Maksim Chmerkovskiy is finished watching Dancing with the Stars Troupe member Alan Bersten dance with his Season 24 celebrity partner Heather Morris.
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"Alan's officially fired!" Maksim joked after Heather and Alan performed a jazz routine inspired by the movie Frozen. "I'm taking over as of tonight."
Maksim has been sitting in the sidelines -- although still choreographing and coaching Heather and Alan's routines -- since he tore his right leg's calf muscle during a Week 2 rehearsal in late March.
Maksim underwent surgery to help speed up the healing process and has been working hard to make a comeback on the show ever since.
Before Monday night's Dancing with the Stars show, Maksim's fiancee Peta Murgatroyd wrote in her People blog that he was "dancing around a little" at home and finally able "to put more weight on his leg." However, Peta revealed, "He's not fully back to where he was before his injury."
Maksim's injury was caught on-camera. While practicing a spin move with Heather, the pro dancer started yelping in pain and hopping around on one leg. By the look on Heather's face, she knew in that moment Maksim was in trouble.
During a recent appearance on Good Morning America, Maksim gushed about how he believes he could still win the Dancing with the Stars competition with Heather, a Glee star and former Beyonce backup dancer.
"I still feel like we have a chance," the pro partner said on March 31 despite being up against frontrunners such as Simone Biles, Rashad Jennings and Normani Kordei. "[Heather deserves] it, and I want to give you 150 percent effort and be as physically active as I was at my best when nothing hurt. I want to come back and win."
Although Maksim will be replacing Alan on Dancing with the Stars for Week 6 of the competition and beyond, he hopes producers will promote Alan to a pro partner for the Fall 2017 edition. Maksim has repeatedly insisted that Alan has proved himself on the show and deserves the upgraded position.
To find out where Heather and Alan placed on the judges' leaderboard for "Disney Night," as well as the other couples, click here.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
