What To Know
- Earlier this year, Maura Higgins publicly stated that she does not want to be paired with Gleb Savchenko on Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars.
- Savchenko responded to her comments in a new statement.
- Savchenko previously dated his former DWTS partner Brooks Nader, who is friends with Higgins.
The full cast for Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars won’t be revealed until next month, but one contestant already knows one pro they don’t want to be partnered with.
Maura Higgins is one of four confirmed celebrities set to compete on the new season, as well as Ciara Miller, Jackson Olson, and Guillermo Rodriguez. In a May interview with E! News, Higgins opened up about who her dream DWTS partner is, particularly which pro she doesn’t want to get.
“I’d be happy with anyone except Gleb [Savchenko],” she said at the time. “That’s only because I’m loyal and I’m friends with Brooks [Nader].” She added, “I don’t really like the way he speaks about women. I don’t really want to spend all my time with someone like that. ‘I’m like, no thank you.”
As for who she wants to dance with on the show? “I even get nervous of saying it because I see all these videos and they’re like, ‘Mark! Mark!” My accent is crazy but I do want Mark [Ballas].”
Savchenko reacted to Higgins’ comments about him in a statement to The Daily Mail published on Tuesday, August 4. “Until I was asked to comment on this story, I’d genuinely never heard of this girl, Maura, so I’m certainly not going to lose any sleep over the opinions of someone I’ve never met,” he told the outlet. “It’s odd to publicly attack someone you’ve never even met, but if that’s how she wants to make headlines before the show starts, that’s her choice.”
Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko (Disney/Eric McCandless)
He concluded, “I’ll stay focused and leave the unnecessary drama to everyone else.”
Savchenko competed with Nader on Season 33 of DWTS in 2024. The pair’s relationship turned romantic while working together on the show, though the pair broke up shortly after their October 2024 elimination. Savchenko and Nader reconnected not long after but called it quits for good in April 2025.
The duo’s breakup was a messy one, as Brooks accused Savchenko of cheating on her family’s reality show, Love Thy Nader, last year. Savchenko, for his part, denied the allegations.
It is unknown if Savchenko will return as a pro for Season 35 later this year. However, he hinted at his return by appearing at the first-ever DWTS Con, which took place from Friday, July 31, through Sunday, August 2, in Palm Springs, California. He also shared an Instagram video of himself and fellow pros Daniella Karagach and Val Chmerkovskiy busting a move in what appeared to be one of the DWTS rehearsal rooms.
While Higgins previously expressed her desire to compete with Ballas, she hinted at a potential partnership with Chmerkovskiy by dancing with him at an event in May. “Nobody warned me that meeting @valentin was an audition @dancingwiththestars,” she captioned the Instagram clip.
Dancing With the Stars, Season 35 Premiere, Tuesday, September 15, 8/7c, ABC & Disney+, Streaming Next Day on Hulu