Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, I'm Tamara judge and and you're listening to
Speaker 1: talking a big game. Okay, well the man is here.
Speaker 2: Max, I'm not the man. I'm not the man.
Speaker 1: You're the man. You're the man of they are.
Speaker 2: I don't feel like the men right now?
Speaker 3: Why why I feel like the dead and the papa
Speaker 3: and the camier and the husband.
Speaker 1: Go get like, well, your family is eight pounds heavier
Speaker 1: because your wife just delivered a baby boy a week
Speaker 1: and a half ago. Milan, congratulations, congratulations, you look tired.
Speaker 2: I'm exhausted.
Speaker 3: No, I really am. And it's not a bad obviously.
Speaker 3: Think you draw from for me, It's very important. My
Speaker 3: meat is very important for me. I don't know how
Speaker 3: to say it without sounding selfish, whatever that may be.
Speaker 3: But you know, we have a lot of people talking
Speaker 3: at us nowadays like how important it is to like
Speaker 3: really have a balance, right, So it's very important that
Speaker 3: I'm rested that I'm like, I draw from that, and
Speaker 3: that was my initial Like when we first had Chai.
Speaker 3: You know, you change your lifestyle from single to merit
Speaker 3: from no kids?
Speaker 1: How is seven seven?
Speaker 2: So I have like so I have a real one
Speaker 2: years old.
Speaker 3: Milan is brand new he's attached to Peter literally, and
Speaker 3: Shi is like, big, go.
Speaker 2: Get breakfast, cause just just go do the do that.
Speaker 2: He's a big boy. Now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and how is Peter doing.
Speaker 2: She's doing great, fantastic.
Speaker 3: I mean again, just the blessing of having a job
Speaker 3: that keeps you so physically fit.
Speaker 1: She was dancing on Instagram all the way to the end.
Speaker 2: Damn it, she did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I got in there too.
Speaker 3: She tries to get in there. Now that he's an adult,
Speaker 3: if he's like.
Speaker 4: Like son, dad's tired, I can start to do stuff
Speaker 4: on their own and it gets a little easier. Let
Speaker 4: me ask you this when you say, like you got
Speaker 4: to take care of yourself, right, so now you have
Speaker 4: a one week old week and half newborn, You're like,
Speaker 4: I need rest. How do you figure that shoehorn that in?
Speaker 2: Well, you don't.
Speaker 3: So my lifestyle has changed since then, you know, with
Speaker 3: the second baby.
Speaker 2: I mean it was a cake like. We were pros
Speaker 2: at it.
Speaker 3: I was doing the show with NAPA while she was
Speaker 3: you know, going in labor flew back and then I
Speaker 3: was flying back and forth. And then as soon as
Speaker 3: I landed from NAPA when we did Traders together, so
Speaker 3: somehow we got this done right. And then so after
Speaker 3: that it felt like, oh, we're cruising, this is easy,
Speaker 3: and then like oh it's easy.
Speaker 2: Here you go. The guys are pregnant.
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait, what you have Irish twins?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 1: I mean they're so close together that is hard. I
Speaker 1: had two kids really close to guy. I think they
Speaker 1: were like eighteen months apart, and me too. I thought
Speaker 1: I was going to lose it. I go into the doctor,
Speaker 1: I go, you have to medicate me. I used to
Speaker 1: hide in the closet from him. I'm like, I can't
Speaker 1: do this.
Speaker 2: Damn it. I have a lot of pride.
Speaker 3: I feel like Peter has a lot of pride in
Speaker 3: you know, I got this right, and I have a
Speaker 3: lot of pride in in uh.
Speaker 2: Damn it, people did this forever. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: Like why not meet?
Speaker 3: So it's more like competitiveness, but it's like it's also like,
Speaker 3: you know, if I see an example, I just need
Speaker 3: to see, Oh it's possible. Great, I'll do two. So
Speaker 3: right now, we have no idea what it's like to
Speaker 3: have three kids. But I'm gonna tell you. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, like, give me a second, we'll figure
Speaker 3: it out.
Speaker 1: We better be careful.
Speaker 4: You have Nember four, pretty jump jump from two to three.
Speaker 4: For me, it was mind blowing. Mine one to two,
Speaker 4: I'm like, all right, two or three.
Speaker 1: As the woman carrying the child, I will tell you this,
Speaker 1: it changes your body too. Two kids, bounce back three kids.
Speaker 1: But nowadays there's no zompic.
Speaker 3: So she went, she went like her body went nuts
Speaker 3: because she just got back. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 3: how Peter did it. So after Rio, you know, as
Speaker 3: I was on Traders, I flew back.
Speaker 2: She had an eight pack.
Speaker 1: Because she's an athlete.
Speaker 3: She went back in the show was two months later.
Speaker 3: She had lines in the stomach. I mean, it was crazy.
Speaker 2: I want to hate her, right, And so then.
Speaker 3: We got pregnant right away, and so her body was like, wait,
Speaker 3: I just got into the post, you know, partum process
Speaker 3: of getting back. We're doing this again, And the body
Speaker 3: went yes, you know immediately yeah.
Speaker 1: Not closed, you have a six pack. And then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're two weeks pregnant.
Speaker 3: Your phone immediately she was she looked like she was
Speaker 3: nine months for the past six months, and so I
Speaker 3: feel like, now you know it's it's that so careful.
Speaker 3: We've got to be very you know, strategic sort of
Speaker 3: process for her to get back and again put her.
Speaker 1: When will she start with Dance with Stars again? Does
Speaker 1: she know?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: And I think the show premieres end of September, third
Speaker 3: week of September something like that.
Speaker 4: And we were talking about that before we start. Is
Speaker 4: that you don't know. You don't get the knock on
Speaker 4: the table, knocking the door until right before right. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but can you explain, like you're saying this like a draft,
Speaker 4: can you explain?
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it's easy. I mean we've been saying this forever.
