a lot of beautiful parallels and I think it would be wonderful to get them together and celebrate one another.”

The Ukrainian-born dancer also noted that he would love to have Rumor join him and Sailor should the show bring back Trio Night this season. “We would have so much fun,” he gushed about his two ladies.

It’s still to early to tell but Val and Sailor might have a good chance at winning the whole competition. “I hate saying that I can win because I think that’s jinxing something and I don’t want to,” Sailor admitted. “I mean there’s a difference between confidence and competition. Like, I’m excited to get into next week. I’m excited to get week to week but talking about winning the things sort of scares me. We’ll see what happens. We’re going to try our best.”

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In the audience, Sailor can always count on her mom to cheer her on and her sister, Alexa Ray Joel‘s father, Billy Joel. “I mean, I’m always calling him my Uncle Billy,” Sailor gushed. Val, for one, is  also a huge fan of the “Piano Man” singer.

“By default he knows who I am!” Val laughed. “I am a big Uncle Billy fan … I think he is probably top 50 greatest artists of the last century. He is a genius! So I think he’s an incredible musician. I love his music. I love the whole New York connection. Makes me feel really proud.”

We couldn’t love this dancing duo more if we tried!