DWTS 13 Maksim Chmerkovskiy Writes On Hope Solo, The Cha Cha, and More!
Maks has written a new blog for TV Guide. He wrote of Val and Elisabetta’s departure and how Elisabetta’s low fan base hurt her chances even with higher scores (has Maks been reading Heidi’s number posts? 😯 ). He also wrote about his disappointment in the judges negative comments to everyone. Hope took what they said hard and he thought it was undeserving. Now they are working on their Cha Cha. Hope has chosen an upbeat song to tell her story. More below. Be sure to read the full blog at the link as Maks also talks of his dog Sir Sleep and his new jewelry line being available at JC Penney and other stores soon.
As for our scores, it is what it is. I am more concerned with the judges’ comments. I thought they were discouraging, not just for us, but other celebrities and pros. I understand when harsh criticism is deserved, but with Hope, I don’t think it was deserved. I was actually more OK with them on Monday, but when I saw video of our jive afterward, I thought it was good. It was quick and fast and looked better than a few others. Maybe this was a case of high expectations for her, but I thought she did well. We got a little discouraged. It’s tough doing this week in and week out — we have to pick up the pieces try to move on, and that’s on top of choreographing a new dance, teaching the new dance, learning the new dance and everything else. It’s mentally difficult. Their comments stuck with Hope. She felt a little insecure about a few things. Everything that she does on the soccer field feels completely opposite of what I’m trying to make her do here. I’m not trying to change her body drastically — I don’t want her to have a hard time going back to the Olympic camp. I don’t want to change that in her, so it’s a balance of finding that mix for her to feel comfortable. I’m just happy we got through and that the week has passed.
Now we have the cha-cha. It’s coming along great. It’s also celebrity story week and they get to pick the song too. It’s going to be a pretty dramatic week and I feel like most of the songs people have chosen may be more lyrical or serious, but Hope went in the complete opposite direction. But it’s not like you can be completely serious with a cha-cha anyway! She picked a song the women’s team played in their locker room during the World Cup to get pumped up. It’s a really cool, energetic song, and we’re just going to go out and do a fun cha-cha.
I think everybody was great this week. Some people had comebacks and some people had dips, but overall, I think everyone did well. It was a very hard week, but I think this third week will be the true test. Now we only have four days to prepare a dance, so we’ll see how everyone does.