Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Maks & Val Chmerkovskiy: Dancing, Dad Life, & Drinking Wine (... all at once)

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

Brothers, dancers, and dads Val and Maks Chmerkovskiy join Kaitlyn in today’s episode to talk about… well… being brothers, dancers, and dads! These two grew up sharing bunk beds until their 20s, experiencing life vicariously through each other, and now are raising kids (two of which are approximately the same age) which begs some important questions: Was this planned, and is dancing in the blood? They explain how their relationships with dance have evolved over the years and what they predict for their kids’ future with the sport. Now, these two brothers are onto yet another adventure together as they star in their show SAVOR After Hours, a one-of-kind theatrical cabaret-style and dance-infused wine-tasting show in Napa Valley! And of course, they’re each sharing a confession, with Maks opening up about his history as the bad boy of Dancing with the Stars and Val sharing a shameful parenting experience. Get your tickets for SAVOR After Hours at savorafterhours.com! Thank you to our sponsors! Check out these deals for the Vinos: GAMETIME - Download the Gametime app, create an account and redeem code VINE for $20 off. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.  ANGI - Your home for everything home.  JENNI KAYNE - Find your forever pieces at Jenni Kayne and get 15% off with promo code VINE at jennikayne.com/home!  HONEYLOVE - Get 20% off on your Honeylove purchase by going to honeylove.com/VINE.  PROGRESSIVE - Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the ov er 29 million drivers who trust Progressive.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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I'm a two-week-old father of two, so where the prop in points and like, oh, yeah, you're good. You're good, Max. No, I'm honest. I'm going to use it. I'll bow down. Yeah, I didn't make it. I did it. I didn't make it.

I did not. No, you guys both have babies under a year. So I feel like anything goes today. You could say, like you could not talk and I'd be like, I get it. You must be really tired. So, first of all, how are you guys doing? We're doing great. First of all, hi.

Thank you for having me. us it's so fun to see you i love your background me too i just want to say thank you for having us it's a pleasure we are not as familiar but uh congratulations on that win i feel like it's always talking to an alum of the show is is a different type of podcast you know so we can speak the same language i feel like i know you and i don't know if we even met to be honest but we we met once really briefly and it was because I went to the finale of the last one and it was kind of on the way out they were kind of shuffling us out from the after party and I was a fan of you on the show and of course you too bell and I remember I would always watch your videos uh when when I was

on the show I would always watch your videos because you would do like really good constructive criticism and feedback and critiquing and I would watch every video you did on ours and I would learn from you and so you're part of the reason I won the mirror ball no I would not take it away, but I appreciate it. You only saw the good videos. There's plenty of videos. No, you told me that, actually. And I told him during the season, I would say,

yo, Caitlin actually is watching these feedback videos. That's when he sat up straighter. His feedback started getting a little bit more watched. Oh, you know, oh, dancing coffee, but yes. Yeah, yeah. I was like, okay, you know what? I got this. And that, you know, honestly, I thought about the responsibility of it all.

for me, number one is consistency. Like, can I do something consistently before saying yes? And number two, can I do it consistently responsible? Like, am I going to get emotional one time? Come in and be like, you know what? Everybody suck. But you can find both things. No, I generally was your fan.

I said, I'm not going to tell you that I remember. But that's why I say it off the cuff. So I don't have to remember. You know, you can show me the video. I'll probably say it again the same way. is exactly what I call my podcast off the vine because I'm very off the cuff and I'm usually drinking wine so it just works so I feel you now I don't want to tell anyone's story for them like I know pita might want to tell the story but I heard that she was like I was one of those

women holding onto the counter it's like each contraction trying to give her insurance what happened it's like you know first time it was like the now this time it was like stuff that was leading up to it and it was just different it was different and I think Peter felt the spectrum of the pregnancy and, you know, and it was, yeah, I mean, and the funny thing, and here's the sort of the juxtaposition of it all. She did it again, right? So she was doing it again. I was having a completely different experience. I had zero stress. I had no like, oh my God, child, what is this baby? I was just enjoying the process. And so like, we kind of went this way. She had like all of it happened this time. And I was just having a great time. You're like,