Speaker 3: First of all, I've been out for five years, five years,
Speaker 3: so the uestion about me always with the show, it's
Speaker 3: like when are you going back? And I'm like fifteen
Speaker 3: years of these questions, right and and and recently it's
Speaker 3: because again Peter's on. My brother is a current you know, champion,
Speaker 3: he said, currently the man his wife Jen.
Speaker 4: Is on as a pro storyline here comes you know.
Speaker 3: Well, no, but that's what I'm saying, like I'm almost
Speaker 3: like I've I'm also a part of this. I'm like, guys,
Speaker 3: I haven't done it since pre pandemic. You know, judge,
Speaker 3: I'm in. I'm in for whatever. I'm also judging, so
Speaker 3: you think you can do. So that's a you know,
Speaker 3: very privileged opportunity for anybody, you know, such as myself
Speaker 3: coming through this career and like you, now I get
Speaker 3: to sit down.
Speaker 2: On the point things.
Speaker 4: Let's talk about it.
Speaker 3: But in terms of like the draft, like I said,
Speaker 3: so this it's not a secret. The pros don't know
Speaker 3: if we're on the show or not forever, like never,
Speaker 3: I've had a contract for ten years, since tw thousand
Speaker 3: and six or fifteen rather, and and I never knew
Speaker 3: if I'm going to be back on or not. And
Speaker 3: people always asking like well how come, I'm like, well,
Speaker 3: because so the reason is that if you camera right,
Speaker 3: they'll take you an example sorry then.
Speaker 4: Just a big celebrity of course.
Speaker 3: And so it's like if you holding out a contract,
Speaker 3: right and they really want you, and you're saying, well,
Speaker 3: let me negotiate. While you're negotiating, the dominoes are not set,
Speaker 3: the couples are not paired. You know, they're waiting for
Speaker 3: you to say yes. So it's either I get you
Speaker 3: as a partner or somebody more compatible and Therefore I
Speaker 3: get them and them aren't sure yet if they're doing
Speaker 3: the show. So until celebrities are all signed on, we
Speaker 3: don't know. And usually that happens literally three days before,
Speaker 3: and so I've eighty percent of the time I found
Speaker 3: out if I'm on the show or not, like three
Speaker 3: days before I go into my first rehearsal.
Speaker 1: Now, how do you successfully get cast on down to
Speaker 1: the stars. I'm just asking for a friend, be.
Speaker 2: A great dancer.
Speaker 4: So how did it happen for someone like me? Oh?
Speaker 2: You mean for celebrities?
Speaker 1: Yeah, contestant or whatever you are, You're hat in the ring.
Speaker 2: They want you just need to know the right questing.
Speaker 1: You know the phone number. Uh No, I only say
Speaker 1: it would be my worst fear to ever do that
Speaker 1: because I'm not dancing is not natural.
Speaker 2: Dancing.
Speaker 1: Dancing is not natural for me. I did learn the
Speaker 1: cha cha when I got married. I went through dancing
Speaker 1: classes to do it at our wedding.
Speaker 2: Wedding dance program. Yeah, my number one program. My dance studios.
Speaker 1: How many dance studios do you have? Fourteen fourteen through
Speaker 1: They're just everywhere, sprinkled around or just count states.
Speaker 3: We have like six in Texas, most on the East coast,
Speaker 3: you know, here and there, Nevada, Florida, Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm wondering if I went to your studio when.
Speaker 2: I probably not. I'm not sure.
Speaker 4: Let me rewind the tape here because can you We
Speaker 4: want to start like origin story and then after your
Speaker 4: career what's made you so successful? So for you, how
Speaker 4: did you do you ever look back at your like, like,
Speaker 4: how did I end up here? I just started dancing
Speaker 4: as a kid and then I'm in Hollywood.
Speaker 2: No, very clear how I ended up here. I know
Speaker 2: everything step by step.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know I started dancing when I was
Speaker 3: four or five around then. My parents were in nineteen
Speaker 3: twenty when they had me in former USSR in nineteen
Speaker 3: eighty when I was born, and so like this thing
Speaker 3: was coming to an end sort of rapidly but still
Speaker 3: very much in the you know, the USSR esque way,
Speaker 3: and the young parents, new kid, what are we doing?
Speaker 3: Make sure he's limited in free time? Great, we got this,
Speaker 3: and so you know, I was doing literally everything, and
Speaker 3: so I think at four they gave me into School
Speaker 3: of Esthetic Education for like little crazing, little prints and
Speaker 3: eating with knife and fork, open.
Speaker 1: The doors, something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think finishing school.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't remember the name of it, but they
Speaker 1: teach you how to dress and walk and eat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I don't know if they do cotillion.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, it was n't think, but it was
Speaker 3: like kind of a bunch of stuff. And the thing
Speaker 3: is is that in USSR with all the negatives, you know,
Speaker 3: so the school system was incredible in terms of education level,
Speaker 3: but also like ballroom dancing was part of a curriculum.
Speaker 3: You know, it wasn't frowned upon, It wasn't it was
Speaker 3: wildly accepted, you know, like the rhythmic gymnastics and things
Speaker 3: of that nature, like you know, some sports that we
Speaker 3: only see in US when Olympics is on.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: So somebody came in and now what I think happened
Speaker 3: is that they picked me out of the of the
Speaker 3: group of kids just because I was a.
Speaker 2: Boy and tall enough.
Speaker 3: You know in the industry where girls, as you know,
Speaker 3: boys are a rare commodity.
Speaker 4: Was your class primarily girls?
Speaker 3: Class was mostly girl. My life was mostly girls. I mean,
Speaker 3: let's be real.
Speaker 1: Did you like it? Are you happy or hated it?
Speaker 1: Hated it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And I was five seven ten, What did.
Speaker 4: You want did you want to play a different sport.
Speaker 2: Or want to nothing but no dance? I wasn't.
Speaker 3: I was in you know, but I I was swimming, tennis,
Speaker 3: you know, any kind of sport. I was a math
Speaker 3: club after school. Then I was chemistry and biology majors.
Speaker 1: He talked a little bit about that traders. I remember,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, damn, this guy's smart. He's not just pretty,
Speaker 1: he's smart too.
