September 6, 2021 • 60 mins
Gleb Savchenko is not holding anything back.
He’s in the Pretty Messed Up “hot seat” talking DWTS , divorce, dad-life, quitting drinking, and dating.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm pretty Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Pretty
(00:21):
Messed Up on I Heart Radio. I'm your host A J.
McClean with my beautiful and sexy, darling gorgeous co host
Rene Alisondo. Okay, calm down, no, and the stunningly talented
and beautiful and gorgeous and sexy and well, you know, tiny,
(00:43):
but good things come in small packages. Cheryl Burke share
Bear love you love you so much. Hey, guys, miss
you guys, love you, miss you so Okay. So it's like,
literally it's full circle. You know when we started this
podcas cast well over a year ago. Uh we we
(01:04):
started when you and I were doing Dancing Stars, and
it is that time again. We have literally come full
circle and they've announced the pros, so you know, you
know what that means. So our listen, guys, are are
our guest today is a Russian dancer born in Moscow,
choreographer and model who is currently a professional dancer on
(01:26):
the US version of Dancing the Stars. He previously appeared
on the UK, Australian and Russian versions of the show
as well. He began dancing at the ripe age of
eight years old. After fourteen years in marriage. He recently
recently announced I had coffee before this. I'm sorry. He
recently announced his separation from professional dancer Elena. They have
two daughters together, Olivia and Ziata. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome
(01:52):
to the show. Glebe Dan Glab is on time. Guys.
Let me tell you something because Glab is so I
remember that when we were doing the show he was
always late. Always, but he has an excuse this time
because he's a single dad. And but let me tell
(02:13):
you something. The last two Zoom meetings we had with
the executives was great, on time and also late. Dude,
you're on time, bro. I remember when we're doing the
show together. I'm like, where's Glab? Where's Glab's late for
the stage before the show started, I was like, I'll
see you soon. Okay, what's happening. I was trying to
(02:34):
get on it and for some reason it didn't let
me right away. But that's great. Welcome, Welcome, buddy, Good
to see you, man, I haven't seen you in years.
And this is Renee, a our other co hosts. Rene. Welcome, Welcome, welcome,
And you know myself and you know obviously share you
know this girl over here, So dude, here we are. Here,
(02:57):
we are again full circle Like we literally started this
podcast after opening night of last season. Um, so here
we are full circle back Dance You with the Stars
is wrapping up again here season thirty. Can you believe it?
Crazy dude? How many seasons have you done on the
(03:19):
American version? I joined on season sixteen, and I was
on for about two seasons and the left and they
came back in season twenty three. Season three, I was
on and this, I mean this is like nine seasons between.
I've done the Russian version and the UK version, and
Brian have done the Australian version. Yeah, did you ever
(03:43):
win one of them? Damn? Mean no, I don't think
that was Actually I need that Mirrable trophy. I need that.
Where's your Mirrable there? It's broken because I won back
in season yes nine five, thanks for the reminder, and
(04:06):
back in season two and three. Gleb, Gleb, I have
a question for you, because, uh, Backstreet Boys performed on
Strictly Come. You know that something probably about Strictly Come
dancing the original version, you weirdo. So I'm assuming when
you say the UK version you're talking about Strictly So,
so look, I'm just gonna ask you. I already know
(04:28):
Cheryl's opinion because she expressed it multiple times in rehearsals,
but I'm curious what is your opinion as far as
how how the shows differ, Like, let's let's use the
original Strictly Come Dancing compared to Dancing with the Stars.
What is the most noticeable difference that you've experienced between
the two shows. I'm always curious to ask. I've done both.
(04:52):
No one for pro the music is longer like this
start a minute minute forty five and by the time
you get to the semifinals, so you go to Blackpool
or you make a final if you're lucky, you are
about doing like to ten like a problem Blackpool hardcore
two minutes. Yeah, it's crazy. And for those people that
(05:15):
don't understand, they're like, oh that's it. No, no, no no, no, guys,
Like it may not look like it, but we were
exhausted after ninety seconds, like a mom, steps and choreography
have to come up. It's crazy. And and another thing
that they don't give you a lot of props, you know,
like we're here, we're so spoiled, like we want a
freaking shower. We want uher Mr shower over there, everything,
(05:40):
and they give it to you. They're You're like, no,
it's just that, Yeah, that is true. I've noticed that,
Like when we did the show, it was the middle
of the season and we were like we we had
two performances, so we were in the middle of the
show and then we closed the show, and I I
I do really like recall it vividly that the dances
(06:03):
were longer, and I mean, look, I think the longest
dance we did Cheryl was what maybe a minute and
a half minute? No, I'm minute thirty five a minute
the Backstreet Boys number and dud it. That was long
okay for me, I can't imagine two minutes and and longer.
