Dancing With the Stars was rocked by another scandal when professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev, who is married to Total Bellas star Nikki Garcia, was arrested and charged with felony corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant in August. The couple have stayed quiet on the matter, but it was later learned that Nikki filed for divorce after his domestic violence arrest. They also shared a young son, Matteo.
Nikki and Artem have not yet publicly discussed the arrest or the end of their marriage. However, a couple of Artem’s former DWTS celebrity partners have opened up about their time working with the dancer. Their mixed reactions to his arrest have people looking back at Artem’s controversial past behavior.
Lea Thompson Called Artem Chigvintsev ‘Intense’ While Partnered With Him On DWTS
On Season 19 of Dancing With the Stars, actress Lea Thompson was partnered with professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev. The dancing duo did pretty well in that season, with the judges never giving them a score below seven. However, Lea and Artem would eventually be eliminated in Week Nine, and placed sixth overall.
With Artem’s shocking arrest making headlines, Lea spoke to DWTS alum Cheryl Burke on her Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast in September. Her interview was shocking, as she alleged that Artem displayed harsh and unpleasant behavior while the two rehearsed for DWTS.
“It was hard working with him because it was his first year and it was a big deal to him.”
Indeed, the Russian dancer began his journey as a professional dancer on DWTS starting in Season 19. Prior to that, he was apart of the Dance Troupe for Season 18. However, it was not the first time Artem starred in a reality TV competition show. In 2010, Artem joined Strictly Come Dancing Series 8—the British version of DWTS. In his first season, Artem won with his celebrity partner, Kara Tointon. He starred in three more series, until landing a gig with Dancing.
DWTS Season 19 finals | Place |
|---|---|
Bethany Mota/Derek Hough | 4th |
Janel Parrish/Val Chmerkovskiy | 3rd |
Sadie Robertson/Mark Ballas | Runner-Up |
Alfonso Riberio/Witney Carson | Winner |
Continuing her conversation with Cheryl, Lea proclaimed that Artem was striving to be the best since it was his first season as a professional on DWTS. She also alleged that he was very hard on her during rehearsals, which had Lea taken aback.
“He was so intense. It was so much more important to him than to me, honestly. And so that made me really nervous, made me crazy after a while.” In one specific rehearsal with Artem, she described the pro getting so frustrated at her that she claimed he told her, “men are much better than women.”
“It was also really really hard for me because I was a ballet dancer and a modern dancer. First day, he was like, ‘I’ve never taken any of that stuff, I’ve only taken ballroom.’ All this stuff that I knew, he knew none of that. I was never allowed to say, ‘Can I try this?’ He would get so mad at me.'”
Charity Lawson Was ‘Blindsided’ By Her Former Partner’s Arrest
Lea’s allegations about her time dancing with Artem were certainly controversial, especially as he deals with his disturbing domestic violence arrest. However, his Season 32 partner, Bachelor Nation’s Charity Lawson, was shocked to learn of Artem’s arrest. She did not have a difficult experience with Artem when the two were partnered together for that season.
During an interview Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast, Charity was in disbelief that her former partner was arrested for such a serious crime.
“[I was] blindsided a little bit. I wasn’t expecting it at all.”
Charity did not seem to want to discuss his arrest while speaking on the outlet’s podcast. However, she did state that she wanted to send both Artem and Nikki “all the love and healing.” In fact, before the hosts spoke about Artem’s arrest, they asked Charity about her time on the show. Charity had previously detailed all the backlash she received while competing on DWTS. She revealed that she was targeted for her race and was even receiving death threats from the show’s viewers. Speaking with Cheryl Burke on her podcast in July, Charity revealed that she eventually told Artem what was going on, and he consoled her.
According to Heavy, one other former DWTS contestant who danced with Artem also spoke out after his arrest. Bachelor Nation’s Kaitlyn Bristowe, who won Season 29 alongside the Russian professional (his first and only win) shared on her Instagram Stories that she was saddened by the events.
“My thought on this is that I am not going to say anything until they are ready to say something. They have asked for privacy and when people ask for privacy, I find media outlets and everybody has an opinion. My only thought is that domestic violence is so unacceptable and so scary and sad. And I hope everybody’s okay. My heart goes out to little Matteo.”
Dancing With the Stars returns for Season 33 on September 17 at 8 p.m. on ABC and Disney+.