Speaker 3: And then just to quickly wrap it up. So when
Speaker 3: I immigrated, I was fourteen and ninety four. So now
Speaker 3: I'm ten year dance you know, professional if you will,
Speaker 3: But in Ukraine, I'm not very good at all, Like
Speaker 3: we're talking, not even a little bit. Yeah, there's ten
Speaker 3: thousand couples at any competition and heads and shoulders.
Speaker 2: So we're struggling.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: It's a very expensive activity for somebody like us with
Speaker 3: a very blue collar kind of family. So we land
Speaker 3: in Brooklyn, New York in ninety four and find out
Speaker 3: the industry of bolroom dance in this country is just infantile.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just nonexistent. So I come from a
Speaker 3: world of small fish in a massive pond. I'm a whale,
Speaker 3: and so my brother is eight. I'm fourteen. We go
Speaker 3: on to become you know, he's a seventeen time national champion.
Speaker 3: I won some stuff, you know, I represented US. He's
Speaker 3: a two time world champion. As my student, I opened
Speaker 3: dance studio for kids, competitive bollroom dance school when I
Speaker 3: was seventeen in ninety seven in Jersey. We didn't even
Speaker 3: live in New Jersey at that time, so you know,
Speaker 3: we did that stuff because I was in that sort
Speaker 3: of outliers kind of opportunity, right place, right time. That's
Speaker 3: what I'm looking back at. And so with this wave
Speaker 3: of mid nineties immigration into New York City specifically and
Speaker 3: sprinkled around US like San Francisco had a couple of couples,
Speaker 3: Midwest Chicago had a couple of couples.
Speaker 2: So you know, we build the industry.
Speaker 3: So come two thousand and six, they just went by
Speaker 3: the ranking list, you know, and this ballroom dance show
Speaker 3: comes in. They need ballroom dances. So they look at
Speaker 3: the list of competitive ballroom dance in US professional Latin
Speaker 3: at the first place ranked first is Maxim Tchmikowski and
Speaker 3: they're like, great, let's call that guy. We don't know
Speaker 3: nothing about him.
Speaker 4: And so they call the national rankings in.
Speaker 3: Football, it's like tennis and whatever. You know, we had
Speaker 3: a ranking list and system. And again we've been signing
Speaker 3: autographs in Germany since ninety seven, ninety eight, you know.
Speaker 3: But that's how I kind of like talk about this.
Speaker 3: It's not an ego trip. It's like we had an industry.
Speaker 3: I was a dense professional. My sole goal and purpose
Speaker 3: in life was British Open World's national title. I couldn't
Speaker 3: care less about Hollywood than any of this stuff. So
Speaker 3: when the show called, I hung up the phone immediately.
Speaker 3: And so that's why I missed the first season because
Speaker 3: I was like, what, no, get out of here, stop
Speaker 3: it right now, don't call me.
Speaker 1: So what age did you go? You know what, I'm
Speaker 1: embracing this. I really like this. You know, I know
Speaker 1: my parents put me in it.
Speaker 3: But I would say a few years ago, stop it,
Speaker 3: Like in my early forties, if.
Speaker 4: You can do it over, what did you want to do?
Speaker 4: Did you want to play tennis? What did you want
Speaker 4: to do?
Speaker 3: In ninety seven, I graduated Edward Morrill High School in
Speaker 3: Brooklyn and it was a tough couple of years. We
Speaker 3: just you know, three years immigrants, immigration and I was
Speaker 3: like this, this is crazy out here, you know, in
Speaker 3: the jungle. And so college time come and they go
Speaker 3: where do you want to go? I wrote one name, said,
Speaker 3: lu Y. This is the best pharmaceutical program in the
Speaker 3: country at that time. For me, it felt like it
Speaker 3: was the best school for me to go because I
Speaker 3: want nothing but to be a chemist. And so I
Speaker 3: looked and they're like, oh, the campus. The campus is
Speaker 3: in Brooklyn, and I'm like, get the audie.
Speaker 2: I gotta go. I gotta get out. I can't.
Speaker 3: I can't see another four years of taking the train
Speaker 3: to back to from Brooklyn to Brooklyn. So I wanted
Speaker 3: an opportunity to be in Manhattan for a reason and
Speaker 3: to get.
Speaker 2: Up every day and go.
Speaker 3: And so I went to Pace University downtown Manhattan, dropped
Speaker 3: up for business business management program, and dropped out after
Speaker 3: a year because I had my own.
Speaker 2: Business and the school was interfering with running my business.
Speaker 1: Of course, So yeah, but have you been successful your
Speaker 1: whole life?
Speaker 3: No, No, I've been I've been stubborn about not accepting
Speaker 3: this role of mine. And so if you ask me
Speaker 3: again the question, like, you know, what would if if
Speaker 3: you know would I I would probably embrace it earlier.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well God gave you a gift and you were
Speaker 1: fighting it. I'm just fighting it still at age thirteen.
Speaker 1: You broke your leg, yeah, in a twelve and a
Speaker 1: skin accident, and you have a titanium rodin accident.
Speaker 3: I was sledding down on a scene. It wasn't even
Speaker 3: that sexy. It was just sledding smashed into a poll.
Speaker 3: It was not very glamorous.
Speaker 1: And the doctors told you probably your dancing career was
Speaker 1: over at that time.
Speaker 3: They said not probably, They said you got to come down.
Speaker 3: My dad was in the hallway. I remember I was
Speaker 3: laying in the hallway because it was a military hospital
Speaker 3: for again that region, not to you know, hijack conversation
Speaker 3: was constantly in some kind of warfare. So you my
Speaker 3: town is kind of like the rehab central of the
Speaker 3: former USSR because it's a sea city, port city. It's
Speaker 3: like a Miami of USSOR. So we had a good
Speaker 3: rehab hospital for people coming back from Afghanistan. So I
Speaker 3: remember laying in the hallway and he's like, yo, he
Speaker 3: has a competition in like a month and a half,
Speaker 3: I swear to God, Yeah, And so he looking at me,
Speaker 3: looking at him and looking at her, and he's like, nah, listen,
Speaker 3: there's no competition. Let's just hope he's gonna walk with
Speaker 3: a cane because it's looking bad.