But what I do love about strictly come as a
(06:25):
j said, I do love the fact that it's authentic
to ballroom dance. And I think that with that being said,
that is what our show really really is about. It's
not about like can we do jazz? Can we do
all these different types of dancing, which I don't mind,
But like, I think the reason why, like if you
were to rewind back to my good old days, it
was because of the fact that we were experts in
(06:48):
ballroom and I think that that is refreshing to see.
And a for sure Len Goodman, who used to judge
Strictly Come Dancing, I'm sure he prefers that, and he'll
be back this season. There's gonna be four people at
the judges table. F y. I do have to say
I was kind of surprised when I did the show
that there was more than just the ballroom styles, more
than the chat chaw and you know, the fox trot.
(07:11):
There was like lyrical, there was jazz, like there was
these other things that to me, that's not what I
when I relate. So I struggled so much when I
first joined the show because my background is just pure
ballroom mom and with you answer like a lot of
other kids, you know, I mean, I'm really little. I'm
(07:33):
I'm there with you. Don't forget I couldn't do hip
hop and jazz and like contemporary any of this stuff.
I was like, damn it, Like I really really struggle
with that. And you know, but this is the greatest
thing about the show is like you learn, like you
actually I can say that I'm a better dancer now
than I was before, even though I'm not professionally competing anymore.
(07:54):
If it makes sense, you know what I mean? Like
in the show, show pushes you so much that you
you have to come up, you have to become better.
So for those people that don't know you, club, tell
us a little bit about like how you even got
here to the United States and the process. And I
would love to talk. We have time, Gleb and I
(08:20):
go way back, you guys, way back, way back. Well
Number one that I'm from Russia. I grew up in Moscow.
I uh a bore room dancer. Um. I was always traveling,
like since fifteen years old. I've left my family, moved
to a lot via dance there for the country, represent
the country, went to the World Championship. Then I went
(08:43):
back to Moscow and all that kind of stuff. Lived
in Hong Kong for eight years, Australia two years, UK
two years, and then in It was always my dream
to be in American In two thousand and four, I
packed my back literally like back back into the smallest
suitcase you've ever can imagine. I had abouts in my
(09:06):
pocket and I flew to New York. At that time,
my girlfriend's grandparents lived in Cornee Island, Brooklyn. That's where
I stayed for the first in one of those you
know apartment buildings, and like it took me an hour
to get to the city. So every day I would
go to dance down Square where I met Sheryl for
(09:26):
the first time. And I was teaching. I was teaching classes,
and I was like living the dream. I was in America.
I spoke zero English. I was just like, hello, that
was That was about it. It's pretty good, that's it.
But then you know it just and it was always
my dream to be here, and here I am. And
by the way, I just like, but four weeks ago,
(09:48):
about a month ago, I became a citizen. Congratulations, Yeah,
thank you. Huge. It's huge. It's like a lot of
people don't understand, like I mean, growing up in Russia,
like had no money nothing, you know, like being now here,
being on the one of the best shows out out there,
(10:09):
um and even like toping to U a G. I'm
like a huge fan. I remember what a j came two.
It was a season I think it was like season
twenty eight. I was dancing with Lauren and Landy Akin
too or herself. I was like, I couldn't even say
a word. I was like, damn, like what like like,
I don't remember that? I do remember that, and yeah,
(10:32):
said Lauren. Lauren goes you know, I love you, babe,
but my my partner is the biggest fan, and I do.
I do remember that. She was really sweet and so
were you. So I have to ask, so, like, during
during the time before you got to become an American citizen,
in between seasons, have you been flying back and forth
or have you been able to stay here in in
(10:55):
l A or like, have you only been here for
like a work visa or have you been going back
and forth? Well do you still are you still a
family there? Right? I still have my parents, my grandparents,
my sister lives in Europe. But so they got me
the show got me working visa and for about two
and a half years a standard working visa and then
apply for a green card through the Extraordinary Migration UM
(11:19):
and we got approved and then since then waited for
five years and now I'm a citizen. But I did
travel back and forth to see my family. I brought
my parents so where they came to the show and
they were like, oh my god, dude, we're so proud
of you like pride. You know. I I heard an
interview that you did when your partner was was her
name again, the comedian Nikky Gleiso, Yes, And I heard
(11:44):
your just recently your podcast um when she was interviewing
you and you said that your dad, I guess it
wasn't didn't really accept the fact that you moved to
was it Lithuania? You came back, you were partner lists
and you wanted to model, right? Was that how it
all went down? Like do you find a lot of
people asking this? They're like, so it costs so much
(12:04):
money to ballroom dance, right, and at the end of
the day, it's not as glamorous as what people think
it is. Why do we do it? Like why do
you think that you competed back in the day for
really nothing in return on just our pride? I guess.
