Meryl and Maks Dating Rumors: ‘Just Acting’ Says Chmerkovskiy’s Ex-Fiancee

Meryl and Maks Dating Rumors: ‘Just Acting’ Says Chmerkovskiy’s Ex-Fiancee
Olympic athlete Meryl Davis and dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, winners of "Dancing with the Stars" , appear on ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, in New York. (Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Kristina Skorbach
5/22/2014
Updated:
7/18/2015

In a recent interview with Us Magazine, Maks Chmerkovskiy’s ex-finacee, Karina Smirnoff, commended her “Dancing With the Stars” colleague for great acting.

Although fans and show viewers liked to believe that the Olympic ice-skating champion Meryl Davis, and professional dancer Maks Chmerkovskiy were dating, Smirnoff offered an explanation for the misunderstanding. 

“When you’re on the dance floor...you want to create that story, you want to create something where people believe that what you demonstrated was real,” Smirnoff, a professional ballroom dancer who also coached in “Dancing With the Stars,” told the magazine.

“[Maks and Meryl] were able to do that,” she said.  

Charlie White, who’s Davis’s ice-skating partner, confirmed that this reasoning is true. 

“Meryl and I got [those rumors] a lot coming out of the Olympics, because what you create artistically is something that people want to believe,” White told the publication. 

The couple have not confirmed their relationship status when they did appeared on Good Morning America after winning the Season 18 title of the show. 

According to an interview with ET, Chmerkovskiy, who has been with the show for 14 season, said he will not be returning for next year’s “Dancing With the Stars.” 

“This is exhausting. It has nothing to do with money. The first thing that I did after hugging [Meryl] ... was come up to Derek [Hough] and I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t how you do it.’ He did it five times,” Chmerkovskiy said about his colleagues’ trophy win.