“Dancing With the Stars” is returning for a 32nd season, with Julianne Hough being tapped to take over Tyra Banks’ spot as co-host while “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” actor Alfonso Ribero returns co-host. Hough’s brother, Derek Hough, will return to the judge’s table alongside Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.
The full cast has been announced, with many professional dancers, including Peta Murgaroyd and Jenna Johnson returning alongside their celebrity partners, however, one iconic name was missing from the list — Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy On Why He Won’t Return For ‘DWTS’
Maks Chmerkovskiy hasn’t danced in the ABC competition show since season 25 when he was paired with Vanessa Lachey, when he announced his retirement. Since his wife, Peta Murgatroyd, his brother, Val Chmerkovskiy, and Val’s wife, Jenna Johnson, are all on the show, many have been wondering if Maks would also return and come out of retirement.
Unfortunately, for those fans of Maks who want to see him on “Dancing With the Stars” again, it won’t happen. “First and foremost, as business side of things, I was on a contract that I extended a few times, but when it stopped being extended, it was a mutual decision,” Chmerkovskiy told The Blast exclusively.
“The reality is that we just grew up,” he added. “You can’t expect Michael Jordan to continue playing even if you want to watch him do that, and I think it is a very similar [situation].”
Chmerkovskiy went on to explain how he “felt like I needed to move on” because the show was “going through some changes and some transformations”.
“Today, the show is kind of like full circle, and back to the format that I’m more fond of,” he told The Blast. “The components like Alfonso [Ribeiro] taking over of what Tom Bergeron used to be. It was a huge moment in the show’s progression.”
He added, “I believe the cast of dancers is great, and I strongly feel like fan and I want the show to stay on and I want to continue to help promote it and I am doing that because I am still a dancer, I am still dancing, I just am not dancing on television.”
Maks Chmerkovskiy On His Family’s Legacy
The professional dancer went on to explain how he feels if his wife wasn’t Peta Murgatroyd, his brother wasn’t Val Chmerkovskiy, and Val’s wasn’t married to Jenna Johnson, these conversations would not be happening.
“I think that if I wasn’t married to Peta [Murgatroyd], and if my brother wasn’t Val [Chmerkovskiy], and [his wife] wasn’t Jenna [Johnson], I believe that we wouldn’t be having these conversations,” he told The Blast. “I think that [the show] sort of moved on into others things and people would stop asking me about that, but I feel every year it’s a Peta, Val, Jenna thing and [then people ask] ‘are you also going to be there?’
“Why would I want to? Mathematically, there are more Chmerkovskiy’s on the show than ever before,” he said, laughing. “And so for me, I feel like it’s great as it is, let it be, I am a fan at this point.”
The full cast of the upcoming season is as follows:
- Tyson Beckford – Jenna Johnson
- Ariana Madix – Pasha Pashkov
- Adrian Peterson – Britt Stewart
- Barry Williams – Peta Murgatroyd
- Charity Lawson – Artem Chigvintsev
- Harry Jowsey – Rylee Arnold
- Jamie Lynn Spears – Alan Bersten
- Jason Mraz – Danielle Karagach
- Lele Pons – Brandon Armstrong
- Matt Walsh – Koko Iwasaki
- Mauricio Umansky – Emma Slater
- Mira Sorvino – Gleb Savchenko
- Xochitl Gonez – Val Chmerkovskiy
- Alyson Hannigan – Sasha Farber
“Dancing With the Stars” will air on ABC and Disney+ later this year, with episodes streaming on Hulu the following day.