I mean it's it's like a you know, it's like
it's an addiction. You know, when like I was a
(12:25):
kid and it was like I had nothing, so for
me to go and dance, it was something. It was
an event. It was a highlight of my day. You know.
I wanted to be in a dance studio. I wanted
to go to a competition. My parents used to punish
me if you know, I was bad in school or
something else, they would be like, no, you're not gonna
go to compete, Like I pushed my I have two daughters.
(12:46):
I pushed my daughter to go to dance like I
dropped to day and dropped off a dance student. She
was like, damn, like I don't want to hit like
I mean, like I asked for dance shoes for my birthday,
and I don't want to dance with dad any more.
Asking a parents to give him dance shoes for his birthday,
not a PlayStation, not a bicycle, not a skateboard, by
(13:08):
dance shoes. How grazes that? That's so, you know, it's crazy.
I mean the mental health aspect, though, when what do
you think? Like, look, I think we are born we
were born into ballroom dancing almost right, So we're so
used to that living in that like fight flight or
freeze mode where we're constantly living that like roller coaster
of emotions, right, And honestly, it's probably not the healthiest
(13:32):
to constantly live in that like excitement and then crash
and burn and then excitement and then crash and burn.
There's never that like constant um feeling where you're just content.
How do you think your mental health has been affected
as far as back in your competition days and now
that you're famous and ballroom dancing on television front of
(13:52):
millions of people. I mean, look, it's it's pretty much
the same thing, because you like when you compete your perform,
you're living the moment and that's your like, that's you
drive that you drop that you want to constantly do that,
like you depend on that. You know, you spend I
used to when we used to live Hong Kong. I
(14:12):
used to teach and literally take all the money that
I just made and go and spend on my lessons.
Like I would not save anything. I would not go
and by like think about like I have to you know,
drive a car like or something. No, Like I took
a train and I took Aspen Sellers lessons. You know,
Cheryl knows exactly what I'm talking about. One of our
(14:34):
like mentors and teachers in the ballroom dance in world
where Yeah, um, but it's sort of your dance career,
you know. Ants at some point, you know, and you
want to do something else whether you become a teacher
or a judge, or you know, a f a dance
dance instructor, like in the fitness center, like a lot
of other people that I know my friends do, or
(14:57):
I was lucky enough to get on show and I'm
still on the show and I'm going to be thirty
eight in two weeks, so I'm like, what the hell
am I gonna do in two years? We talked about
this question when We're shooting this thing at Disneyland. I
was like, what are we gonna do? So, to be honest,
(15:18):
are you going to do? That huge question mark in
the air is like a helped me out, like a
backup answer. I mean, look, look, I'll do you know,
I'll do it all. I look, I look. First of all,
I can relate to something you said earlier, which is like,
what what you do is like an addiction for me.
(15:40):
I live to be on stage. I live to be
behind the camera. I live to perform. It's my safe place.
I'm the most goofy, awkward dorc when I'm not on stage.
But when I'm on stage, that's where I've thrived, That's
where I excel. Excuse me, and that's you know, that
I can relate to as well as myself and Renee
(16:01):
are both fathers. We both have daughters. I have two girls.
Renee has a nine year old little girl. Um, you know,
I just want to ask you because look, I can
I can say from experience now that I've done the show,
the schedule is a mother it's grueling. So how do
you balance being a single dad now with your girls
(16:26):
and the schedule of the show, which you you know,
it's it's it's freaking seven days a week. So how
do you how do you balance? How do you how
do you make it work? So scary? Honestly, I don't
know because I haven't met my partner yet. I'm meeting
her on Monday, and then they're canny give me the
schedule and I'll be like freaking out. I look, we
(16:47):
share custody five to fift so week with Elena, week
with me, um and um, I just had to find
the I interview the several babysitters. So literally, I'm just
gonna try to do it all, like I'll try to scass.
