Olympian Hope Solo and her DWTS partner Maks dispute whether he slapped her on the show

CLEVELAND - While excitement builds for the upcoming All-Star season of “Dancing With The Stars,” controversy surfaces about a previous season.

In her new memoir, “Solo: A Memoir of Hope,” which went on sale Aug. 14, U.S. Olympic soccer player and former DWTS contestant Hope Solo wrote that dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy slapped her.

In fact, Solo wrote, Chmerkovskiy slapped her “across the face. Hard.”

After the alleged slap, Solo said Chmerkovskiy “was extremely apologetic.”

The incident may have been documented. Solo wrote that rehearsal cameras caught it, that it was shown to Chmerkovskiy, but that the video later disappeared.

After it happened, Solo said ABC gave her the chance to switch partners, but she decided to stay with Chmerkovskiy. Her reasons were twofold. She wrote that she did not want to “end Maks’ career” or have the tabloids paint her as a fickle prima donna.

For all the drama, Solo and Chmerkovskiy did well; they were finally eliminated in the semi-final found.

Solo competed on the 13th season of DWTS in fall 2011. Her partnership with Chmerkovskiy was fraught with drama.

Rehearsal video often shows Chmerkovskiy being forceful with all of his partners. Solo said he was especially so with her.

“He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly. I thought that was just how it went- how dancers worked with each other,” she wrote.

But Solo adds that, one day, Chmerkovskiy hit her on the stomach with an open palm so hard, that she “had a red handprint there for the rest of the day.”

On the Oct. 24 live show, he once notoriously asserted, “This is my show.” Solo was next to him when he made that comment. She wrote that she didn’t know what to say when it happened.

In her memoir, Solo suggests that Chmerkovskiy’s outbursts were an attempt to grab attention and stay on the show. In 14 seasons, Chmerkovskiy has not won a Mirror Ball Trophy.

ABC has not responded to Solo’s claims.

Chmerkovskiy has not directly addressed the claims either. But on Aug. 16, he tweeted, “Always hated hypocrites and liars...but when someone is both AND an opportunist, I just feel bad for them. Can't win at someone's expense...”

A day later, he tweeted, “Life's best lessons are the ones that you smile through.....while they hurt you the most! I'm bullet proof....FIRE AWAY!”

Chmerkovskiy will return for the All-Star season of “Dancing With The Stars” this September. He is paired with former partner, actress Kirstie Alley.

More information can be found at:
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