Dancing with the Stars pro Gleb Savchenko has responded to Maura Higgins' confession she doesn't want to be paired with him for the show's 35th season later this year.
ADVERTISEMENT
Maura, who previously appeared on Love Island and The Traitors, will be competing on Dancing with the Stars this fall, and she admitted in May that she'd be pleased to be partnered with any of the Dancing with the Stars pros -- except for Gleb.
RELATED LINK: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO'S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)
"To be honest, I'm okay to have anyone... I just don't want Gleb. That's the main thing for me, you know?" Maura, 35, told E! News at the time, adding how Mark Ballas and Val Chmerkovskiy would be her top picks.
"It's just because I get on with [his supermodel ex Brooks Nader], and that's that. I'm on Brooks' side. I'm a loyalist, okay?!"
ADVERTISEMENT
Maura added at the time how she didn't like the way Gleb spoke about women and she didn't want to spend her time "with someone like that."
In response to Maura's jab, Gleb, 42, told People on Tuesday, August 4, "Until I was asked to comment on this story, I'd genuinely never heard of Maura, so I was quite surprised to learn she'd spoken about me so negatively."
Gleb continued, "We've never met, and she doesn't know me personally, so it's disappointing to be judged based on a one-sided version of events rather than the facts."
Brooks and Gleb competed on Dancing with the Stars' 33rd season together in 2024. Reports swirled during the season that they were hooking up and had a hot and heavy connection.
Brooks and Gleb ultimately took fans on a ride with their an on-again, off-again relationship.
ADVERTISEMENT
Following their official split in Spring 2025, Brooks' sister Grace Ann Nader claimed via TikTok that there was "hard evidence" to prove that Gleb had cheated on Brooks.
Brooks seemed to confirm the cheating speculation when she took to TikTok in April 2025 with the following fiery message: "If you go away for a few days and he's not f-cking strong enough in his own mind to keep his d-ck in his f-cking pants, well then he can f-ck off anyway."
Gleb, however, denied the accusation by posting a TikTok video of his own in which he called the story "100% fake."
After sparking up a romance in late 2024, Brooks and Gleb called it quits shortly after they were eliminated from Dancing with the Stars during an October 2024 episode.
But Gleb confirmed his relationship with Brooks was back on in December 2024.
ADVERTISEMENT
News then broke in April 2025 that Brooks and Gleb were over and done with, and that Brooks was the one who had "ended things" with the pro dancer.
After Gleb and Brooks' breakup made headlines, Gleb admitted to Us Weekly that he was "surprised to learn" his relationship with Brooks was over by reading a news article.
Once Gleb caught wind of Brooks and her sister's cheating accusations, Gleb clapped back in August 2025 by lip-syncing in a TikTok video.
"I don't know where you got your information from," he mouthed, "I don't know who your source is, but I will be the first one to tell you that is incorrect."
He captioned his upload at the time, "Your 'source' needs a refund... because that story? 100% fake."
ADVERTISEMENT
In addition to Maura, the other celebrities who are confirmed Dancing with the Stars participants for Season 35 are Summer House star Ciara Miller and Savannah Bananas' player Jackson Olson.
Dancing with the Stars' Season 34 winner, Robert Irwin, recently expressed support for Maura, saying he believes she could win the show.
"He's putting it out to the universe," Maura proudly told Us.
"He's basically manifesting my win, which, yeah, I'll take that. I'm not very confident in myself, but I'll take it. I'm trying to manifest the best for me as well."
Maura said her goal is to make it the finals, even if she doesn't take home the mirrorball trophy.
"Getting to the final would be absolutely amazing -- but I've never won a show in my life," Maura said.
Maura, however, came close when she finished as the runner-up on The Traitors' fourth season behind Rob Rausch.
RELATED LINK: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO'S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)
"I'd love to win. But I don't know. I can only do my best, that's all I can do. I don't want to go in like, 'I have to win, I have to win,' because that's just going to rip all the fun away," Maura explained.
"I just want to enjoy it and work as hard as I can. But thanks, Robert. I'll try."
Dancing with the Stars premieres its 35th season with a two-night event starting on Tuesday, September 15 on ABC and Disney+. Episodes will stream the next day on Hulu.