Gleb Savchenko has heard that Maura Higgins has no desire to team up with him on Dancing With the Stars season 35.
“Until I was asked to comment on this story, I’d genuinely never heard of this girl, Maura, so I’m certainly not going to lose any sleep over the opinions of someone I’ve never met,” Savchenko, 42, told the Daily Mail in a statement shared Tuesday, August 4. “It’s odd to publicly attack someone you’ve never even met, but if that’s how she wants to make headlines before the show starts, that’s her choice.”
He continued, “I’ll stay focused and leave the unnecessary drama to everyone else.”
Savchenko is a longtime pro dancer on DWTS, though the choreographers included in the season 35 lineup have yet to be announced. Higgins, 35, was one of the first celebrity contestants named for the upcoming ballroom competition.
“The training is meant to be quite grueling. That’s why I want Mark [Ballas], because maybe he might go easy on me a bit. But then I do probably need to be pushed,” Higgins told Us exclusively in May, referring to her costar from The Traitors season 4. “If it’s not Mark, I think I’d want Val [Chmerkovskiy]. I mean, to be honest, I’m OK to have anyone else. I just don’t want Gleb. That’s the main thing for me.”
Higgins was wary of pairing up with Savchenko considering his rocky history with now-ex Brooks Nader. The Love Island UK alum is tight with Nader, 29, whose season 33 showmance with Savchenko developed into a rocky relationship after the show. (Savchenko and the Baywatch star called it quits for good in 2025.)
“It’s not even being mean. It’s just because I get on with Brooks and that’s that. I’m on Brooks’ side,” Higgins stated to Us. “I’m a loyalist, OK?”
Higgins’ partner will be revealed ahead of the season 35 premiere, which airs next month.
“I’m not very confident in myself, but … I’m trying to manifest the best for me,” she told Us of preparing her time on the dance floor. “Getting to the final would be absolutely amazing, but I’ve never won a show in my life. [I] came close though with Rob [Rausch on The Traitors], but didn’t really. 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. I just want to enjoy it and work as hard as I can.”
Dancing With the Stars season 35 premieres concurrently on ABC and Disney+ Tuesday, September 15, and Wednesday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Hulu.