Is it your first season being single? A single dad?
(17:08):
Is being wow? Yeah? And it's I mean, look, and
I'm still going through this whole thing and it's super
new to me. I'm I'm scared as fun, to be
honest with you, I'm like, how how is it gonna work?
And I mean, I'm I enjoy to be with my girls.
I feel like to me, I'm the best dad, Like
(17:29):
I give them everything. Um, and I love, love, love
love being with them. And you know, I'll try to
I'll try to balance my schedule with their schedule as
much as I can. Try to schedule rehearsals when I
live is in school. Uh, there's a lot of goes
to kindergarten, so that's easier. But again, I don't want
(17:49):
to miss on the good stuff, Like I don't want
to miss some things that you know, I might have
late rehearsal and you know, the girls might have some
activities in school that I have to be there. So
but they I'm sure they work. How old? How old?
I have eight and four and both of my girls
(18:09):
are in dance. Uh, my oldest is incompetitive We we
just did nationals back in July. Um and in you know, Vegas,
and you know it's it's crazy. Um. You know, Also
what was really funny was the very last day and
mind you these kids are in these rooms for like
(18:31):
six hours straight grinding. But the last day was ballroom
and and it was Val and Jenna we're teaching, and
it was the cutest thing. Like my oldest walked up
to them afterwards and said, my daddy was on your show. Uh,
he didn't win. He should have won, but he didn't win,
(18:52):
and Val just cracked up and lost it. And I
just think it's just it's just cute. But I'm just wondering,
Like I always say this whenever I have a kid.
If I have a girl, especially, I won't let her
ballroom because I look, there's a lot of great things
about ballroom dance, but there's also the fact that you
have to grow up so fast, right, And I think
(19:13):
as well, like let's just be honest here, you know,
the fact that you're so close with another gender and
you're literally grinding, and with that, you know, like, for instance,
I think I had sex when I was way too young,
and I think that had a lot to do with
the exposure that I was seeing and traveling alone basically
without a chaperone because my mom was busy working trying
(19:33):
to afford my dance career, and I was exposed and
to all these um, I guess, inappropriate behaviors for a
little girl to see. And how do you feel? I
guess I guess it's different now, right because like you
can dance alone now in the ballroom competition world, you
can she you're you're dancing with your daughter as pro am.
Now when she finally finds a partner, how does that
(19:54):
work with you? Like, how do you feel about that? Well,
she had a partner before, But I feel like at
that that young age, when they're like seven or eight,
they still don't know. There's still not in close contact
when they do ball room and they're still don't realize
what do you mean they don't know? But I mean,
like I'm saying like they're they're not mature enough to
(20:17):
be like, oh, I'm dancing with a boy and like
I'm like so close and grinding and all that. But
like when you're listening, what Olive is eleven? Like she
understands everything now, Like she probably understands one day I do.
She like learns history from TikTok And I was like what, yeah,
because I was studying. I was studying. I was prepping
(20:38):
for um um citizenship exam and we were going through
all the questions and I was like, olive it, do
you know who was the first president of the United
States of a man? And she goes like, of course
I did, George Washington. I was like, what's okay, who's
the father of the United States? She was like, of
course I do. So she's like super advanced, like and
you've seen her. She looks she's eleven. She's not in
(21:00):
the eleven yet, but she looks like thirteen. So at
that age. Agree with you that it's kind of early.
But I mean, I because that ballroom dancing is such
a close show, like you said, such a close contact,
you know, our form of art of sport, that it's
(21:20):
you just grow up so fast. Like I see this
videos of like five year old girls and they're like
like little skirts and the awareness of our bodies, right
Like we're very aware. Right, So it's like no matter what,
you know, hormones are raging, especially from the boys. Right Like,
so listen, and I've said this before, like I lost
my virginity when I was thirteen years old, you know,
(21:41):
and I danced my first dance. Well I'm just letting
you know, just to like, you know, don't be you know,
a loof because there's I'm just saying. I'm not saying
that your daughter specifically. I'm just saying, like, there is
that fear and concern that I have, and I was
wondering if you had it as well. That's all. I mean,
four boys a little different, right, Like I can't say
(22:03):
from my experience, I probably loved every second of it,
Yeah for sure. I don't know. I don't think. Here's
the thing like in and here, it's a lot of
proram when professional dances with an amateur. So when the
Olivia has a competition, I go and dance with her,
perform with her, so because she doesn't have a partner.