here we go again. Here we go again. And Val, I haven't said congratulations to you in person yet, but I am obsessed. Your little baby is just so squishy and so cute. And you and Jen are just adorable. But how is it now that you're both dads having a kid around the same age? Is this something you guys have planned or talked about? And you're like, look, we're going to dance. We're going to have kids at the same time. We're going to, like, are you guys just always on the same wavelength? Or was this just a shock? no it definitely wasn't planned and obviously public knowledge now that both of us had different but similar journeys as far as conceiving and having this child second from max and peter first for for jennon i so no it wasn't planned but that's the best part maybe it was god's plan or the universe's plan because timing is everything and i'm sorry as max you guys had to go through all of that because i have so many friends who have gone through the same thing and it's so emotional and so draining but But it all, you know, is working out the way it should, I guess. And you guys now get to be dads together.

I know, Val, you were just an uncle before. And I want to know what that transition is like, are you like, wait, I can't give the baby back now and go home? No, it's, I just pass it off to Jen. It's, yeah, no, it's completely different. And, yeah, I just love it. You know, fatherhood, like right now is knock on wood. Again, it's like in our culture, we just don't want to jinx anything.

thing and we're just so paranoid but like the truth is this is the greatest time of my life for sure by far nothing ever even came close there you go i can't even imagine i was waiting for that statement from him this is this is the exclusive first time bang bang like he's emotional but he puts things in words and that's the kind of word that was i was waiting for that somebody told me this this nonsense when I was pre-fatherhood. And we had those. I'm not saying that my life was bad. That's the thing.

I was like, my life was so good that I'm like, how can anything ever top this? And this like, it's not even close. It's not even, sorry, Max, I didn't mean too good.

No, no, but that's it. That's not, that's how we, look, a lot of things in our life with Val also happened six years apart from being born to,

you know, joining some things. I think even maybe even Dancing with the Stars was like 65 or six years apart. Really? So it's like, yeah, my Shai and his baby Roma six years apart. This whole thing is like, you know, numerically makes sense for us. But yeah, no, it was not planned at all.

Both, I think, beautifully lucky to be in this position, you know, with our ladies who are just incredible at being mothers, first and foremost. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a big, big part. That's a big part of why this. this is the best part of my life. You know, it's the fact that they make it so. Yeah, they make it so.

No, it's beautiful to be partnered with someone like that too. You know, and again, play on words, dancing to stars, be partnered with so on and so forth. We, life, partnered us with these people. And I have to say today, after everything that we both and separately together, been through and everything, it's just beautiful, beautiful women that know and want to. happily want to raise amazing kids and so like we just you know in that sort of situation I too think this is one of the this is this is this is it this is how does it get better because you know I feel like at this age they don't say much back yet you know they look at you with like

oh my god you're everything and then they grow older and you may be disappointed them and there's some tension starts but not yet yeah yeah this is the bliss this is the bliss part where where you know that's everybody it's i remember talking to my counselor and it's like she goes everybody as a parent everybody is going to fuck up at some point or do something you know you can't get around that it's just a matter of how much you fuck up but it's just part of parent date as part of life but right now you don't have to worry about that because they're just these little sweet angels and i love watching your ladies become moms and they just feel like like even just through instagram i feel like they both have that maternal motherly instinct that like that unconditional

love and they're just, I mean, I know them both in person, too, and they're two of my favorite people. So, um, I love watching your little families grow. It's really sweet. Do you, like, I know shy loves dancing. Is it just something that's in the blood? Because like, my mom was a dancer. I grew up loving dance. I feel like it's got to be in the family. It's actually definitely in the blood because I did not like dancing. I would say probably first 20 years of my dance career. And shy actually really doesn't like dancing either. He does it because he does it because he does does a lot of things we say to him. But he now, this year was the first year, so we did the right thing.

We ended the year and entered summer with like a wrap-up. And so, you know, his activities, we just like, and he got a soccer trophy for the season. And he was like, wait, I got a trophy. I won more of this. I was like, well, guess what? You know, you got other things also. So he was excited to get dancing trophy and he's hooked, but he's hooked on trophies. And it reminds me of Val.

Val had zero intention of dancing because it was art. Val was a Michael Jordan in that setting. And he was just like, oh, there's a medal. Let's go get it. And so I'm looking at this kid and I remember another kid and I'm like, you know what, he's on the right track. I just got to feed him, feed him with opportunities. I got a dartboard my first dance competition.

