As Scheana Shay continues to manifest a potential appearance on Dancing With the Stars, there’s one professional dancer she definitely wouldn’t want as her partner.
During the Tuesday, April 9, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Shay, 38, was asked about Gleb Savchenko‘s recent comments regarding her dancing ability — or alleged lack thereof.
“I thought that was very rude and uncalled for of him. But it is what it is,” Shay said. “It is OK, I wouldn’t want him as my partner anyway.”
As Shay expressed her preference for DWTS pro Alan Bersten, her husband, Brock Davies, questioned why Savchenko, 40, passed judgment on Shay’s skills considering the concept of the show requires contestants who don’t have an extensive dance background.
“Maybe Gleb could teach her how to dance and be a better coach?” Davies, 32, pointed out.
Savchenko personally admitted that he agreed with Ariana Madix getting offered the gig for season 32 over her Vanderpump Rules costar. (Shay’s initial reaction has been a story line on season 11 of Vanderpump Rules.)
“I’m glad Scheana didn’t go [on the show],” Savchenko told the U.S. Sun on April 2. “I don’t think she would’ve had the same chance as Ariana.”
According to Savchenko, he wasn’t thrilled by Shay’s moves when he helped choreograph a dance for her 2014 wedding to Mike Shay, adding, “I remember it wasn’t easy. I’m not saying bad things about her. I think Scheana is amazing. I really like her. She’s an awesome girl and everything.”
Savchenko also offered some advice for others hoping to join the show.
“If you ever want to be on Dancing With the Stars and you feel like you have enough celebrity power to be on a show, whoever that is — it’s not just Scheana or anybody else — you should start taking classes,” he continued. “People think, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll just chill for a couple of hours in the dance studio. I’m going to hang out with this handsome dude who has got a Russian accent, and he’ll be smiling.’”
Shay, however, had a different version of events about her past dance with Savchenko.
“We filmed a scene for Vanderpump Rules, which is also the first time I have ever danced in my life. I have never claimed to be a dancer,” she said on Tuesday. “For the first partner dance I’m doing, he was whipping me around. I even found that video recently and I’m like, ‘I thought I did pretty good.’”
The reality star has been receiving backlash after she got emotional on season 11 of Vanderpump Rules when Madix, 38, was offered a DWTS slot over her in the aftermath of Scandovoal.
“This year, I started taking dance class. I was preparing in case I did get it. It was kind of a punch to the gut, for sure,” she told Lisa Vanderpump during a March episode. “I am so happy for her. But I can be happy for her and sad for me at the same time.”
Shay got emotional about the opportunity, telling Lala Kent in a separate scene, “Even her getting Dancing With the Stars, she knew how bad I wanted that. And I told her, ‘I am so genuinely happy for you. I will be there every f—king Monday that you want me there. She does deserve everything she is getting right now and I am so happy for her that she did not go down a dark spiral. I just am hurting still.”
She continued: “Why can I never have one moment where it can be about me? I am hurt. I lost a very, very dear friend. I am struggling with that. But I am not allowed to feel anything because it is only about Ariana. I am tired.”
Madix, meanwhile, didn’t understand why Shay got so upset on screen.
“On one hand, I can totally understand being happy for a friend while also feeling like, ‘Oh, you did also really want this thing for yourself,’” Madix said that same month on WWHL. “But on the other hand, my thought process is that if one person from our show gets on it, wouldn’t that help someone else from our show get on it?”