But like back in Russia, there's no program everybody dancing
(22:25):
with the same age boy the girl. So maybe, um,
but I mean, look, it's I just need to have
an open conversation, you know, like I'm sure they love
you so much. You know that they're not hiding anything anyway.
But I'm just saying that you do have to grow
fast in the ballroom dancing world. You know. Go ahead, So, Cheryl,
now I was going to say, so, if I hear
(22:48):
you correctly, you think that ballroom dancing actually expedited losing
your virginity. You do believe that. So if you hadn't
been a dancer, you don't think that would have happened
that age. And because of the sort of aware traveling
and the physicality of it and being aware of your body.
(23:09):
But you're also like in this partnership, right, and with partnerships,
not like dancing with the stars, Like we're in these
partnerships for years, and so you grow up together, you
experience the world together, you travel the world together, you
share hotel rooms because you have to save money. You
it's just like you're in this I guess marriage in
a weird way, right that you become so comfortable and
(23:30):
it stuff happens. M not to make it so dark
all of a sudden that scare you. J Hey, J's
got real quiet. I mean, look, stick to hip hop.
Ava for sure is definitely boy crazy right now. Lyric
lyrics my little genius. I've told you this before. Ava
is also very very intelligent, very sharp. But if I
(23:54):
were to put them both side by side, Ava is
me through and through. She's a performer, she loves to
write music. She's a singer, she's a dancer, um, she's
she's writing her own lyrics now, like she's really passionate
about that lyric. On the other hand, is like, I
(24:15):
mean I've said it before. She's like Stephen Hawkings without
the wheelchair, Like she's just a little genius and it's frightening.
But she did tell me the other day, Daddy, I
want to be an actress. I'm like, okay, which scares
me even more than being a dancer. But you know,
but look, just like you said, Leab, you know and
(24:37):
and and and and I know that Renee has the
same thought pattern, which is, look, whatever our children want
to do when they're passionate about, we will be there
to hold their hands and to and to walk them
through and to support them. Unless what they're doing is
harming themselves or others, we're gonna be there. And and
we all got girls, so we're gonna also be like
(25:01):
looking at the boys, like if you don't fit the
bill home, you get the out like you like I don't.
I don't own a gun. I don't own a gun,
but I have five very very big security guards, and
I'm a I'm a really good golfer and I don't
ever miss with a certain club. So you know, there's
definitely ways to get my point across. I always had
(25:22):
this weird, this weird vision of like the first boy
to come up to the door to take a vow
on on you know, go to the mall or go
to the movies and all my tattoos and like me going,
hey man, you know I just got out of prison.
And then that kid goes and googles me and goes, no,
you're in a boy band. You're a backstreet boy. You
didn't go to prison. What I was gonna if you
(25:46):
don't mind a j I was gonna say, since we
are a podcast about mental health and addictions and all
that sort of thing. Um, I tend to agree that
I think I don't think it's impossible to grow up
through competent competitive dance and then acting and all that stuff.
(26:06):
I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think it's a
high risk of ending up with certain disorders or or
low self esteem. Yeah. When when I think about I mean, right,
like as a dancer, maybe it's different in your world.
I was a dancer gleab and there is this auditioning
(26:29):
and then it's like, O, you didn't get it, and
you didn't get it. In the same with actors, you're
constantly being put up on the chopping blocks and then
you get so I guess what I'm trying to say
is for you, you you're not concerned about your kids
following this or do you feel you have enough experience
to guide them to keep them feet planted? I think
(26:53):
I think it it's our job as parents to protect
and die that you know, and we're always there for them.
We always see what they're doing, how they're behaving, and
then you know where they're going. So you know, there
there's such a fine line, like when you see there's
something wrong, you have to have a conversation with them,
Like you have to explain what's good, what's not good.
(27:15):
Like I constantly tell a little bit like you know,
like you can't like you go to she goes to
a regular school, right, so she she doesn't go to
private school. So I was like, you know, there there's
there's something like if you know someone asks you to
try this, so this or whatever you see, you can't
do that, talk to me first, like tell me to
tell me what's going on. Yeah, because you know, it's
(27:37):
such a it's such a you know it's such a
risky thing. And like I say, you want to hang
out with only the good guys. You don't want to
hang out with the bad guys. So you're a great
model though, so that you don't think you have anything
to worry about. So glad you know, Look, obviously it's
(28:06):
it's public knowledge that you have recently separated from your wife,
and you know all of these things, and now you
being a single a single father, and now to put
the icing on the cake, Dancing with the Stars is
back on again and you're back back. So like my
my my thought is like, okay, um, if this were me,
(28:28):
and and this is me speaking of of of the
way I am personally, Like, that's a lot of pressure
in my for for me, if I was going through
what you're going through and then have to work and
then have to balance being a single father, Like, what
is the thought process that goes through your head now,
(28:48):
you know, going into this season with you know, going
through a divorce and then also having to you know,
find the time, you know, to schedule around your children.
