Maksim Chmerkovskiy: Done with Dancing with the Stars

The hunky professional told TV Guide that “the 25 million viewers are going to remember me whether I’m there or not,” referring to his decision to skip out on season six, which kicks off in March 2008.

But why would Maksim Chmerkovskiy leave the show that made his (long, complicated) name known across the country?

“This is a very lucrative world,” he said of Hollywood. “And I spent some time here just looking around and going, ‘Wow, this is an amazing house.’ But I’m a very analytical person. And right away, I looked past the curtains and I saw the drugs and the difficult lifestyles and the failed marriages. And I saw absolutely no family values — and that is the most important thing.”

Ouch. Might he have been referring to Helio Castroneves supposedly ditching his fiance for Julianne Hough?

It’s hard to know for sure, but Maks was at least clear that he loves his last two partners on the show: Laila Ali and Melanie Brown.

“It’s really important to me to maintain the relationship after the show,” he said. “With Laila, I love her. But it didn’t work because she’s a very private, very reserved person. But this season, with Mel, this is a person I’ll be able to call any time and say, ‘Hey, I’m in town. Let’s have dinner.’”

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