Bristol Palin recalls which ‘Dancing With the Stars’ pro ‘hated me so much’

Bristol Palin is retracing her steps on Dancing With the Stars — and opening up about the “tension” she felt on the set of the reality competition series back in 2010.

Appearing on the latest episode of former DWTS pro Cheryl Burke‘s Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast, Palin was asked “who rolled their eyes” at her and partner Mark Ballas “when you would get saved during elimination?” She immediately replied, “Oh, Maks? He hated me so much.”

The author and daughter of 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was referring to Maksim Chmerkovskiy, one of the series’ star dancers, who competed that year with celebrity partner Brandy. Palin and Ballas made it to third place — further than Chmerkovskiy, which may have sparked the ill will between the two.

“Why did he hate you?” Burke asked.

“I don’t know, probably just because we kept going through,” Palin replied. Her time on the series was widely criticized, from her very presence allegedly “ruining” the series to her consistent low scores not meshing with how far she was allowed to progress from episode to episode.

Palin told Burke that Chmerkovskiy “was real nice at the beginning,” and Burke agreed, noting that in Palin’s 2011 memoir Not Afraid of Life, she wrote that “Max actually went out of his way to say something nice before he got eliminated.”

Palin responded that she “definitely felt the tension from [Chmerkovskiy],” but the “further we went along in it, the more” she just had to accept things for what they were, “like, ‘Oh gosh, okay.'”

Reached for comment Monday, a representative for Chmerkovskiy told Entertainment Weekly, “Maks doesn’t hate anybody. For [Palin] to say that would be a mischaracterization of his feelings. I think he and everyone else in America, 14 years ago, thought that he and Brandy were on their way to winning that year, if not coming into the finals. So there was a bit of disappointment when she leapfrogged him into the finals. It’s a competition. He’s very competitive and took it seriously.”

Palin returned to the DWTS stage in 2012 for the first and only all-star edition of the series. She reteamed with partner Ballas and competed against past contestants like Joey Fatone, Pamela Anderson, and Melissa Rycroft. Rycroft took home the gold that season, with Palin and Ballas placing ninth.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

During her bumpy first season, Palin was supported by the series’ hosts and judges. Executive producer Conrad Green told EW at the time that while “there might be an element of her vote that’s from Republicans, Bristol was working at a dermatologist’s office in Alaska, whereas [eventual winner] Jennifer Grey was in a movie beloved by millions of women around this country who are now our target audience.”

Politically polarizing casting choices would prove thornier in later seasons, however. Longtime host Tom Bergeron admitted that the casting of former Trump administration press secretary Sean Spicer led him to quit the series, saying that the decision “really pissed me off.”

For what it’s worth, Palin doesn’t seem regret her appearances on the series. She told Burke that Dancing With the Stars taught her “that I can step out of my comfort zone” and “put myself out there.”

Dancing With the Stars will returns to ABC and Disney+ for season 33 (featuring 2024 Olympic breakout star Stephen Nedoroskic) on Sept. 17. The premiere will be available to stream on Hulu the following day.

Listen to Palin on Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans above.