Maksim Chmerkovskiy Hints At Quitting ‘DWTS’ In Candid Message For Vanessa Lachey

Maksim Chmerkovskiy may be hinting at quitting Dancing with the Stars after he and partner Vanessa Lachey were eliminated from the show following their team dances on October 30. Maks shared a heartfelt message for his now former dancing partner a day after their elimination where he admitted he was “proud” of the mom of three despite the various feud reports.

Shortly after the couple were voted off the show on Monday night in a shocking double elimination with Nikki Bella and partner Artem Chigvintsev, Maksim took to Instagram on October 31 to post several photos of himself and Lachey dancing together alongside a very sweet message.

“I’m proud of every single step we’ve taken together,” the professional dancer said, admitting that they both “worked their a**es off” over the past several weeks.

And despite the various reports of a nasty feud between the two that surfaced last month, which Chmerkovskiy appeared to coyly touch on in his message for the TV personality, he made it pretty clear that any bad blood is now behind them.

“Thank you for your effort, dedication and your relentlessness. You stood tall, put on a show and kept up with the best of them!” Maksim said of Vanessa, admitting that he’s “a proud partner, coach and a friend.”

He then appeared to subtly address the feud rumors in his sweet message and also suggested that Season 25 of the ABC show may well have been his last.

Maks hinted at the drama by telling Vanessa that Season 25 was “one of most eventful seasons I’ve ever had” before suggesting that he could potentially be ready to hang up his ballroom shoes after being one of the most recognizable faces on Dancing with the Stars for the past several years.

“If it were my last [season], I wouldn’t want this journey to end any other way,” Chmerkovskiy said, suggesting that there could be a chance he may not return to DWTS for Season 26 next year.

Rumors swirled earlier this month that Maksim could have been considering leaving the show after his wife Peta Murgatroyd — who is also a professional dancer on DWTS — admitted that she and her husband were thinking of stepping away from the show to spend more time with their son, Shai.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in August, mere weeks before Season 25 premiered on ABC, Peta confessed that she and Maks were “waiting to hear things” from the producers and were also “waiting to see what our schedules are going be like” now that they’re parents.

“I don’t want to spend 10 hours away a day from my child, so those things factor into it for me,” Murgatroyd continued of their 10-month-old son, Shai. “I’m a mom now and that comes first, you know?”

But, of course, both Peta and Maksim did return to the show as they coupled up with fellow married couple Vanessa and Nick Lachey.

And despite Chmerkovskiy’s gushing message for Vanessa on Instagram following their elimination upon his return to the ballroom, the couple were hit with various feud rumors last month.

After Maks failed to dance with Vanessa because he didn’t attend the live show on October 2 due to what the hosts described as a “personal issue,” People claimed that the two were supposedly locked in a feud behind the scenes because of their big personalities.

“They both have big personalities and that’s not always the best recipe for a good partnership,” the DWTS insider alleged of the drama, though both Lachey and Chmerkovskiy have denied all the feud allegations on multiple occasions.

Dancing with the Stars airs on ABC on Monday nights.

[Featured Image by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images and Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]