I was like, five. I was like, are you kidding? That's all I got to do to get a dartboard. Of course. And our parents were very frugal with their gift giving, you know? So you had to really earn it. I picked out the gift. Historically, true story.

Mom asked me, I was eight. Well, not eight, sorry, five, what was 11? What would he want? I was like, I get to pick. I pick the biggest. looking thing. And it was a dartboard. It was like, what, what, what am I going to get to play that? It was big. And we got this five or six year old, this giant dartboard. That's the thing. That's the thing. I think, you know, and we're going to probably try to, I mean, emulate some of that.

But we also experienced a lot of things vicariously to one another with Max, you know, even though there was six years apart. Our upbringing was very small and tiny. We didn't have our own rooms. We shared a bunk bed till we were in our 20s. Like, that's a fact. That's not even, you know, so we grew up in close proximity by default. And because of that, I saw, you know, his passion for dance versus my passion for dance, how to go about it, how to not go about it. We did grow up in a city in Ukraine, I guess in Ukraine, that had, you know, it was known as the New Orleans of the Soviet Union. There was a lot of jazz, a lot of music, a lot of comedy.

A lot of comedy, yeah. The most prestigious music school, like the Juilliard of the Soviet Union was in this city at the U.S. Ukraine. So we the whole film academy, the Hollywood, the Soviet Union, yeah. Oh, that's cool. We were surrounded by that flavor. But my dad was, you know, was an engineer by education and my dad, our dad, and was a merchant marine and then was in entrepreneurship pretty much what is known as a business owner. And then when we came to him.

America and the kids were, you know, pursuing dance and it became a reality after a couple of years. He, you know, he focused on creating a business and running a business around the talents of his kids. And, and now he, you know, we own 14 dance studios around the country called Dance With Me. And his sons have, you know, succeeded in the space of dance. And none of that would have happened without, again, his support, my mom's support, but not because they had dance education in their life. It's just because they had dance enthusiasm, appreciation for the arts, and truly the biggest driving force was supporting their kids. That's incredible. Okay, so one thing I love to do all year round, but especially during the summer, is going to live events. Living in Nashville,

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Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie. That's A-N-G-I-com. I would say that it was, I keep repeating that story, started with just figuring out what to do with kids to begin with. And the formula of less free time, you know, less opportunity to get into some shit actually worked, you know, with us. It was also like, you know, let's try them to do this, this, this and that. responsibility of being a parent. That's another thing. Somebody commented on my post and I just, I can't get it out of my head. I don't read comments. All right. Here we go. No, but it was positive for once. It stood out. They're like, you look, you look so happy doing this. Something like

along those lines. And I was like, oh, like somebody actually noticed that I'm really excited about being a dead. And I think that our father is that for me is the standout example of against all odds, being excited to be a father and to be the right type of role model and to all those things. And so, you know, I think that it would have been swimming, tennis, Val was a concert meister, you know, violinist. I mean, it would have been every, you know, I was a chemistry and biology major. I honestly would not have, you know, selected that for myself. It was, it was by like, hey, let's try this, but let's try it to the best of ability. We're the best. We're We're not, jacks of all trades.

We're the best. But it led to a lot of things and I'm modeling a lot of what I try to do after emulated. Again, like Val said, we may do it not even by choice, but I am emulating my dad. I am crazy about some things that, like, he was, and I love it. And I think it makes sense. I mean, not all make sense. We get so much from our parents, and I love hearing about the support. Like, I feel like if you are someone who, you know, becomes a dancer, your person,

passionate about what you're doing whatever your career is i feel like behind that there's usually such supportive parents who have like encouraged you and champion you along the way and it sounds like that's what it is but it also sounds like your whole family just has good genetic so i don't know whatever you guys do whatever your kids do it's going to be it's going to be great now you said you grew up bunk beds until you were like 20 did you i mean i'm sure you got along like brothers you fought and whatever but have you guys been competitive with each other and like in the damp space. Do you get competitive with each other? Because I'm maybe speaking from my own insecurities where if my sister was doing what I'm doing and maybe like it would be a push and pull,

I would be like so competitive with her. Yeah. We, we are less competitive, I think, because, you know, partially because again, our bring in kind of our parents really did do, you know, really worked hard to make sure that we, we, we never really had those type of fights. and we share it kind of upon. But that aside, Max was my teacher. He was my coach, right, for a long time. So a lot of the things that I accomplished,

I knew I accomplished because of his sharing his gift with me, you know? So, and also six years apart in our 20s or 30s now. We're homies, obviously. But 12 and 18 are pretty, you know, they're a little bit more drastic, right? So he has an 18-year-old. And that was the flip side to bring in, you know, our upbringing. Yes, we were really busy and we had real, you know, strict parents in that sense. But I think he was the buffer zone for me between authority and parental guardianship, right?

