UPDATE 8/27/24 5:00 pm EST:
A rep for Chmerkovskiy reacted to Palin’s claims in a statement to Us Weekly on Tuesday, August 27: “Maks doesn’t hate anyone. They were competitors on a high intensity competition series. Maks’ goal was always to win the Mirror Ball and have fun. Many may not remember since it was 14 years ago but he and Brandy were consistently doing well and in the end they were passed over for a team that was not doing as well.”
Original story below:
Bristol Palin is reflecting on competing on Dancing With the Stars — and recalling how one pro dancer wasn’t exactly her biggest fan.
The Teen Mom OG alum, 33, opened up about her experience during an appearance on the Sunday, August 25, episode of former DWTS pro Cheryl Burke‘s “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast, claiming that Maks Chmerkovskiy didn’t care for her throughout her run on the show.
Palin first appeared on season 11 of the long-running dance competition in 2010, and later returned for Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars season 15 in 2012. During both runs, she was paired with Mark Ballas.
After Burke, 40, asked Palin who would roll their eyes at her and Ballas, 38, every time they made it through elimination, Palin replied, “Oh, who? Maks? He hated me so much.”
She continued, “I don’t know why [he didn’t like me]. Just because we kept going through? He was real nice in the beginning … I definitely felt the tension from him. I forgot about that.”
Ballas and Palin placed third during season 11 of DWTS and were eliminated during week four on All-Stars. The duo’s top-placing season 11 run caused an uproar amongst fans and other competitors, as Ballas and Palin continued to dodge elimination despite low scores from the judges. (A team’s total score is the combination of the judges’ scores plus fan voting.)
Though the duo earned a top spot in the first season they competed together, Burke and Palin went on to discuss the tension between her and Ballas that was shown in a segment before one of their performances on All-Stars.
“I think we were disagreeing on how much effort was being put in. I think we just weren’t taking it seriously,” she said. “Like, I think I wanted to actually take it seriously and rehearse more. And I think that’s probably what the conversation was.”
In addition to reflecting on her DWTS experience, Palin also touched on being “bullied” over her weight while appearing on the show. The Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp alum was only 19 years old when she first competed.
“It was hard. It was really hard. And I mean, my weight fluctuates,” she explained. “It
was like everyone was talking about my weight, and then I was stressed out about my weight. I felt like I was just eating even more and gaining even more weight. It was just like a vicious cycle and it affected my confidence so much for years to come because it was such a topic.”
Palin went on to recall hearing Kathy Griffin allegedly making fun of her during “some show,” comparing her to the “white version of Precious.”
“It was all over the news for a while. It just bugs me so bad because I would be so upset if somebody was talking about my daughter like that,” she said. “Obviously I knew I was gaining weight, and just for her to say something like that was, ‘Oh, OK.'”
Bristolwas first thrust into the spotlight after late senator John McCain chose her mom, Sarah Palin, to be his vice presidential running mate in the 2008 election. At the time, she was 17 years old and pregnant with her first baby, son Tripp, whom she and ex-fiancé Levi Johnston welcomed in December that year.
She also shares daughters Sailor, 8, and Atlee, 7, with ex-husband Dakota Meyer.
