The 5 Biggest DWTS Feuds

Tensions can arise on Dancing With The Stars as the celebrities fight for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. The long-running reality TV show sees celebrities paired with professional dancers in the hopes of winning the ultimate dance trophy.

After almost two decades on air and 33 seasons, numerous feuds have happened on the dance show, but not all partnerships have worked out. Some celebrities have struggled to get along with their professional dancer, not used to their competitive and strict nature. Occasionally, the pro has struggled to understand their celebrity’s viewpoint, causing the pair to butt heads during their time on the dance floor. Tensions can be seen through body language on the dance floor, but also in interviews.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy And Hope Solo

While professional dancer, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and former professional soccer player, Hope Solo, did well on stage, they struggled to get along off-camera. Reported by The Wrap, American goalkeeper Hope Solo accused her pro partner of being “nasty” and “harshly critical,” saying he manhandled her during rehearsals and, at one point, slapped her across the face.

“He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly,” Hope wrote in her 2012 autobiography Solo: A Memoir of Hope.

• Maksim denies the claims the Olympian made in her book, and according to The Daily Mail, was allegedly “shocked” by the story.
• At the time, he tweeted, “Always hated hypocrites and liars…but when someone is both AND an opportunist, I just feel bad for them. Can’t win at someone’s expense.”

There is no love lost between the pair. When Maksim appeared on the Allegedly with Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss podcast to play a game of “f***, marry, kill” about his former dance partners. The dancing pro chose the soccer star as the one he would theoretically kill.

“I would probably marry … somebody like, Misty May-Treanor was awesome. And she’s an amazing chick,” he said. “And I would definitely kill Hope Solo.

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“She’s just a sh–ty person,” he explained on the podcast. “People can be bad or good or whatever. You can have a s***** life growing up. You can have a tough upbringing. You can have history. You can have whatever. But if you are just a bad person, you know what I mean? There’s no excuse for that.”

Kate Gosselin And Tony Dovolani

Tony Dovolani told Anderson Cooper he needed professional help after appearing with Kate Gosselin on Season 10 of Dancing With The Stars, a comment which shocked the reality TV star. The couple famously had tension when he threatened to quit the show due to Kate whining during rehearsals.

According to Nicki Swift, Anderson joked to the professional dancer, “I always felt bad for you because you got stuck with Kate Gosselin. I remember watching her dance. I’m still traumatized by that experience.”

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In a blog post on Coupon Cabin, Kate admitted it was a “shame” that Tony had a negative impression of their time together as she had a “positive impression of the entire experience.”

The mother of eight concluded, “Where I’ve been given credit for trying, the world saw my efforts and the majority agree that he had a tough job making a dancer out of a girl who had never taken one single dance step in her life.”

Cheryl Burke And Ian Ziering

Cheryl Burke and Ian Ziering had a very public falling out, and she regularly refers to the 90210 star as her “least favorite” dance partner.

Former DWTS pro-Cheryl made shocking comments about Ziering in 2016 while appearing on Allegedly with Theo Von and Matthew Cole Weiss, claiming working with him “made me want to slit my wrists.”

She continued, “The fact that his name’s not ‘EEE-an’ and it’s ‘EYE-an’ makes me want to throw up.”

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Cheryl later apologized for the comments and admitted she has grown since Season 4 of DWTS. “I’m taking accountability for my actions. And I knew I know it was wrong what I said, and I didn’t need any hard feelings then or now.” She told The Post that she emailed her an apology during the global Coronavirus pandemic.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy And Kirstie Alley

Maksim Chmerkovskiy and the late Kirstie Alley had a difficult relationship when competing for mirrorball. Their relationship was civil for many years, competing twice on Dancing With The Stars. Unfortunately, her political opinions fractured the relationship and led to a very public falling out.

“She stopped getting along with me. I think the world of her. I’m not judging people by their religion. I’m Jewish. I don’t really believe in science fiction, whatever,” he said on Watch What Happens Live (via Just Jared), hinting that his relationship with the outspoken anti-scientologist Leah Remini was to blame. “Now that I’m associating with other people, that [she said] she can’t be associated with, I am no longer to be spoken with.”

According to Entertainment Tonight, Kirstie responded on social media with: “I won’t dignify any of your accusations with anything other than ADIOS. This tweet is for those of U who believe the Moon is made of cheese.”

The professional dancer later revealed that he was sent a note saying he was no longer allowed to be Kirstie’s friend. Their feud was reignited in 2022 when the late actress tweeted that she didn’t know “what’s real or what is fake in this war” in Ukraine. Maksim did pay tribute to Kirstie after she passed away of cancer in 2022, calling their relationship a “wild rollercoaster.”

Sean Spicer And Tom Bergeron

Former DWTS host Tom Bergeron said he felt “betrayed” when the competition show cast controversial politician Sean Spicer in 2019.

Back in 2019, Bergeron appeared on former DWTS pro-Cheryl Burke’s Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast and said he told the show’s executive to avoid casting politicians as the US headed into a contentious election year. Tom was so against Sean’s casting that he asked to sit the season out. While he did not sit the 28th season out, he would quit the show in 2020 and eluded that Spicer’s casting was part of the reason.

While Tom admitted he tried to stay neutral, the anger took over, and he released a statement explaining his anger that the show had deviated from a “joyful respite from our exhausting political climate” and should be free of “inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations.”

Spicer responded politely to the claims, telling the New York Post, “I’ve always thought Tom was a great host,” before adding that he “loved being a part of season 28” and additionally is “thoroughly enjoying the current season.”

Dancing with the Stars is a popular dancing competition reality TV show airing on ABC and Disney+. The series features various celebrities who pair with professional dancers to compete in front of a panel of judges. The US version of the UK TV show Strictly Come Dancing premiered in 2005 and was originally hosted by Tom Bergeron for its first 28 seasons.

Release Date

June 1, 2005

Main Genre

Reality

Cast

Carrie Ann Inaba
, Bruno Tonioli
, Len Goodman
, Tom Bergeron
, Cheryl Burke
, Tony Dovolani
, Derek Hough
, Mark Ballas
, Karina Smirnoff
, Maksim Chmerkovskiy
, Kym Johnson
, Sasha Farber
, Val Chmerkovskiy
, Emma Slater
, Sharna Burgess

Expand