And he was kind of my, they trusted him with me and I did whatever I wanted, really. You know, I got to really hang out and get in trouble. I could have used a max in my life because my husband was only a couple of years older. I mean, she was just getting into the shit with me. Yeah. See? So, and then slowly we transitioned. Again, it was a lot of probably humility on his end as an older brother, you know, letting me tag along and see that. It didn't start. It didn't start that way, though. It wasn't, it wasn't like this, you know, 18 or 16 or whatever it was, eight year old was choosing to be a coach at 16. Come on. I'm a child. And also, I'm very much a lay bloomer. Everybody,

you know, that know me through my life, like they could see, like, I get things later in life. So by 16, I'm going on 12. Val is probably more mature at 12, well, 100% than I was. So it wasn't by choice. It was also like just social status, we just didn't have the money. I take a dance lesson, and then I'm just going to tell it to him.

You know what I'm saying? I got the cliff notes version of these ballroom dance lessons. Not only did he get the cliff notes. He got me. I think now looking back, that was it. That was my career. That's why I'm still dancing. I got the opportunity to retell that lesson to someone multiplied by responsibility because that's my thing.

Like that's my student. I had no other way intention, but he has to be a champion. Like it was no, let's try our best and pat him on the back. No, this is this. I got to teach that. great. So he's going to have to win at some point. So I was getting this process and that's the way I self-educate too. Because we didn't have a lot through teaching. Dancing with the Stars has taught us that. By retelling, by retelling, by retelling. Unfortunately for the early Dancing with the Stars

partners of mine, you know, with that type of process. He went from retelling me a two-time world champion, you know, with all due respect, to people that just want to have fun on television. That's going to be tough. Caitlin, no one told me that. You know, the interview for the job was about who you are, right? Like, we all saw that early Max, you know, audition tape with that crazy white beanie. I don't understand. But I remember I had a zip right here.

So I had a white white beanie that looked like this. also long hair sticking out of it and you know wild accent and some ridiculous vernacular but anyway it was it wasn't you know I was just never told that hey by the way you don't have to win you could just get a partner and just do your thing and just be happy and smile and it's about their journey and all so I was told that this is a competition and I'm being And I didn't ask any more questions. And when I heard the very literal version of English when he came to America. I was like, let's do it.

Let's do it. Yeah, I got to win. And there's a responsibility. And so this process just continued. And it trickled down to the poor, you know, first couple of partners that I had. And then I kind of slowly learned like, oh, yeah, it's not about all of that. I was going to ask you guys this because it, I thought that too, like I think a lot of people go on and go, oh, that's a good. paycheck and I get to go have fun and dance and if you watch dancing with the stars it's this fun

family friendly show it's on ABC you're dancing everybody's like like dealing with their trauma getting to tell this beautiful story they're learning they're getting this partnership where it looks like your best friends and so I think a lot of people sign up going oh this is going to be an easy paycheck and then where people like me I've had I know people that have been on it and they're like it's the most intense thing you'll ever do like buckle up and I'm super competitive so i think like you know there's times where artem was i think the same like he it was about winning for him and i don't think i would have won without a partner like that have you had such difficult times with some partners where they're like stop talking to me like this and i'm giving

up i i mean i've just grown to build a different relationship with dance you know dance is a vehicle for me to to do different things right so as a as a kid growing up to me dance was a vehicle to you know at six years old get the dog cardboard, I always wanted, you know. Then it became a vehicle for me to assert myself as a young man in front of, you know, maybe some girls that I like, you know, around 10, 12. Well, that lasted until about 30. And then, you know, but then it was a vehicle for me to, you know, I was, I'm a big fan of sports. We as a family love sports, basketball, for everything, competition, athleticism, the focus, the discipline that it takes to do all of that. And so dance was a vehicle for me to show