Hand he told you, he said he's terrified, but you know,
but but then also at the same time, you know,
there's look I've I've been through it. You and I
(29:11):
and Cheryl were all in the public eye, so like
you know, I thankfully wasn't part of the social media
uh era in the sense of any bad breakups or
any relationships that I went through. It was behind closed doors.
Nobody was the wiser. But you guys are in the
(29:32):
social media generation. So anytime you go through a breakup,
it's been everywhere. So how how how does that affect
you moving forward in let's say a new relationship. Do
you feel like people are gonna be looking at you
were judging you, or do you feel like you know what?
You don't know me, You don't know what really went
(29:53):
on there, You don't have a right to judge me,
like get to know me kind of a thing, you know.
I mean, well, let's and I to be honest with you,
it's I try not to think about it. To mean.
Most important is my kids, you know what how they
think and when we've separated, when we moved with you know,
we both live in different places. My kids come to
my place, you know, they go to hers. We try
(30:15):
I try to make it the most comfortable environment for them.
And that's the most important thing for me. We made it,
and we had this conversation that we made it fun
for them. Like I said, listen, you have two homes now,
it's much better. Like you have your a lot of
toys here. You got a lot of toys. They're like,
you know, when they come to me, we do all
these fun different activities. You know. When they go to her,
(30:37):
they do other fun, different activities. So to me, that's
the most important. Whatever went in the social media or
whatever the crap was put out there, it's all in
the past. I don't really give give a shit about it.
Like it's you know, people people exactly how you said.
People don't know the truth. You know, they only can
judge whatever it's been said, but it's not the truth.
(30:59):
So have their kids, have their friends said anything? Because
it is social media? As a J said, like it's
easily like you're not you don't need to pick up
a magazine anymore, Like it's just there on your phone. Right,
do they like, have they gotten any I guess feedback
or have they been any negativity from their friends or
their fellow classmates. Not really, because I mean, like Olive
(31:21):
is still pretty young, you know, she does she's like
into TikTok and that kind of stuff. She's not like
reading or whatever. Um. One thing was kind of like
that when the teacher she didn't even know that me
and Atlanta were splitting, and her teacher in school told her,
all your parents are getting a divorce, like and he
(31:43):
asked her a question. I was like, that's a everybody say, well,
I'm not sure in front of everybody or not. But
like she came home saying it to me, like, my
teachers just told me that your mom your mom getting divorced?
Is it true? And that was like I was, I
was caught off off guards. So I was like I
(32:03):
didn't even know just what to tell her. So I
was like we have to come none of their business. Yeah,
so that was kind of a bad, bad thing. But listen,
right now, it's all good. Like my acts is dating
so and living and what about you? Are you dating?
What's her name? But that's good, that's health. Look, you
(32:27):
know the funniest thing that the girl that I'm seeing
right now her name is Elina too, which is clearly
you've got a whole hang up on Elana's There's nothing wrong.
It's a beautiful name, it's a beautiful yeah, and so
have you have have the kids met her? Or is
it not there yet? Well? No, no, no no, she's a
single daughter. Actually she has a daughter, uh four years old. Um,
(32:53):
and we have a couple of play dates and it's
been a lot of fun. Oh nice. Is she going
to come to the show? Oh, I don't know anyone
is allowed to come to the show never mind. Yeah,
are you guys? So I hear that there's going to
be I'm pretty sure that there's the audience just like us,
like we're still in pods, you know how we were
a j last season. So yeah, I think you're right.
(33:14):
I think there might be. I don't know, don't quote me.
Of course it's going to be a live audience the
season after I do it. No, I don't think that's
but you know that's our favorite. Um. The COVID officer.
