Not much is known about what’s going on between Artem Chigvintsev and his wife Nikki Garcia (aka, the WWE’s Nikki Bella) nearly two weeks after he was arrested on domestic violence charges. After Chigvintsev’s friend and fellow Dancing with the Stars professional Cheryl Burke expressed “complete shock” over the turn of events, one of his former dance partners from the show opened up about her experience, calling the ballroom expert “intense.”
Actress Lea Thompson competed on Season 19 of DWTS with Artem Chigvintsev as her partner. The professional has now partaken in 12 seasons of the show, but that season 10 years ago with the Caroline in the City star was his first. Thompson spoke with Cheryl Burke on the Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast about the experience, where the actress admitted Chigvintsev was difficult to work with. She said:
It was hard working with him because it was his first year and it was a big deal to him. He was so intense. I didn’t realize how important… It was so much more important to him than to me, honestly. And so that made me really nervous, it made me crazy after a while.
Lea Thompson said her background in ballet and modern dance didn’t translate to Artem Chigvintsev’s knowledge of ballroom, leading to trouble communicating. That caused frustration between the partners, as the Back to the Future actress recalled:
I was never allowed to say, ‘Can I try this?’ He would get so mad at me, because like I can’t do that, I can’t think about that. … He was so implacable, and it was really, really hard.
However, it wasn’t just her partner that made the experience so intense. It sounds like producers didn’t make Lea Thompson’s time there any easier, as she compared the show to The Hunger Games. Cheryl Burke agreed the footage they had shown of Thompson and Artem Chigvintsev during rehearsals was “one-sided,” with Thompson being shown telling her partner not to talk to her a certain way, but not showing what Chigvintsev had said to warrant that response.
Despite her experience with Artem Chigvintsev, she said his August 29 arrest was “surprising” to her. Lea Thompson did remember one “crazy” thing that her partner had said to her about men being stronger than women, but said she thought maybe his wife Nikki Bella had changed his mind after she saw them dance together on DWTS in Season 25. In Thompson’s words:
The one really crazy thing he said to me was I remember him telling me that men are much better than women. And I said, ‘Why?’ and he said, ‘Because they’re stronger.’ They’re stronger. And I was like, “But they don’t have babies. I’ve had a baby.’ And that was the one really weird thing. And then when I saw him and his wife, you know because she’s a wrestler, I saw when they were doing their dance that she, like, flipped him over and threw him on the ground, and I was like, ‘Go!’ You know, she did a wrestling move, and you’re letting her show that she’s as strong as you. So I thought that was kind of cool.
It’s obvious that Lea Thompson has complex feelings about her time on Dancing with the Stars, but she chalks up a lot of what happened between her and Artem Chigvintsev to his nerves, saying:
I just mostly felt he was super nervous and couldn’t show it and, so that kind of got transmitted to me.
Nikki Bella has requested privacy as her family deals with recent events, but fans were happy to see her co-hosting Netflix’s hot dog eating contest, Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef. Some reports allege the couple is not currently living together, and that the WWE personality is seeking a divorce lawyer.
Artem Chigvintsev is not participating in Dancing with the Stars’ 33rd season, but if you want to see other celebs and pros go through the intense competition, DWTS hits the 2024 TV schedule at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, September 17, on ABC and with a Disney+ subscription.