myself that I'm an athlete, that I'm a world-renowned athlete, that I'm a, you know, I can do things. I could do hard things. Then it became a vehicle for me to start to pass that forward. I became a teacher as well in our dance school. I started teaching when I was 16. And again, in the competitive space. So I'm teaching passionately and trying to make little champions. and then yeah dance became a vehicle for me to earn a living and that was you know actually that happened even you know before that and throughout it was a it was a space where it allowed me to showcase my talent and to earn a living and then you know I'll fast forward to dancing with the stars I built a different relationship with dance and it became now a vehicle for me to connect with people

that are very impressive, actually, very impressive people for the most part that are going through different, you know, times in their life. So then it became a vehicle again for me to connect with them, you know, to be therapeutic, to be of service to help them become better, you know. And so it became less about me, more about others. And now I have like a nice salad of what makes me happy and how I want to use dance. you know with our show saver you know that's a project for myself like this is where i get to grow as a performer i get to showcase everything that i'm made of you know next to obviously an incredible ensemble and whatever okay one thing you guys know about me for sure is how much i love my home and how much i love making it my little cozy little happy place i mean even have my podcast studio here so

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I want to talk about this show that you guys are doing because I don't know what is like a wine tasting cabaret like dance show Napa. I want everybody to get the full rundown of what this show is. going to look like because it's i mean wine and dancing stop flirting with me that's my two those are my two favorite things so i want to know all about it and and i want people to know how they can go watch it i think there are a lot of elements that make it an incredible experience uh one of them is yes the relationship between the the story and wine tasting right so uh savor after hours is about uh redefining a wine tasting experience so instead of tasting notes to the four servings of wine that you are going to be given throughout the evening,

you're going to see performances come alive based on the tasting notes of those wines. You have four servings throughout the show, and every week we feature a different local Napa Valley winery to assist with the show. The main character is the wine. Max and Val are within that story weaving themselves throughout the narrative, and it's a blast. We have an amazing cast of dancers. We have a host, an actress host, dancer. Her name is Ali.

She plays Somlay, who's kind of our Somalié for the evening. We have illusion. Anyway, and so that is kind of the what it is. But where it is, with whom it is, and how it goes down and the soundtrack and everything, the space is just so charming and so cozy and so all. awesome that, you know, people walk away really, really inspired and happy. Yeah, we started, we started beginning of June, June 8th, actually right off the bottle rock, we came into town and on the heels of all of that ending, we kind of quietly

inserted ourselves in the local community. And we are in right on Main and First, beautiful gem cellars ballroom right above blue notes. So we get this like gorgeous sort of like Times Square of Napa Valley. And, you know, the idea here was to start a project that could live without the Max and Val. You know, we are the, you know, starting. But it's a, like Val said, this is a very selfish project for us because I get to be a character. I do my thing. It's, I'm not a max.

I'm just a dancer. I'm a performer. And it's a beautiful, you know, performance spoken through choreography of some KC. money and people that we're really, really fun of. And so this whole put together was just how can we make it as beautiful of experience as possible? And we also want that, the tag, you know, branding, you know, made in Napa. You know, wine tasting, immersive experience, unlike anything you've experienced, made in Napa. We wanted that type of process. I mean, I wanted made in Jersey, but Max was like, no, he's got to be a Napa.

It's a wine show from Jersey, you know what I'm saying? People like wine, they'll go anywhere. You know, we can. No, but this is that. This is like Val said. This is the one for the books, you know, when I look back and I've said it before about our first tour that we did 2016, Maxi Val tour, our way. It was an incredible experience.

For me, this was a culminating moment of my dance career and learning steps and how to move and what to do with the music and so on and presence and all that led to this. And now all these years later, I never thought at 43 I'll have that same opportunity again. I wish we were having this podcast after you saw the show because, you know, we, a lot of times, you know, you could say these sexy words and things and whatever, but like, really the show is something, something that will make you really happen. And everybody that comes through those doors, we win them over. And that's what I love.

Like, last Sunday show, we had a much younger audience. I say the average ticket was like 30 years old, 32 years old. A lot of Bay Area kids, you know, a lot of, you know, just this region coming in. And like, we got a standing ovation driven by the dudes, by the guys, like, getting off at the end. And this are like, you know, at the beginning, they're sitting like this. They're like, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yo, my sister, my sister's drag me out.