She we had one of those meetings again recently, and
she's just talking about the Delta variant and how much
worse it is than last week. Right, So like that,
Like I guess you know a couple of people on set,
(33:37):
you know, the crew went after testing and even after
being vaccinated, got it, you know. So he just has
it right now, my mom got it and she's and
she's vaccinated. My mom has the Delta variant. She's fine though,
But what sucks is she told me this morning she
goes the doctors, told me that because she has no
taste or smell, and the doctor said it could be
(33:58):
back in a week or up to six months. I'm
like Jesus. So she's like, you know what, I'm just
gonna eat rice crackers because I can't taste anything. I'm
probably gonna lose weight, and I'm gonna look fantastic. Love her.
Listen three months, three months ago, I wasn't vaccinated and
I got Delta and really never Yeah, I've never felt
(34:22):
worse in my life. My heart was like a hundred
and sixty seven uh beats a minute. I was. I
fainted a couple of times. I've called nine one one twice,
and literally ten days later, I got got a vaccine.
I was like, everybody who's not vaccine, go get a vaccine,
(34:43):
because how did you get it? Like nightclubbing with your
new girlfriend or something. No, no, no, no, I actually
I flew to San Antonio to um Corey got Funiki
Glazer shown by the way during the flight or something.
Like that. It was just it was pretty bad. I
(35:03):
came back and I was I felt like crap. I
went and it was negative. I won. The second time,
I was negative and I was dying, literally dying. I
thought like I couldn't like I couldn't breathe, like it
was just bad and I want. The third time, I
was like, well, you're positive, and then that wasn't home
for two weeks. But it was just that it was
the worst. Did your girlfriend get it? Just kidding, I'm
(35:24):
just busting your ball, so ball busting. So I I
just want to ask you, Gleb, just because I know
for me, um, you know, being in this business for
you know, the better part of almost thirty five years.
I've been in this business. I've been in the band
for twenty nine years. But it'll be you know, it'll
be thirty officially for the group in three, but I'm
(35:49):
the founding member, so I for me, this year's twenty
nine years. But my point is, you know, being in
the limelight, being on the go, being i mean, let's
face it, the both all the pros are sex symbols.
All you guys are congrgeous people, men and women from
head to toe in the limelight. So, like you know,
(36:13):
there is a lot of perks and a lot of
things that come with being in the limelight, and but
with those perks comes a lot of responsibility. And sometimes
I know, for me, I let it get the better
of me. For me, it was drugs and alcohol where
you know, it became a thing even though I I
(36:35):
was labeled the bad boy of the Backstreet Boys before
I ever touched a drink to my lips, before I
ever touched a drug. And then once I was already
knee deep in drugs and alcohol, I was like, you
know what, I'm really gonna live this bad boy quote
unquote lifestyle. Um, has it been hard for you, like,
(36:57):
you know, you are young, young, you're younger me, but
young being on the show young and you know, having
the success and having the tempt, has it been hard
for you like on the party side of things, or
you know, have you been able to kind of just
enjoy yourself? I mean, look, I always feel like especially
(37:21):
with kids, you know, they keep you grounded, Like you know,
they're my life, They're everything for me, and if I
suck up, it's you know, I'm responsible. I'm responsible for
their lives, for their future for everything. You know, I
do what I do, I do for them. I do
for me, but I do for them too, you know.
So I'm not like a I mean, I like to
(37:45):
go out and you know, maybe have a drink or like.
But I'm not like crazy body, you know, because you
know I'm old. I cannot wake up in the morning
and they're like hangover to rehearsal. Not oh my, don't,
don't don't even. I have a question, gone, I what
I what I You know? What I love is I
(38:07):
love working, you know, I love teaching, I love performing,
I love being in the studio. That's what I love
to do. That's like gets gets me out of the depression,
gets me out of like the dark thoughts or anything
like that. You know, if that's one was like another,
but another the negative part of that, like what if
(38:28):
it's all gone right? What's them? That's the biggest question.
You said something to me when I first saw you
at Disneyland. Um that when we shot that segment that
people will see soon. Um, but you said, like, I
have to stop drinking. Now. What did you mean by that? Exactly? Well? Yeah,
(38:48):
so I mean, what's it coming from a night out
or it was no, no, no, it was it's actually
coming from like I had this thought for a very
long time and Nika Glazer Comedians, she's sober for many,
many years, and we had this whole conversation that was
telling her Nikkie like I would love one day completely
stop drinking because it's not good for you. Like it's
not good for you period. You know, it's it gives
(39:11):
you this little buzz, but then it goes away and
then you have to hangover and they have to struggle
with that, like it's bad for your health and everything.
And he goes like, I'm going to give you this book.
