Update-Monday night’s episode of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars is the water cooler conversation of the day! Especially when Maksim ‘Max’ Chmerkovskiy reminded viewers just why he’s often referred to as Mad Max.
After Maksim and Hope Solo completed their rumba, they were met with some not so stellar reviews as they earned a mediocre 20 out of 30 points. Judge Len Goodman appeared to be most displeased as he not only informed Max that he just completed the “worst dance of the season,” but also that Hope Solo made a poor choice in her footwear selection.
Well as you can imagine, this was all the hot blooded Russian could take as he immediately began mouthing off at the entire judging table.
He began by suggesting that Goodman, who mentioned he had been in the business for 50 years, should hang up his judging cap and followed by stating that Dancing With The Star’s success was largely due to merely his presence.
“With all due respect, this is my show. I helped make it what it is. I love every aspect of it. I love every professional that has ever been here, and I love every celebrity that puts effort into it every week. Having said that, I’m a little tired that we are being judged, some on effort and some being picked on for our heel leads.”
Carrie Ann Inaba’s warning to be respectful didn’t keep Chmerkovskiy from further releasing some steam.
He continued, “It just kind of came to the point where I kind of had enough. It’s like give us a bad score, don’t call us out. Say it wasn’t my cup of tea…we’ll take the criticism. Don’t tell me it was your worst dance of the season because you’re an idiot, you know it’s not true. I’ve also danced for 27 years and I’ve won more titles than Len ever even participated in. That’s not to disrespect his opinion because we’ve all been here for 13 seasons. I’m just not going to sit back and let my partner get disrespected.”
When asked if he cared to retract his initial comment regarding DWTS being “his” show, Maksim denied the comment, but later attempted to tone down the hubris with;
“I feel like it’s my show and together with other pros I’ve dedicated six years of my life to this show and I’ve helped make it what it is. But I never took it away from everybody else who participated.”
Wow, well at least he took the time to thank his co-stars. Luckily for Max his tirade didn’t completely place him at the bottom as Chaz Bono struggled his way to earn the lowest scores of the night with the tango.
Tough day for Maksim, and even tougher one for Chaz. Derek Hough had this to say about Max’s rant, “I feel like the judges have been incredibly generous.” “But we’re all very emotional.” Does that excuse Maksim’s behavior and will the outburst cost him on Dancing with the Stars elimination round?