It's the girlfriend. Oh, my wife and the fan. At the end, he's like, yeah, like he's trying to dance on stage and stuff. Like, you know, it's true. That's why this, you know, we try to, we try, there's a, this cliff notes of what the show is about. We repeat the wording and, you know, wine show, tasting, all that. And then there's the afterwards. And the afterwards is always like, oh, my God, I had no idea.

And I think if we were to, you know, if I was to pinpoint that, that thing that, you know, the val and i have been known for and maybe people don't really pick that out but it's that under promise and over-deliver you know it's a stage show it's beautiful it's amazing it's us and there's a lot of that but when you come to us you come out with a feeling that you had no idea you had no you did not expect to have i think we i think also yeah i think it's also so it's Roundtable seating, the stage is extended into the audience. So it's not your kind of like Presidium at a theater. It's like 280 seat theater. So it's a small space. And you're like right. Yeah. You feel like, you know, it's like 16th century Parisian bar or barn or whatever, wherever, tavern. And it's like,

and we put on a show. And then the other thing is like we grew up dancing in Russian restaurants in Brooklyn. You know, so we know how to like party. We know how to create a party in which you show performance and then and then obviously infused with the, you know, the last 20 years of TV and and touring. So it's a really fun show. There's a lot of chemistry amongst the cast, a lot of chemistry amongst production and even putting the story together. And so all of that love really translates and it continues on to the audience. And I think that's really what the audience feels when they leave. What an incredible concept. I love that. I want to come see it. I'm going to try and get out there. Maybe I'll bring like Artem. Has Artum and Nikki came to a show?

Nicky and Bree came to the show. I think Artem was on baby-sitting duties at that time. He was a daddy duty and babysitting duty. We're also going to feature Nikki's the girls' wines I think end of August and towards the end of our run. So no, they definitely keep. Why do we want Why don't you come and see the show? I'm going to bring it. I was about to say, off the vine, I thought it was like spot on perfect, you know, perfect podcast for us. I have a wine that's being made in Sonoma. I'll come down there for a work trip, watch you guys dance, be in the splash zone, get your sweat all over me.

Work expense. Yeah. And also where can people get tickets? Saverafterhours.com. Saver afterhours.com. The name of the show is savor after hours. And it's play in words. You can, you know, you can think about it both ways, savor after hours or saver after hours.

It's been cool because it's been cool to see kind of the local community really embrace us and celebrate us and like push us, you know, because it really is a word of mouth type of town, especially a lot of visitors come in. They do their like, you know, wine tasting and then they're, you know, they have some free time, and they'll ask, like, what should I do in Apple? You know, and so we've had a lot of support from the locals, like, proud to recommend our show as one of the things that they should do. That's really cool. That's been super fun, right? Because then that feels more honest.

We also participate. I mean, I'm, you know, I'll be on my bike. I'll stop by, visit Napa Valley Center. I'm not bashful. I'm going to come in and be like, hi, what would you guys like to do today? They're like, oh, I want it to hot air balloon right. I'm like, what about tomorrow? He had no plans.

He's like, great. There's a show in town starting me. And they're like, oh, my God, you're that guy. It's that thing. And then, you know, I'll go get coffee. I'll sell a couple more tickets. I thought he was going to be like, hot air balloon ride. Those are dangerous.

You should definitely come see us. So irresponsible. You know what's not dangerous. Exactly. I just have a couple more questions before I let you guys go. But, I mean, I just can't imagine the balancing act that you have to. to do as, you know, dads and husbands and dancers and everything that you've got going on in your life. So kudos to you for still, you know, living your passion and being incredible fathers and

partners and everything. It must be crazy. So Val, you're going to be going back on this season of Dancing with the Stars, yes? I would love to be back on Dancing with the Stars, of course. Again, I don't have the final say. So if it's up to me, I'm in. Like I said, I love the show. I love my place on the show. I just, again, I'm in, but it's not my call. Well, and the fans love you, so. Thanks. Thanks, fans.