Speaker 4: Do you remember the kid processing that being like I'm
Speaker 4: never going to walk again, Like my life's over.
Speaker 3: They they buffered it completely from me. I you know,
Speaker 3: even if I knew, I saw the severity, I knew
Speaker 3: all this is it was bad. I was just in
Speaker 3: so much pain I couldn't give a shit, and I
Speaker 3: just wanted that relief, and the relief would come in
Speaker 3: the form of a surgery. And my mom didn't want
Speaker 3: surgery because we have an uncle who my age, went
Speaker 3: in for something routine and they messed up his grown
Speaker 3: spurs and you know, he's an invalid, and so she
Speaker 3: was very cautious. And by the time it all got
Speaker 3: to this current state, it was a process. So I
Speaker 3: wasn't prevy to, you know, these conversations. What I was
Speaker 3: prevy to is that they gave me morphine, which was
Speaker 3: the best thing, but then Pops had to sign off
Speaker 3: on it, and at one point is like normal morphine,
Speaker 3: so we're done with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was like, if I had I known.
Speaker 1: It's like, come on now, I heard that you were
Speaker 1: on Broadway as well a couple of times. A couple
Speaker 1: of times. What did you do?
Speaker 2: I did the show where I met my wife nine right,
Speaker 2: it was called burn the Floor.
Speaker 1: Was she on the show as well?
Speaker 2: She was the big star?
Speaker 1: She was a star.
Speaker 2: Well, she was a star coming in and then they
Speaker 2: landed on Broadway.
Speaker 3: They needed somebody local to sell help sell tickets, being
Speaker 3: super humble, but at that time, somebody you.
Speaker 1: Were selling tickets.
Speaker 3: No, somebody local that had that would that had the
Speaker 3: star power to draw attention in the current place. But
Speaker 3: Peter didn't like that because that means that they had
Speaker 3: to like step aside off of the spotlight in the middle,
Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden, it's us and you know,
Speaker 3: and I take up a lot of room and right
Speaker 3: in the middle of the stage.
Speaker 2: And she didn't like it, so she thought it was
Speaker 2: an asshole in the beginning.
Speaker 3: And then I did a couple of times more. I
Speaker 3: did it also Forever Tango, which was just an incredible opportunity.
Speaker 2: I would love nothing but Broadway.
Speaker 4: What kind of endurance does it take to do a
Speaker 4: Broadway show? Is it similar to you know, dancing with
Speaker 4: the stars are completely.
Speaker 3: Everything we've done always is one hundred percent dance. And
Speaker 3: then my brother nine two thousand and six started making
Speaker 3: little hybrids of like a theater production and storytelling all that,
Speaker 3: but it's still like, you know, high Card is danced.
Speaker 3: So we try to you know, do that as much
Speaker 3: as we can. And so that takes a lot of endurance.
Speaker 3: And like I said, I'm hurt currently, but a week
Speaker 3: and a half from now, I'm in be in Chicago
Speaker 3: doing the show again, running back the same one we
Speaker 3: did last year, Savor. So I'm in like I'm in
Speaker 3: the sort of pre opening game mode right now. And
Speaker 3: at this is not a pattern the bag, but at
Speaker 3: my age, it's so hard.
Speaker 4: You know, what's a lifeline on a dancer? Like when
Speaker 4: when does a typical dance?
Speaker 2: Fifteen years ago?
Speaker 4: Really?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 3: I retired from competitive bottom dancing in two thousand and six.
Speaker 3: I was twenty six years old. I was too young.
Speaker 3: Having said that, you know, there's people that you know,
Speaker 3: if you stick in that stick around in that career,
Speaker 3: in that journey you probably you know in your mid
Speaker 3: to late thirties is when you bow out from professional
Speaker 3: world of dancing, then you want to become a judge. Right,
Speaker 3: so mid to late thirties you were sort of on
Speaker 3: the decline. I mean, my career just started in two
Speaker 3: thousand and six. In my opinion, everything that as a dancer,
Speaker 3: everything I've done until then, I thought was my peak.
Speaker 3: It was just a foundation. It was like, you know,
Speaker 3: we've we we all showed up at the UF, you know, MMA,
Speaker 3: some kind of like a competition, and so I come
Speaker 3: in as this guy, this comes in as that guy.
Speaker 2: So I came in as a ball and dance professional.
Speaker 2: That was my foundation.
Speaker 3: But then the career started, and it led me to
Speaker 3: the broadways and led me to national tours and so
Speaker 3: you know again I blossomed way late here. So now
Speaker 3: I have to keep up my body in order to continue,
Speaker 3: you know, pleasing to what I'm now feel like I'm
Speaker 3: supposed to be joining.
Speaker 1: Do you have a strict workout and diet plan, Yes.
Speaker 2: And no, I have a strict lifestyle plan.
Speaker 1: And because every time I saw you, you're eating a
Speaker 1: peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was great. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: By the way, that's why you've ever had.
Speaker 2: Because I don't do nuts at home.
Speaker 3: Might you know Peter got not so ologies and so
Speaker 3: like I can't you know, it's too much.
Speaker 2: So like I get out.
Speaker 3: I'm like, give me that peanut butter, but no lifestyle.
Speaker 3: I think in twenty twelve, I was thirty two. I
Speaker 3: was in a lot of pain. You could see it
Speaker 3: on the screen if you watch Dancing Stars then all this,
Speaker 3: you know, the shoot backs at the judges and the
Speaker 3: little comments here and there and all that just angry
Speaker 3: and not angry, but like, you know, frustrated. And I
Speaker 3: was frustrated. I was I was just hurt. My body
Speaker 3: was hurting. It was on the heels of like a
Speaker 3: lot of years of dancing and not really having any
Speaker 3: kind of like rehab team, dent professional doctors or whatever.
