‘Dancing with the Stars’: Maksim Chmerkovskiy retires from show … as a dancer

After many years of performing on “Dancing with the Stars,” it appears that Maksim Chmerkovskiy is officially ready to go out on top.

Maks appeared on “The View” Tuesday, and in the process confirmed that he is “done dancing,” saying mostly that the time is right for him to retire in that capacity from the show. In the end, we’re not surprised by this at all. Performing on this show is an exhausting schedule, and you also develop such intense and emotional connections with the celebrities that you are working with.

Maks also said that one of the reasons for this exit is that he feels that they can benefit more from younger talent who can come on and prove themselves:

“When I came back to the show, it was not the same—I was different, probably. When I came back, I saw this amazing talent … I looked at it and thought they can do much more and better. I was taking up a huge spot.”

What could the future hold for Maks on this show? While we don’t want to push Len Goodman out the door here, we would not be stunned if eventually he does end up taking the position held by him on the judging panel. It’s rough for Len and Bruno Tonioli to go in the fall from Britain to America every week to do both this and “Strictly Come Dancing.” We couldn’t blame them if they wanted to stay put in a single country for a while.

Personally, we’d be fine if Maks was just a guest judge again, or even a choreographer who could lend his hand to the pros occasionally. We do want to see him remain a part of the show somehow, regardless of whatever the form may be.

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Photo: ABC