It's true. I feel like, Max, you were like the bad boy. People loved you. People miss you. And now Val's like, I feel like you're, I asked to be either your partner or, I think you know this. I asked to be either your partner or Ardom's partner. I don't know if they even listened to me or if it was a coincidence that I got Ardom,

but I was like, put me with Val or Ardom. But I feel like you're like, the guy. and get up the girl, and you guys are incredible. And will Jenna take some time off? Or does she want to get back in the ball? No, she's ready to get back in. She'd love to get back in. I mean, we've been teaching all year, and we've been dancing.

She stepped in, actually, when Max went back for the birth of his second child a couple of weeks ago, John stepped in. No, she looks stunning, like you said, you know, after pregnancy glow is also real. motherhood glow or during motherhood glow so he's just like a queen the both of the girls i see them on social media and i'm like screw off like they're just both perfect they just like had these babies and they're in the hospital like glamorous and glowing and then they go home and they're like oh let's get back in the dance studio and dance until the baby will pita's literally dancing with you until the baby's like being born yeah the thing is that just like we were just talking about our

careers uh you know our partners and they they they are athletes And they're committed to that, you know. So I think the fact that, you know, our craft is broadcasted on what is considered a reality show, you're going to typecast us as realities, celebrities. And besides that, I don't even know what that is. We are, you know, we are athletes, performers, whatever, right? It's mind-blowing to watch you guys. Like being on the show and then doing the tour, I'm like, you guys are the most athletic athletes out there. It's very impressive.

And so my point was that in order to claim that, you have to put in the work. And, you know, Jen is at the gym every single day. You know, she holds herself accountable. So she's physically ready for the season. She's mentally and emotionally so ready because, again, the pregnancy and... Well, now you have a bigger. purpose. Yeah, and she's just creatively inspired because at the end of the day, there's

still artists, all right? So she's just overflowing with inspiration and definitely is ready. Well, I can't wait to see all of you guys, like somehow on my screen again, and that's even if it's on my Instagram screen. I love watching you guys dance. Congratulations on the show and doing

that. That's amazing. And bow down to your wives for being superheroes and yeah, we'll put on our social media where people could get tickets and I'm going to try and get out there. Thank you so much. We would love to have you. We will take care of you. We will be so grateful for you to come, honestly. And we're also very proud of you and this podcast and everything that you're doing. Congrats for sure. We can do a post. Post reaction. Yes, you guys. You guys like those. You know, the post. Hold on. I got in an email and that's the only reason why I mention it because I don't want to escape and then get you in trouble.

Oh, my gosh. Embarrassing moments, right? Isn't that a moment? thing. Tell us your flaws. For God, thanks. Okay. I go first or who goes first? You can go first. I want to share this because I got to give this off my chest. My wife doesn't know about this. No one knows about this. And this happened recently, actually. I was, I jumped into the shower and we were, I guess, doing laundry at the time. And there was no clean towels anywhere when I got out. And I couldn't kind of like tiptoe out because we had company. And so I was stuck. I was wet. I had to go. And there was no towels around. And I look and it was like, I was like, no, Val, you can't. And I was like, you have to.

I see my kids little towel with the little shark head thing. And the thing that, you know, we wash him with it. He looks so cute. And I'm like, I have to wipe down. I have to do what I had to do. I did, yeah, I folded it up. I threw it out. We got, you know, we didn't get him on the other towel. I burnt it. But the shame that I felt, just making that moral decision, it was, it was, it was tough. And so I wanted to share that. I don't know if other fathers have had those type of moments where they had to use their kids things to take care of their own thing. Yeah, you wait till you try baby wipes. Well, no, baby wipes, they're, yeah, we will use baby wipes before. There's a lot of stuff.

Okay, that's it. I'm going to tell, listen, there's a poop story somewhere in my life that, you know, happened that, you know, but I feel like it's kind of whatever. As he was saying this, I was like, you know what? Why not? You know, this is that podcast. So, but dancing with the stars, I think that no one really knows that. People know that, like Val knows that, you know, and some of my family members.

But this is back to season two. Season two was my first. And I landed a single 25-year-old, and I had a time of a mother-flipping life. And I had a time of a mother-flippin life for about five years. I landed I've never been to LA I landed into a mega mention

where I lived in it was just friends of a friend and I had somehow stepped into that I had access to everybody and everybody's mother I mean I've partied with everyone everybody 2006 if you go

if you go by the list of like top film acts celebrity whatever you wanted it was Ed Hardy and Robin Jeans all over this place. You don't even know.

