When it comes to "Dancing With the Stars," Maks just can't catch a break. The usually outspoken pro called out the judges for their harsh critiques of partner Hope Solo a few weeks ago, suggesting Len Goodman retire, and after a few weeks of quietly biting his tongue, he seems to be at it again. This time, it's judge Carrie Ann Inaba that's got Maks riled up.
Things got pretty awkward during the judges' critiques of Hope and Maks' clumsy Argentine tango. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, but one a night when the judges seemed to be praising the semi-finalists, they had nothing but criticism for Hope and Maks. When Carrie Ann started to criticize their sloppy lifts, she called out Maks for smiling.
"That's fine Maks, you can go ahead and keep smiling," she said. Maks looked visibly stunned -- but he wasn't the only one. Hope looked pretty stunned too. It's still not clear what she meant. Was he smiling inappropriately?
Well, this didn't exactly go over well with Hope, who after weeks of tension, exploded. "Maks was smiling because we should be smiling," the soccer star told Brooke Burke. "So Carrie Ann, thank you, Maks was smiling. This is my partner. Finally, we're happy!" Maks tried to stop his partner from making his previous mistake, but the damage was already done.
Unfortunately, for Hope, Carrie Ann wasn't smiling when she gave the pair an 8.
Backstage, Maks opened up about Carrie Ann's comment. "F--- Carrie Ann, next question," Maks jokingly told reporters, including The Hollywood Reporter.
"I think Carrie Ann has an issue," he said. "I don't know what it is but I would love to know so we can address it. As of now, I have no clue what the hell she was talking about."
There was even more drama on the dance floor after J.R. Martinez twisted his ankle in rehearsals, which severely affected his footwork this week. Last week's golden boy, fell from perfection this week with a so-so pasodoble.
"It was more zero than Zoro," said Len. Ouch. Looks like J.R.'s going to have rely on his fans this week to help him reach the finals, especially after coming in third in the cha cha relay.
Meanwhile, Ricki Lake and Derek Hough returned to the top of the leaderboard with three incredible performances, proving that they're certainly the ones to beat in next week's finals. Ricki returned to the top with her furiously fast samba. It even earned the former talk show host her first 10 -- from Len! She then earned her second 10 from Len for her Argentine tango.
But it was Rob Kardashian who was the real champion of the night, surpassing J.R. and earning first place in the cha cha relay.
Rob and pro partner Cheryl Burke brought the Rio Carnival to the ballroom this week, and although the float was terribly tacky, Rob proved that he's a serious contender for the Mirror Ball. His samba was fun and flirty, but most of all, his footwork was on point. Rob scored his highest score of the competition with his booty-shaking samba, earning his first 10 of the season from Carrie Ann.
Tune into the 'Dancing With the Stars' results show Tues., Nov. 15 at 9PM ET on ABC. Watch the stars' cha cha relay below. Do you think Rob deserved the top score?
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