Maksim Chmerkovskiy Opens Up About Meryl Davis Friendship & 'Sway'

Maksim Chmerkovskiy is ready for more Sway!

The show opens in just TWO WEEKS at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on June 5th and will have some special guests including Meryl Davis, Amy Purdy and new DWTS champ Rumer Willis!

Maks, 35, chatted with Glamour about the show, dancing with Meryl again and more. Check it:

On the partner he talks most with: Yeah, for sure it’s Meryl. I can always call Mel B., I can always call Denise Richards, I can always call a lot of people, and we’ll have a great time. Every time I see Tia Carrera, it’s like 10 years ago happened five minutes ago. She looks the same. I don’t know if I do, but hopefully I just act a little wiser. These relationships never really go away. You always remember that person. I talk to Meryl a lot because it’s just a different type of partnership. We had a great time. And we won! And obviously I talk to her because she’s awesome and she likes me for some reason. [Laughs] I adore her, she’s awesome. She’s small and she’s big at the same time. She’s Meryl. Who doesn’t like Meryl?”

On making Meryl’s experience better for Sway this time: “Last time she flew in and flew the hell out the same night because she had a show in Japan or something. She never really got to experience it, so I want her to experience everything from the rehearsal days to the show to after the show to the whole thing. But our stuff is different because we introduced a different number in the 10th Anniversary and put together a little paso doble that we haven’t done while we were competing on Dancing With the Stars, so we have that, plus her and Amy. I put them into different parts of the show as well, but I don’t want to reveal too much. They’ll have a lot more stuff to do and enjoy themselves and have fun. She’ll have a great time.”

On if Rumer Willis will be a part of Sway: “We’ll definitely have Meryl in the show, we’ll definitely have Amy [Purdy], which we are super excited about, but to be honest with you, if Val decides to call up and say, ‘Hey, I want Rumer to be in the show because we won the damn thing,’ I’ll be like, ‘Let’s do it! Why the hell not?’ What’s the point of having your own show if you can’t accommodate your friends? We just want to have fun.”

On returning to DWTS: “Definitely not. [Laughs] You have to walk away when the time is right, and the time was right. Nothing was out of ordinary. I think the change of guard is necessary. Like a plant that in order to improve growth, you have to pull branches. It’s the same thing. Every now and again, everything needs to be refreshed… We’ve moved on, and the show is still where it is. You have people like Peta [Murgatroyd] and Val, who kind of became faces of the show, and let’s see what happens. I hope the show stays for another 10 years, and we’ll come celebrate it when we’re a lot older.”