Speaker 3: And I found my my my at that moment, I
Speaker 3: found my my physician. And so I went on the
Speaker 3: journey of like, you know, I cut out all the
Speaker 3: stuff that I shouldn't be eating. I had that revelation
Speaker 3: of like walking around supermarkets like I can't eat anything.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm in the wrong supermarket. Now I had
Speaker 3: to go to the other one and I and I
Speaker 3: called my doc. I'm like, this is nuts.
Speaker 4: What did you cut out that you loved that you
Speaker 4: need to switch.
Speaker 1: Back and all the store you just go around.
Speaker 3: Theme taught me how to read the back label and
Speaker 3: like what that means and what that you know, the
Speaker 3: red three and dex trust and all that something like
Speaker 3: that with a chemical name in the back. And again
Speaker 3: my it triggered my biocamp pasted and understanding of molecules
Speaker 3: and all that you know, cellular upregulation and how to
Speaker 3: trigger your mitochondria and what that even is, you know.
Speaker 3: So for me that was the journey. I went as
Speaker 3: deep as I could in my knowledge, and I had
Speaker 3: you know, influence of someone who's a molecular biologist and
Speaker 3: and you know, in that sort of like clean lifestyle journey,
Speaker 3: and it was perfect for me.
Speaker 4: So drop a meal for us here, So someone listening
Speaker 4: to like I want to eat, Like Max.
Speaker 3: Here's number one you have to get, you know. So
Speaker 3: my lifestyle has been for fifteen years, right Number one,
Speaker 3: I intimate infest a lot. It's not a science. It's
Speaker 3: for me an opportunity to not first of all miss
Speaker 3: a meal. Second, we'll not run after like what's my
Speaker 3: breakfast because they can't function without it. And third of all,
Speaker 3: it's first of all for me is the most healthiest
Speaker 3: way of living. What I believe that We're not meant
Speaker 3: to wake up and have a fridge. We're meant to
Speaker 3: wake up and a cave, go run hunt something, exude energy.
Speaker 2: To catch that.
Speaker 3: When we catch that, we have to eat right then
Speaker 3: and there because we just exuded energy. Take the rest,
Speaker 3: you know, to that bad cave. Feed the rest of
Speaker 3: the fact. Like that's how I believe, you know, the
Speaker 3: foundation should be. And so based on that, I wake up.
Speaker 3: My first meal could be two, you know, and I
Speaker 3: have no problem with that. I try not to go
Speaker 3: over sixteen hours. But then again I allow myself late
Speaker 3: night meal. My late night meal can have a lot
Speaker 3: of bread. We go through, you know, this is my reality.
Speaker 3: We'll go through three giant loaves of sour dough in
Speaker 3: a I'm gonna say two days, it's you know. And
Speaker 3: and butter we go through a stick of butter day,
Speaker 3: a big thing, you know.
Speaker 2: And so my one year old just loves pieces of
Speaker 2: fresh bread with butter.
Speaker 3: And oh, I'm all about carnivore. I'm all about that,
Speaker 3: you know, but it has to be you know, the
Speaker 3: cow that I know what it ate and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: So you know, not everything, not all meat is is
Speaker 3: the same. Some cows meant for milking, some men for
Speaker 3: you know. I also have a background. My grandma had
Speaker 3: a farm in a dessa outside of you you know,
Speaker 3: in Ukraine, outside of my city. So she was a
Speaker 3: dairy producer privately, right, So she had a private farm
Speaker 3: with my grandpa, fully cultivated. We're talking chickens, pigs, ducks,
Speaker 3: a bull that my uncle is getting married. They killed
Speaker 3: the bull. Two hundred and fifty people fast feasted. It
Speaker 3: was insane. They used everything from hoofs to horn. I'll
Speaker 3: never forget it. And that's kind of like how I
Speaker 3: try to lead my life. Peter and I really much
Speaker 3: on the same page with that.
Speaker 2: That's it. We eat the same way. My seven year
Speaker 2: old's favorite food is salmon and broccoli, just no rope.
Speaker 4: So your diet has played a huge role in your
Speaker 4: success and your longevity. And what else do you attribute
Speaker 4: your success to?
Speaker 2: You know, what you put in your body and what
Speaker 2: you do with your body.
Speaker 3: And then recently I also put together, like you know,
Speaker 3: the dots finally came together in terms of the sympathetic
Speaker 3: and part sympathetic you know, systems in your body what
Speaker 3: they're responsible for. Where one is responsible for fight or flight,
Speaker 3: and you need that right when you're in the gym
Speaker 3: and you try to find that, like you know, you're
Speaker 3: really kicking yourself at forty five and you're like at
Speaker 3: the end and you feel so, you know, you feel
Speaker 3: excited like you did that. Well, we feel like we
Speaker 3: got to maintain that, and that's not true. We have
Speaker 3: to now come down from this. You have to have
Speaker 3: the rest and digest part of your of your day,
Speaker 3: and so we need to you know, really have a
Speaker 3: good balance of the fight and flight, rest and digest.
Speaker 3: And that's how you got to lift. And that's how
Speaker 3: I really, you know, understand it. So the workout is
Speaker 3: the kick you butt. The rest is very necessary so
Speaker 3: you can do it again and and and the consistency.
Speaker 2: Don't reinvent the wheel.
Speaker 3: That's the last thing I'll say about this lifestyle stuff.
Speaker 3: Once you feel it, you look amazing. Do that because.
Speaker 1: You're working for you existent but not only I mean,
Speaker 1: you are extremely successful. You do find time to give back.
Speaker 1: The first time I met you, you probably don't even remember,
Speaker 1: but it was with child help. We're at events, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was it was geez maybe.
Speaker 3: Years and those are and I made extremely close connection
Speaker 3: relationships with those people.
Speaker 2: We're still very close friends.
Speaker 3: And yeah, no, I love my OC child health family,
Speaker 3: you know, my journey and like, for example, I like
Speaker 3: to bring this example up. Maybe he doesn't, but my
Speaker 3: brother and I differ, and you know, in different a way.
Speaker 3: Like what First of all, I was fourteen when I
Speaker 3: landed in Brooklyn. He was eight, so a little different perspectives.
