Maksim Chmerkovskiy was a pro on Dancing with the Stars for 17 seasons.
Through that time, Maks made it to the finals five times, had two runner-up finishes, and finished in second place twice.
In 2014, Maksim finally won his Mirrorball trophy with Olympic ice skater Meryl Davis.
However, his time on the show all started in Season 2 with his first partner, actress Tia Carrere.
Tia Carrere remembers calling out Maksim on DWTS
This was Maksim’s first stint as a pro on Dancing with the Stars, and the show was still in its infancy.
The professional dancers, who had trained their entire lives to dance, were still figuring out how to work with amateur celebrities with little to no dancing experience.
For someone like Maks, he knew what it took to be great, but he didn’t know yet that there were limited expectations for the celebrities on the show.
In an interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Tia said that she had to call out Maksim because he was being too harsh and too hard on her while trying to help her learn.
“I called him out,” Tia said. “One day I just lost it and I took my mic off and I threw it on the ground. And I threw Maks up against the wall and was like, ‘This is not a professional competition!'”
“And I got into my car and I drove off. I was so mad” Tia added.
The good news is that Tia laughs at the moment now.
Maksim agreed he was too hard on Tia Carrere
In an interview with PEOPLE in 2017, Maksim said he was too hard on her.
“I knew if we lasted longer, we got paid more, and my legs were helping pay for Val’s lessons and my family’s bills,” Maks said.
“She’s a joy, but she had an aura of ‘I just had a baby. I am doing the best I can.’ I said, ‘You didn’t have a leg amputated, you had a baby!'”
Tia agreed with this statement and said that Maksim apologized for those comments.
“I think he spoke to his mom, and he apologized and he said, I’m sorry, I know you have a new baby and you’re right. It was his first season of the show,” Tia said.
“But we laugh about it now. His mom scolded him. She told him, ‘She just had a baby, and she’s feeding her baby every day. You take it easy on that woman.’ That’s hilarious.”
Dancing with the Stars is on hiatus. The dancing reality competition series will return to ABC in late 2022.