Maksim Chmerkovskiy Joined 'The Traitors' Because He Missed 'DWTS'

Maksim Chmkovskiy

If your mom is watching The Traitors Season 2, then there is a good chance she's rooting for Maksim Chmerkovskiy to win. Maksim, or Maks, is best known for being a professional dancer and the resident hunk on Dancing with the Stars for 17 seasons, where he was almost always bare-chested and swoony. A fan favorite, especially with the show's top demographic, middle-aged women, Maks quickly built up a loyal fan base, who he classifies as moms. When Maks arrived on set for The Traitors and another cast member asked who he was he responded, "Your mom knows me." This is a fact that The Bachelor's Peter Weber confirmed. Peter's mom loves Maks too.

Since exiting Dancing with the Stars in 2018, the Ukrainian dancer certainly hasn't shied away from reality TV. He competed on The Masked Dancer, judged the Ukrainian version of Dancing with the Stars and was recently announced to be on the judging panel for the next season of So You Think You Can Dance. In the middle of all this chaos, Maks decided to join the cast of The Traitors.

Related: Three Former Rivals from 'The Challenge' Are Now Working Together to Win 'The Traitors'

Prior to competing on the show, Parade sat down with Maks to discuss why he wanted to join The Traitors, his strategy going into the game and his first impressions of the cast.

Matthew Huff: How familiar with The Traitors were you coming in? Did you study up on past seasons? What was your approach?

Maksim Chmerkovskiy: I just saw two episodes and that was it. I knew very little, and I was also super busy leading up to this. This was just something new, something different. And filming wasn't too long a period of time. Usually projects like this are a couple of months. So that was my selling point.

What made you want to come on The Traitors?

You go to somebody's house. You show up and they're like, "Oh, let's play this game," and you're like, "This game is going to suck." And then you get into it, and you get to know couples a little better. You walk out you like, "This was actually one of the best nights I've ever had." So far for me, it's that type of experience.

Plus, I'm privy to 17 seasons of an amazing rotating cast of personalities. And I missed it a little bit. Everybody here is a character. The game is fun.

Related: The Parvati/Sandra Feud Has Arrived to 'The Traitors'

Do you think coming in as the only person from your show is an advantage or a disadvantage? Is there anyone you automatically wanted to align with?

I just knew Peter [Weber] because my wife made me watch his season [of The Bachelor], and a couple other personalities. The game here is about you. You are by yourself and in your own little bubble, trying to decide what alliances are you going to make. There's zero trust. Everybody thinks everybody is up to something. The purpose is to try not to get under anybody's skin or to cause a negative effect. You want to have everyone be happy. I have no idea how I'd play if there were people here for my show because there's too much familiarity. I wouldn't even want to look in that direction. I would kind of overthink.

I'm a big Deontay Wilder fan. I'm excited to be around him. That aspect is also cool points.

Last season some of the challenges got pretty intense. Is there anything you're hoping not to see or anything you specifically prepared for?

It's no for me, dog. I'm not going to get buried. It's the heights and tight spaces. I think I'm gonna see both of them, but I'm not going to enjoy any of it. But, I'm game for whatever is to come. My strategy at the moment is to be the muscle, to try and help out the pot. And I enjoy the physicality of it.

Next, Dan Got Janelle Evicted from 'Big Brother.' Is 'The Traitors' the Perfect Opportunity for Revenge?