Speaker 3: My high school was two and a half thousand people
Speaker 3: graduating class. His was twelve liberal school in you know,
Speaker 3: in Hoboken, New Jersey, and the education was a little
Speaker 3: bit different. He's an extreme intellectual. I feel so too.
Speaker 3: But I feel like I've never been able to just
Speaker 3: sit back and be one, you know. I've always felt
Speaker 3: like you gotta go get it, you know, whether it's
Speaker 3: on behalf of.
Speaker 2: The fam or for you or for the new fam.
Speaker 3: Or like you know, I'm always that guy. And so
Speaker 3: for me, it's very hard to just relax and chill
Speaker 3: to begin with, right. And also what's difficult is to
Speaker 3: I have to constantly hold myself back from being from
Speaker 3: getting into the mode of from competition to you know,
Speaker 3: the jealousy part. You know, because that comes with competitive nature.
Speaker 3: We're not jealous. We have that we hone in on
Speaker 3: this and we turn it into the into the way
Speaker 3: of achieving a goal. But in this industry, it works
Speaker 3: with you. You have to be you have to have a balance.
Speaker 4: That's when I asked about the gamesmanship within Dancing with
Speaker 4: the Stars, Like, you know what the scores are, you
Speaker 4: know what the personalities are. How do you manage that
Speaker 4: game within the game? Are you aware of what other
Speaker 4: people are doing? You tune them out? Do you mess
Speaker 4: with other people? How do you maneuver that game? Because
Speaker 4: there's got to be some element behind the scenes or
Speaker 4: when you're in it that we don't see one.
Speaker 2: It depends.
Speaker 3: So first of all, when I was doing the show,
Speaker 3: and I would say this ten of us, I would
Speaker 3: name ten professional dances from two thousand and six to
Speaker 3: let's say twenty ten. Those four years we had eight
Speaker 3: seasons because we had two a year. So in those
Speaker 3: eight seasons of Dancing with the Stars, we figured things out.
Speaker 3: We were just learning and figuring things out. By time
Speaker 3: twenty twelve, let's say I remember exactly when, but like
Speaker 3: I had KURSTIALI and this is resting, and I had.
Speaker 3: And this is a great example of like, how do
Speaker 3: you strategize for a winner, potentially somebody like a Merril Davis.
Speaker 3: I'm only bringing my own examples. You know who I'm
Speaker 3: whom I won with. How do you strategize for someone
Speaker 3: you can potentially win with like an Aaron Andrews, you know,
Speaker 3: and how do you strategize somebody like cursciality, no disrespect.
Speaker 3: We weren't trying to win, We're just trying to survive stay.
Speaker 2: You know well, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, and we were hilarious and we weren't trying to
Speaker 3: be well. She was just funny and I was not
Speaker 3: trying to be I was just trying to, you know,
Speaker 3: on Monday night, have a product. You know, because from
Speaker 3: beginning to the end hopefully fingers crossed, you know, So
Speaker 3: the strategy is different. But then you look around and
Speaker 3: you see, like I can't win against that, you know them,
Speaker 3: whoever they are that season.
Speaker 4: You know, like it doesn't matter, You're not going to
Speaker 4: make your partner get them to somewhere they.
Speaker 3: Can so then you so then they example I was
Speaker 3: bringing with val and the mentality and the mindset. My
Speaker 3: mindset was always go win. His mindset was so much
Speaker 3: better than mine. Coming into Dancing with the Stars, his
Speaker 3: mindset was give this person the best experience. And now
Speaker 3: I'm like, damn it, this was the this, this, this
Speaker 3: is the key because it's not because in that you
Speaker 3: can probably take someone who's very unlikely to dance and
Speaker 3: you know, and blossom them out. Me, I just break you.
Speaker 3: I break you, or you get broken and amazing and
Speaker 3: blossom or you just stay broken, you know I'm saying
Speaker 3: so like for me, it was very, very difficult.
Speaker 4: Do you think with that strategy you could take someone
Speaker 4: with lesser talent not like grinding them. Do you think
Speaker 4: someone could win that way? Or still it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: Probably probably not.
Speaker 3: Dancing with the Stars and such audience that like they'll
Speaker 3: they'll they'll reward an interesting story, they'll reward you know,
Speaker 3: this kind of journey.
Speaker 2: But just for so long towards.
Speaker 3: The end, it'll have to be it'll have to be
Speaker 3: dancers dooking out against dancers. This should be people by
Speaker 3: the finale time. Three four couples that are just like top.
Speaker 2: Of the game.
Speaker 3: Great story can deliver an awesome dance at the end
Speaker 3: of the night where you can have a great standing.
Speaker 2: Oh for everybody.
Speaker 4: Has there been any little things you've picked up along
Speaker 4: the way that's been allowed you to influence the audience,
Speaker 4: whether through mannerism you do on TV or on social media,
Speaker 4: like do you feel like you can rally boat?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 4: What are you doing that? When are you doing that?
Speaker 2: When all else fails? Just stop? Turn around, just take
Speaker 2: your shirt off? What do you mean? Of course, of course, you.
Speaker 3: You know dust in the eyes. Look, we're also professionals
Speaker 3: at you know, entertainment. Again, all those things aside all
Speaker 3: those you know, you know, background stuff about dancing the
Speaker 3: stars and everything else. You know, our job was to
Speaker 3: put on a show. Somebody in mid in the middle
Speaker 3: of my dancing room, the stars run an executive told me.
Speaker 3: The way we look at Dancing with the Stars is like,
Speaker 3: you know, you come to a theater as an audience, right,
Speaker 3: this what the audience said. You come to theaters, you know,
Speaker 3: the curtain goes up and it's an you know, two
Speaker 3: hour performance, curtain goes down, Dada, you walk away with
Speaker 3: what you just saw, right, And that made sense to
Speaker 3: me because somebody, somebody drew this parallel where it's not
Speaker 3: about me, it's not me making it about me. It's
Speaker 3: not me wanting to be, you know, wanting to be
Speaker 3: the most impactful part of this episode on behalf of
Speaker 3: my partner and all this stuff. I was trying to
Speaker 3: like make her be the center of attention all the time,
Speaker 3: and the reality is that you're a part. You're an
Speaker 3: act in this multi act you know, theater performance. And
Speaker 3: so after that it became a lot easier for me
Speaker 3: to understand the show.
