Yesterday, Maks helped raise awareness for Cost Plus World Market’s Share the Joy Campaign at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. He signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans who donated toys and books. Maks also spoke about how important it is to support good causes. You can view more pictures like the takes seen above at Wire Image.

Then last night, PopTVDotcom caught up with Maks, Val, Tony, and Derek out clubbing. They were able to interview them for about 10 minutes (the interview starts at the 11:13 minute mark). Derek is pretty quiet, but, Maks talks about he and Hope’s Argentine Tango coming up and how Tony is helping (I think he’s just joking as they are through out the interview? I’m not sure). They also talk about their future plans to do Dancing With The Stars (“they love their show” is all they will say), and what they plan to do in the new year. It’s fun when the paparazzi start out the interview saying, “if you ain’t movin’, you ain’t groovin’!” Special thanks to Pure DWTS reader Evaine for sending this video to us!!!

Today, Maks wrote a new blog for TV Guide. He wrote a little on the drama with Len and how they’ve moved on. He also addresses the “war” rumors with Derek and his new dances with Hope. Much more below and at the link.

Right now, I’m only focused on Hope and trying to come up with great routines for her. I don’t want to think about anything else. The more I notice outside elements, the more I become engulfed in the drama. The show wanted to bring up the Len situation again this week, but I’m not going to waste my energy getting involved with that. It was a misunderstanding and it’s over. We’ve moved on. My next two weeks are dedicated to Hope. I’m going back to my roots and doing what I do best: teaching others.

On that note, I also want to put an end to this stupid rumor that Derek and I are in a “war.” First, it was that I “dissed” him and now there’s a war? There is no war! Derek is a great and very talented guy; and to suggest that we’re in a feud is hilarious. On top of that, the tabloid was quoting a “source.” Until magazines start to actually quote the people they’re writing about or at the very least reach out for a comment, don’t believe what you read. Look, I understand this is how they sell issues and get everyone to click on links and stuff, but this type of rumor-fueling reporting is irresponsible to the people in the articles, their readers and themselves. I don’t even want to remotely think about this anymore, so this will be the last comment about it.

We’re in a very interesting position now with three dances. We have the Argentine tango, the paso doble and then a cha-cha relay. We have done the paso and the cha-cha, so that helps a little bit. But honestly, they might as well be brand new dances. It’s a shock to not just the celebrities, but the pros too. At this stage of the game, we’re all exhausted. This is when our bodies start shutting down and we get sick, so to have three dances, it’s very, very tough. I know they want more content because they want a longer broadcast, but this is the last thing any of us needs. You would have a better show if it was shorter with few dances. It’s about quality, not quantity, right? I think they have three dances because they want to showcase the skills everyone’s accumulated during the season. But when you throw in more dances, you don’t have the opportunity to show off better dancing. It becomes more about surviving instead. The celebrities have never done anything like this before and it’s a huge ask on their minds and bodies. But I’m not the one calling the shots here.