Maksim Chmerkovskiy May Fill In For Derek Hough

Filed under: Dancing With The Stars, Derek Hough, Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Maksim Chmerkovskiy might be heading back to “Dancing With the Stars,” at least according to Season 9 celebrity contestant Joanna Krupa.

“theres a huge change,” she wrote on her Twitter account on Friday evening. “maks and i will be dancing mon since we are wking on the routine.”

Maksim stepped in to help the model learn her routines earlier in the week after her professional partner, Derek Hough, became ill with what he suspects is the flu. But, Joanna added, Maks’ appearance on Monday’s show isn’t certain.

“still not confirmed,” Joanna Tweeted. “atleast will be fun for tv!”

When contacted, a rep for ABC said the professional dancer who takes to the floor with Joanna on Monday would depend on how Derek feels by show time.

“Maks has been training Joanna,” the rep said. “If he’s well enough to dance by Monday, he will.”

As previously reported, Derek had to bow out of rehearsals earlier this week after becoming ill.

“At the docs for 3 hrs today,” Derek wrote on Thursday. “Had a temprature of 104 … Had an IV in my arm for 2hrs … Maks is steppin up for me helpin jo.”

Derek even joked that his flu was the result of dancing shirtless on Monday night’s competition show.

“Maybe I should have kept my shirt on,” he wrote.

And it’s not just Derek who is sick.

Derek’s longtime pal and bandmate in the Ballas Hough band, Mark Ballas, is also not feeling well.

“Haven’t been this sick in 2½ years :(,” he Tweeted.

Posted in: October 17, 2009 at 12:30 pm