Speaker 1: Did you ever get a celebrity where you're like, oh god.
Speaker 3: Y, tell me before you even say who did you
Speaker 3: ever get celebrity where you were like anything you had
Speaker 3: after that, I'll say, yes, Yeah, I had one where
Speaker 3: I was like ugh, when I was like whoa, it
Speaker 3: was like oh, it was like oh my god, what
Speaker 3: did not expect that? So, yeah, there's been everything for everybody,
Speaker 3: you know. I mean, you get you know, seventeen partners.
Speaker 3: I had people from Denise Richards to Leila Ali and
Speaker 3: everybody in between, you know, Kirsty, Meryl Davis, we're talking,
Speaker 3: you know, Aaron, We're talking people that have completely different personalities.
Speaker 1: Denise, you housewife.
Speaker 3: I think, so, yeah, maybe you're gonna make me think
Speaker 3: of everybody. I'm not gonna I'm gonna miss some people.
Speaker 4: So you've gone through that, you've gone and then it
Speaker 4: had to be incredible honor for you to be now
Speaker 4: tapped as a judge. So for you, cause that's kind
Speaker 4: of like you're getting pulled out I mis call it
Speaker 4: as you're pulled out from the competitors, and it's like
Speaker 4: you're like one of the chosen ones, Like you're the
Speaker 4: best of the best, You're one of the most memorable.
Speaker 4: Like how did you now going into that as a judge,
Speaker 4: how does how you impact or how you approach strategy
Speaker 4: to dancing, How does that impact you as a judge.
Speaker 4: Do you look at that or you just straight out
Speaker 4: like dancing that's it. Or do you look at the
Speaker 4: like gamesmanship or showmanship?
Speaker 2: So yeah, So now again going back to like it's
Speaker 2: so funny wo our family, it's crazy, Like I definitely
Speaker 2: think like what would Val do this? Swear to God?
Speaker 3: And and and I don't want to pack, like I
Speaker 3: don't want him to hear this and like pet himself
Speaker 3: in the bag. But you know, he's a big influence. Yes,
Speaker 3: as a man. Now I have an example of a
Speaker 3: man you know that I'm like, hmm, I'm interested because
Speaker 3: our end result is very similar. And so you know,
Speaker 3: when I got this judging opportunity, everything in me felt
Speaker 3: like I just first of all, by the way, I
Speaker 3: called the producers and I was like, I want a meeting,
Speaker 3: and I want you to tell me exactly why I'm
Speaker 3: being hired, and also exactly like what's my job? Because
Speaker 3: my Dancing with the Stars journey started and the wrong way,
Speaker 3: in my opinion, I needed more explanation. Regret, I have
Speaker 3: a regret of not asking more questions because I just
Speaker 3: asked a question, what's my job? Asold it was to
Speaker 3: win a dance competition? Hell no, that's not your job
Speaker 3: on Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 4: Because you said you're a part of the show to
Speaker 4: make the show.
Speaker 3: You know, like there was no but in two thousand
Speaker 3: and six, we probably didn't know the producers were also
Speaker 3: figuring things out were I was asked one time to
Speaker 3: do samba, you know, against the line of dance, which
Speaker 3: is kind of like telling NASCAR drivers, hey, you know what,
Speaker 3: this weekend, let's just all turn to the right for once,
Speaker 3: just and giggles. You know, it's better for our cameras.
Speaker 3: Yeah whatever. But so though these things and people were
Speaker 3: figuring this out. So by the time again, like I said,
Speaker 3: the new generation, the current generation, they're like, they're coming
Speaker 3: in on our mistakes and so they're like, no, we're
Speaker 3: not going to do any of that. And so, you know,
Speaker 3: going into dances, so you think you can dance opportunity.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I'm one of hundreds of you know,
Speaker 3: potential people that could have taken the spot right, and
Speaker 3: I realized that, and it's important because then you're given
Speaker 3: something special. They told me that they want me exactly
Speaker 3: for who I am in terms of direction into direct
Speaker 3: you know, statements, really believing in what I'm saying things
Speaker 3: of that, and it's like, don't mince your words, just
Speaker 3: say it how it is.
Speaker 2: And then.
Speaker 3: Why me is because of the background, right, And so
Speaker 3: you know, it was important for me to know because
Speaker 3: I'm like, okay, so I'm in a position based on
Speaker 3: the what I've done right, and so I came into
Speaker 3: the show is extremely easy for me to speak because
Speaker 3: I wasn't just evaluating. I was like, you know, what
Speaker 3: you've done right, Now, here's how it would stand in
Speaker 3: the real world. Because you were trying to come out
Speaker 3: of this as a professional dancer taking my spot, taking
Speaker 3: her spot, taking my brother's spot. Like any spot you'll take,
Speaker 3: you have to move somebody, you know, and and and
Speaker 3: it's and it's and it's true in every industry. And
Speaker 3: so I was giving them the best advice on what
Speaker 3: to do with this opportunity. And and it was great.
Speaker 3: I had received an amazing response from people, and like,
Speaker 3: the way you were presenting your thought and your opinion
Speaker 3: was excellent.
Speaker 1: So it was like, is this a dream job for you.
Speaker 2: To sit and be part of dancing.
Speaker 1: To not be actually dancing, but but to be critiquing.
Speaker 3: I mean, who doesn't like to express their opinion? You know,
Speaker 3: let's just be real. Who doesn't like to you know,
Speaker 3: be heard, you know, and be listened to. I think
Speaker 3: that's the privilege, you know. So in realizing how privileged
Speaker 3: I am, then the job is easy. Again going back
Speaker 3: to the charity of it of it all, it's important
Speaker 3: to me to know because I'm already reciprocated, you know,
Speaker 3: financially and career wise and otherwise. Right, But then there's
Speaker 3: this whole, like, you know, the bottom part of the
Speaker 3: iceberg is the celebrity status and people, you know, the
Speaker 3: following in this way, So what do you do with that?
