dan and her partner, Ezra Sosa, took third place during last week’s Season 34 finale after performing a memorable freestyle hip-hop routine.

Jordan Chiles sitting on a bar held by three men in black outfits on "Dancing with the Stars."
Jordan Chiles and her Dancing with the Stars partner Ezra Sosa took third place after the Season 34 finaleCredit: Getty
 

Maksim Chmerkovskiy holding a microphone while sitting on a couch.
Former DWTS pro Maks Chmerkovskiy claimed the pair’s buzzed-about freestyle routine wasn’t good enough for the finaleCredit: TikTok/katiejedits
Viewers and the judges praised the pair for their finale dance to a medley of Beyoncé’s Bow Down and Normani’s Motivation, which even featured a special appearance from Normani herself.

However, one person who wasn’t impressed by the performance was Maks, who made his thoughts clear during an appearance on his wife Peta Murgatroyd’s podcast, The Penthouse with Peta.

“It was just a good hip-hop [dance]. It was not a good freestyle,” the dancer revealed on Friday’s episode.

Peta disagreed and challenged her husband’s opinion of the Olympic gymnast’s routine.

“But freestyle can be anything, what do you mean?” Peta asked.

Maks then said that he felt the duo’s choice for their freestyle was a “mistake” that cost them the first-place victory.

“It can be anything, and I’ve done also wrong, big mistakes in the finale, you know, with me thinking that my hip-hop and crump was gonna take it down, but it didn’t. It wasn’t even close,” the one-time Mirrorball champ replied.

Maks’ comments circulated on Reddit, where critics slammed him for his “unfair” take on Jordan and Ezra’s dance.

“Idk maybe he’s bothered that it has a ton of views across social media. Maybe he’s bothered that Carrie Ann [Inaba] saying it was one of the best freestyles she’s seen on the show.

“Maybe he’s bothered by how much Jordan and Ezra killed it on finale night,” one person said in the thread.

“He’s taking his biased own opinion (which I guess is that freestyles should be ballroom/some style covered on the show) and acting like it’s a rule.

“He’s been known to make terrible takes, so I take anything he says with a grain of salt,” another said.

“Lol at Peta just immediately pushing back at him. He clearly is out of touch with what the freestyle actually is,” a third remarked.

“I think if Maks would’ve just said, ‘it wasn’t my favorite,’ I don’t think he would’ve gotten as much heat as he is now.

“But the more he kept talking about Jordan’s freestyle, the more he just kept digging a deeper hole for himself. And as a HUGE Maks fan, he just sounded… bitte,” added a fourth.

The five final pairings were tasked to perform three dances during Tuesday’s finale, including a Judges’ Choice, an Instant Dance, and a Freestyle.

The freestyle was an opportunity for the contestants to have total creative freedom, with no rules or requirements, unlike their other routines.

At the end of the night, Robert Irwin and his partner Witney Carson were crowned the winners, with Alix Earle and Maks’ brother, Val Chmerkovskiy, taking the runner-up spot.

In fourth place were Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach, and securing fifth place were Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten.

Maks and Peta were both formerly pros on the ballroom dancing competition show.

Maks left the show in 2017 after Season 25, while Peta announced in 2024 that she would sit out Season 33 shortly after giving birth to the couple’s third child.

Despite being removed from the show, the pair have had plenty to say about the latest season, especially Maks, who has ridiculed judge Carrie Ann’s critiques throughout the season.

He also slammed new DWTS pro Jan Ravnik and claimed that his celeb partner, Jen Affleck, had a “disadvantage” with him by her side.

Maks later apologized for his viral comments in an Instagram video, but a production source exclusively told The U.S. Sun that Jan didn’t think it was genuine and that the retired DWTS pro was trying to “seek attention and clout.”

Peta Murgatroyd speaks into a microphone while sitting on a couch.
Maks made the shocking remarks during an appearance on his wife, Peta Murgatroyd’s podcast, The Penthouse with PetaCredit: TikTok/katiejedits
 

Jordan Chiles, Rylee Arnold, and Britt Stewart dancing on stage for Dancing with the Stars.
Jordan and Ezra had a special appearance from Normani during their hip-hop freestyle routineCredit: Getty
 

Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa performing on Dancing with the Stars.
Maks also claimed that the duo’s dance was a ‘mistake’ for the finale and cost them the winCredit: Getty