Maksim Chmerkovskiy Reveals Which Former ‘DWTS’ Partners Were Most Insecure, Challenging and More

Maksim Chmerkovskiy is spilling the tea on a number of fronts, including the misconception that Dancing With the Stars pros are super flirty.

During an appearance on Cheryl Burke‘s Sex, Lies and Spray Tans iHeart podcast, Chmerkovskiy shared why it is that celebrities are the ones to almost always fall in love with the dancers. In short, Chmerkovskiy says most of the celebrities who meet the dancers — in his case, anyway — during rehearsal, walk into a room eyeing specimen unlike any they’ve ever seen.

“That type of sexual energy, because they walk in and you’re standing there with Sasha [Farber] with his chest open or Val [Chmerkovskiy] with his shirt off and abs and Maks with his v-neck shirt, this, that or the other,” Chmerkovskiy explains. “We’re just obnoxiously out of this world and people don’t know what to do with us.”

That being said, Chmerkovskiy insists that their display of intense masculinity is not to exude flirtatious vibes. Not at all. 

“Kirstie Alley, rest in peace, she said it many times. She’s like, ‘You’re so flirty.’ I’m like, ‘Me?'” Chmerkovskiy recalled of his season 12 and 15 dance partner, who tragically died last December at 71. “We were in some break. I was like, ‘What?! You’re crazy.’ And I’m walking around nervously pacing trying to think of how to make this woman look good on Monday. And we’re running out of time. She’s not getting it. It’s just like, ‘Oh my god, what else can I do?'”

“And in the midst of that she’s like, ‘You’re so flirty,'” he continues. “And I’m like, ‘Kirstie, please. Not right now I’m begging you.'”

Chmerkovskiy says he asked Alley why she kept saying that.

“She’s like, ‘Well, look where you’re placing your hands.’ What?! Where I’m placing my hands?” he says. “‘It’s not your butt! I’m placing my hand onto your center-gravity where I can move you. I’m helping you! Because if I place it on your shoulder [you’re] gonna keel over and fall.’ It’s that. It’s the misunderstanding of close proximity.”

Chmerkovskiy, who last competed on DWTS in season 25 in 2017, says it’s not just Alley who had those misconceptions. It’s pretty much everyone with zero dance experience.

Burke then reeled off a ton of questions that seriously put Chmerkovskiy on the spot, like:

The most challenging partner? “Kirstie Alley, twice.”

The most fun partner? “Kirstie Alley.”

The most talented partner? “Brandy.”

The most awkward partner? “Misty May-Treanor.” (“Love you, Misty. Actually, [she’s] the only celebrity partner that I keep in touch with,” Chmerkovskiy shared.)

The most annoying partner? Chmerkovskiy skipped this one.

The partner with most chemistry? “Mel B.”

Worst chemistry? “Hope Solo.”

Most competitive partner? “Mel B.”

The most insecure partner? “I would have to say at the time, only, specifically in that moment — rightfully so, because everything that transpired — I would have to say Erin Andrews. Just my personal experience,” explained Chmerkovskiy, in reference to the constant dating rumors surrounding them.

The most intimidating partner? “Laila Ali.”

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