Speaker 3: So that was important to me that I utilized that
Speaker 3: part as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you're an amazing guy, and I think you
Speaker 1: so you are you really are. I was when you
Speaker 1: came into that Trader's castle and I think you had
Speaker 1: a pink suit on or something, and I'm like, the next.
Speaker 4: Four days we had that same watch Dancer starts and
Speaker 4: I knew who you were, you know, I mean, like
Speaker 4: that's like you transcend the show.
Speaker 1: But you just had like a like a look about you,
Speaker 1: like you just I didn't know if I was afraid
Speaker 1: of you or just staring at you like I think
Speaker 1: I loved him.
Speaker 3: First of all, First of all, you got away in
Speaker 3: the beginning, and it was so sad that we didn't
Speaker 3: know if you're going to make it, and so we
Speaker 3: lost some time communicating, but it was it was a
Speaker 3: pleasure getting to know the both of you, for sure.
Speaker 3: I honestly, I was just so busy in my head.
Speaker 3: I wish I was more relaxed. I wish there was
Speaker 3: more into like just enjoying the process and sort of
Speaker 3: like understanding.
Speaker 1: I felt the same way I felt. I almost felt
Speaker 1: like I made myself sick because I was so nervous
Speaker 1: about being so far away from my family, not being
Speaker 1: able to talk to my kids, not talking to my husband,
Speaker 1: and I felt like I was just went in there
Speaker 1: with like maybe some negative energy. And I feel like,
Speaker 1: when you do that, negative things will happen to you.
Speaker 4: What do you take away from that in comparison to
Speaker 4: what you had done previously?
Speaker 2: And in reality potentially an emmy.
Speaker 1: Huh yeah, maybe.
Speaker 2: Let's get that hard work.
Speaker 3: I think, first of all, reality TV is just one
Speaker 3: giant social experiment, and so like I loved it today
Speaker 3: right now, like sitting here two thousand and six, almost
Speaker 3: twenty years ago. I loved being a part of this
Speaker 3: journey of seeing some things, some shows come up, and
Speaker 3: some things happened, And you know, I think reality social
Speaker 3: experiment experience for both sides is amazing. You know you, Peter,
Speaker 3: and I favorite show is Love Island.
Speaker 1: I remember you telling me that, and it's.
Speaker 3: Still and now we're finishing this new and I'm like,
Speaker 3: I can't believe I'm watching this, but I get why.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to get sucked into it, So I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm not.
Speaker 4: Doing it as a fan, sitting back, I'm watching you
Speaker 4: and Deanta, just like hanging out like you guys are
Speaker 4: best friends. I'm like, what world am I living?
Speaker 2: But it was insane. But it was insane because.
Speaker 1: It was like for me, I mean to be forever.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I am here with Marcus Jordan, I'm here
Speaker 1: with Max, I'm here.
Speaker 3: I'm so I mean, we stayed in touch a little
Speaker 3: bit with you know, some people, MJ, Marcus, Phedra, you know.
Speaker 3: And it was amazing to walk away. I always walk
Speaker 3: into now a new experience. I'm like, I want to
Speaker 3: walk away with great connections.
Speaker 1: And relationship friends.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's it, and so everything else falls into place.
Speaker 3: That was the favorite part, the fact that I got
Speaker 3: to spend a week and a half without a phone.
Speaker 3: I remember in the airport, I picked up my phone
Speaker 3: and is like your averaged forty five minutes a week.
Speaker 2: I'm like, damn it, I'll never ever se that again,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Forever ever.
Speaker 4: Great.
Speaker 1: Well in closing, and I want to ask you one question,
Speaker 1: what have you found is the key to success in life?
Speaker 1: Just in general?
Speaker 3: As I listened to Stoics in my car and as
Speaker 3: I'm driving like a like a dead of three and
Speaker 3: a mid forties, I think honestly, in my humble opinion,
Speaker 3: it's it's tough, but it's consistency.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: You you have to find a way to be consistent,
Speaker 3: to consistently figure things out, to consistently, you know, deal
Speaker 3: with problems to consistently, you know, deal with yourself and
Speaker 3: try to be a good person. That to me, when
Speaker 3: all else fails, I fold. I look around. I'm like, I,
Speaker 3: you know, financially in dirt. You know, I failed in
Speaker 3: this venture. I've failed at this thing. I'm no longer
Speaker 3: here this and then the other. I look around. I'm like,
Speaker 3: let's fall back into the routine, you know, do what
Speaker 3: I do today? Where's my workout going to come from?
Speaker 3: And I'm in the gym? I mean just activity.
Speaker 2: I want to be active, you know, go for a
Speaker 2: run around the block. I don't care what it is.
Speaker 2: So that consistency.
Speaker 3: Looking at my father, seeing the how he overcomes struggles,
Speaker 3: and you know, just have beautiful examples in your life.
Speaker 3: Consistency and then few basics and you know it's all
Speaker 3: on you. Just as long as you know that it's
Speaker 3: all on you, and you got this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what a pleasure.
Speaker 3: I just want to say, you guys, look amazing as
Speaker 3: a pair of podcasters. And also that I vividly remember
Speaker 3: this communication because there was a lot of people right
Speaker 3: and it's not because I'm in this room, but I
Speaker 3: remember our conversation. Also, looking at that scene back.
Speaker 2: I'm like this, mother, he knew it, he knew it.
Speaker 3: But I I thought that you guys played great by
Speaker 3: the way the experience. I loved getting out when I did,
Speaker 3: because after that I got a little chippy and personal.
Speaker 1: I'm not for that, honestly, a favor murder in May,
Speaker 1: and I thought it was this full hair.
Speaker 2: Thank you guys so much for having me.
Speaker 1: Thank you, we appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Let's get that Ammy
Speaker 1: Let's get it