Maksim Chmerkovskiy has stepped away from Dancing with the Stars. However, he is still connected to the franchise, which members of his own family hitting the stage. Recently, he found himself standing up for his own sister-in-law after he disliked a critique she got from one of the judges.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy Left Dancing With The Stars With The End Of Season 25
Maksim became known to many through Dancing with the Stars. He first appeared during the second season.
After 17 seasons as a full-time professional dancer, Maksim left the show with the conclusion of Season 25. At the time, he cited wanting to spend more time with his family and a bit of burnout from the competition series.
Despite this, Maksim still remains connected to the franchise in many ways. His brother Val Chmerkovskiy and sister-in-law Jenna Johnson are still pros on the show.
Recently, Maksim appeared on Nick Viall’s The Viall Files podcast alongside his wife Peta Murgatroyd. At the time, he weighed in on Carrie Ann Inaba’s recent critique of his sister-in-law Jenna Johnson’s Week 5 dance with actor Harry Shum Jr.
There Was One Thing That Maksim Agreed With About Carrie Ann Inaba’s Comments
At the time, Inaba called Johnson out for an illegal “lift” in the dance, in which Shum was lifted up by two male dancers. In particular, she told Johnson, “A lift is any movement during which one of the dancers has both feet off the floor at the same time with the assistance or support of their partner.” For his part, Maksim told Inaba, “Get some consistency.”
As Maksim shared, “She goes and starts reading off the rulebook, but then that same rulebook that’s applicable in ballroom with lifts is only applicable to a couple dancing. You’re not talking about extra background dancers running out.”
The former DWTS pro dancer continued, “There’s no ‘three other people’ in the rulebook. The point is: Carrie Ann, get some consistency. A lift is a lift if a partner lifted his partner… If you’re going to have the troupe run out and throw someone in the air, that’s not a lift. That’s Dancing With the Stars creative direction, and you should complain to the creative director.”
However, there was one point of contention in which Maksim agreed with Inaba: there wasn’t enough samba content, with the routine set to Usher’s “Yeah.” He expressed, “They gave too much of a nod to [Usher’s type] of movement and the movement quality, which is Harry’s card. But samba didn’t play out, and I think that’s where Carrie Ann should have ended. To give it a lift situation, come on? Then, give him a 7, take the points, something. Why did you bring this up if you’re not going to do anything about it? That’s my problem.”
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John Witiw has been a writer since at least 2015. He’s covered a variety of topics, especially when it comes to film and television.