You don't even know. The sideways had a little bit. No, you don't even know. I enjoyed, I enjoyed, you know, some, some things with Snoop Dogg before anybody else even knew. Anyway, the point is, this was not the point. I would not drop in names. It's not about mentioning Snoop.

We love name drop. But I had an incredible time. And I landed and I went from a kid that never, ever went out, probably, I outside of like dance competition and with whatever, too, I'm alone in LA and I'm making a little bit of money. Disaster. So my embarrassing story is I'm dancing with, with Mel B., right? And that's that season. And I'm out every night since 2006. Every time I come for the show, I'm out. The show is three months, so it's like 90 days, right? I'd be out for 89 days of that.

Oh, my gosh. Meaning every night I was out. I was social butterfly and I was just, it was an incredible time. And I'm with Mel B. We have a rehearsal on Tuesday. We're having a great rehearsal. Kiss, kiss, kiss. I'll see you tomorrow.

I'll see you tomorrow, bye. I feel like, you know what? Maybe not tonight. Tonight, it's not going to be the night. I'm feeling tired. I went to sleep. I woke up. I'm like, this amazing.

I got a full night sleep. to me. I'm great. I'm shower, showered, had my coffee. I remember they put us up in their apartments in WeHo, right? The, you know, where? And there's no reception. And this is also, like, back in the day cell phones or whatever. So, you know, there's no, like, phones ringing, nothing happening. I go, I go to rehearsal. I'm early. This is amazing. And I remember I walk in, crew looking me like, like, like this. And then Mel B was there too already. I was like, this early? Like, why is she early here, too, at the same time? And I remember. like we're just early she looks at me she's like where you been i'm like what do you mean where i

been she's like i had some coffee would you want some coffee she's like no what do you and we realized like she realized something she's like when what day is this i'm like wednesday we saw you each other she's like no it's Thursday i slept for 24 hours my body was so exhausted i passed out i woke up. I slept 24 hours. I was in and then I realized and I was like, holy crap. And I looked down and I'm like, oh my God. My production was calling my friends in New York. They were like those hospitals being looked at. Police department. Like I just did not show up to dancing with the start of work one day. I got called to principal's office, aka Mr. Conrad

Green. I can tell, say that now. He looked him as like, mate, what's up with that? We had an incredibly embarrassing conversation after which I was like whatever and that the the finality of the story is that it happened once a season for the next two seasons no for that for three seasons in the row right in the middle of it I would just go to sleep and wake up day and a half later and then I'll be called and on the third time that's that's where I'll land on the third time he's finally, it went from come to the office to call to, and then I get a text like, hey, is this just once a season? I said yes, and that's it.

We never spoke about this again. That's it. That's all I got for you. Exclusively for Caitlin Bristow and no one else outside of my family who was petrified for those three times. Ladies and gentlemen, is why you were the bad boy of the franchise. Ask me again how I didn't get fired. I don't know.

I don't know. It's because everybody else was missing two days. I mean, no, I was very honest. I was very, listen, I worked. All I did is I worked. I worked and I justified my effort with, you know, I justified my opportunities that I had because I worked. I showed up on time.

I worked, I choreographed, I danced. I, you know, I never said no to anything. I was difficult, yes, I was difficult from day one of Dancing with Stars to, to love. last second. But I never said no. You can never fault me for not working. I never phoned it outside of someone saying that. That's it. Once a season. Just once a number. Oh, my gosh. But yeah, those three seasons. Wow, good for you. Well, I'm, thank you for sharing that with us and getting that off your chest. And we all forgive you.

And thank you guys for taking the time to, I know you're so busy. So thank you for chatting with me today. And I'll let you know if I'm out in Napa. Please. Thank you. And tell Jenna and Pita, I say hi, and give your little babies a squish for me. I will. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you, guys. It's so good to see you. I'm Caitlin Bristow. I'll see you next Tuesday. See your next Tuesday. Housewives, Bravo, dating, motherhood. It's all just one big party in my book. So raise a glass and join us for Turtle Time.

Okay, if you haven't figured it out, that's Ramona Singer. And I'm Avery Singer. And you probably know us best from the Real Housewives of New York. And Turtle Time is actually our new podcast. Avery, I am so excited to be doing this with you. I'm so excited too. And now we're inviting you to Turtle Time. We'll have some fun and learn something,

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