Gleb Savchenko is out of Dancing With the Stars season 35, and the reasons are messier than a simple scheduling clash. The season 35 cast was revealed on Good Morning America, and Savchenko’s name was nowhere on the list, continuing an absence that started last season.
Gleb Savchenko DWTS Season 35: How It Unravelled
Savchenko spent 12 seasons as a pro on the show. His exit from the current line-up did not come as a total shock. He had already hinted at the situation himself, in comments on a since-deleted TikTok where he lip-synced the lines: ‘I don’t know where you got your information from, I don’t know who your source is, but I will be the first one to tell you that is incorrect.’ The caption read: ‘Your “source” needs a refund… because that story? 100% fake.’
When a fan commented ‘can’t wait to see you on my TV again in September!’, Savchenko replied plainly: ‘Afraid you won’t.’ To another fan, he added: ’14 years of loyalty, erased by someone’s lie.’
The backdrop to all of this is a very public falling-out. According to TV Insider, Savchenko and Brooks Nader had a messy breakup in 2025, with Nader accusing him of cheating and Savchenko publicly slamming those accusations. The pair had been partnered together on season 33, per E! Online. Nader had claimed during a Love Thy Nader trailer: ‘He’s a cheater and I have all that proof.’ Savchenko appeared to be referencing those claims in his TikTok comments.
Season 35 Cast Makes His Return Even More Complicated
His casting would have been awkward regardless. Nader’s sister, Sarah Jane Nader, is part of the season 35 celebrity line-up. So is Maura Higgins, described in the original announcement as a friend of Brooks Nader. Putting Savchenko on the same floor as both of them was always going to be a stretch.
Some fans had held out hope he might be back. His appearance on Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro had kept him in the orbit of the show, and his friendship with Next Pro winner Adele Zaikman had fuelled speculation. But the cast announcement closed the door on that.
Savchenko’s reaction to being left off the roster has been blunt. According to Entertainment Tonight, the 42-year-old dancer shared a shirtless video on Instagram responding to the news of his season 35 absence. It was a characteristically direct move from someone who has not been shy about making his feelings public since the Nader split.
Twelve seasons as a pro, a stint on The Next Pro, and now back on the outside looking in. With Brooks Nader’s circle woven through the season 35 cast, Savchenko’s absence from the show looks set to run at least one more year.