I have this book. You read it. While you're reading it,
you can have a drink, you can drink whatever. At
the moment you finished reading it, you will never advertise
alcohol again. So I was like, I'm still waiting for
(39:32):
that book. Still you have you started the book started
the book yet, but I'm I'm I'm very close. I'm
very very close. So you want to do it more
from like, you want to stop drinking more because of
the effects that it that basically you go through right
when it comes to being hungover or even that depression.
Because when I used to drink. You see, the alcohol
just stopped working for me. So like I would consume
(39:55):
so much alcohol that I would take a look and
I'd be completely I thought so birth right, But I
was also a functioning alcoholic. And then I started to
realize my dad passed away, and then I just quit.
But you know, I realized that it's a disease that
I'm dealing with, which is addiction. And um, I think
that sometimes we can get lost in the shuffle of that,
(40:16):
because this is what this is. Part of our job
is to be social and network and to drink and
to go out and to be friendly. You know, do
you find that, um, do you find that you've just
reached your limit or do you feel like you might
you might be an addict. That's a very good question.
I mean honestly, when I when I go out and
(40:39):
I socialize and you know, and I don't drink, it's
just much better. It just feels more real, like you
actually who you are. You're not like trying, like it's
a it's a different feeling and that's what I love
about it. But also, yeah, like I mean, the next
day is crazy, Like the next is bad for me,
(41:01):
you know, Like I just hate that feeling. I just
hee that feeling. And and also we're gonna stay money
not buying all the booze, you know, like you be
getting free booze. But that's when you say you when
you say you hate the feeling, do you mean just
the physical hangover or you don't like what you see
(41:21):
in the mirror on an emotional level or both it's
it's I think it's both in terms of I can't
I can't function properly. My hat is not working. I
lose time, I lose the day. I can't. I get yeah,
I get like I get not anxiety, but I get
a bad depression, like I started like hating everything around me,
(41:46):
like I started hating the fact that you know, like
it's just it's just bad. Well do you know I
have to say that listening to you cope with the divorce,
you seem to be generally an optimist, Right did you
grow up an optimist? Did you? Did you tend to
(42:09):
be the kind of person that could see the glass
have full as opposed to have empty? Because I thought
that was the most beautiful thing you said, the way
you reframed it for your kids. Now you get double
the pleasure, double the fun. That's a beauty. One of
my favorite films of all time is called Life is Beautiful.
Have you guys seen it? The Italian film where where
(42:29):
it's right in the middle of World War two and
it's a Jewish man and his son and they're trying
to kill them, and he keeps reframing everything as like
a hide and go seek, like made it fun for
the kid, basically protecting his kid. So I was really impressed.
That's the film I thought about when you said you
(42:50):
sat down with them and said you get double the pleasure,
double the fun. That's such a beautiful thing. Have you
always been that kind of person or the fatherhood bringing
that out in you? Yeah? I mean, look, I I
grew up. I didn't know better, Like I grew up
very poor, you know, we didn't know better. So the
(43:12):
only choice would have is to look forward, is to
wake up in the morning and do things, you know,
and look and hope and dream for the best, for
the bettest. So I still live that dream, you know,
I still hope and it's still so I can't like,
I can't allow myself to be negative and be like, oh,
(43:33):
like I've never never heard you any negative comment come
out of your mouth. Actually, you're very you are very
You were that. Yeah, you were the same way when
I was on the show. Like every time I see
you come out of your trailer or we'd be doing
the run throughs, or I see you in the rehearsal space,
You're always smiling. You're always like, what's up, age, Like,
(43:54):
you're just always in a really good mood. And I
don't know, I I didn't know if you were. You're
really in a good mood. You're trying to mind me
so that I would lose. I don't know what the
I I you know, I was trying to figure it out.
But listen, listen. I know that's that's that's my own
that's my own ship. I know. So listen, Glen. Before
we let you go. Um, first of all, thank you
(44:16):
for taking the time doing the show. Before we let
you go, I know this wasn't on our producer's list
of things to do, but I'm gonna curveball, so we gleb.
But we do this thing every so often called kiss
mary and kill. So you can kiss one, you can
marry one, and you can kill one. Let's just get
(44:39):
killed out of the way. That gets killed. No, but listen,
hold on. So these are your three choices to kiss,
Mary kill. Here we go, Jenna, Sharna, and Cheryl. You
have to pick one to kiss, one to marry, and
one to kill. You better watch yourself. You're always my
partner on the show. Watch it. Okay, she's gonna kill me.
(45:04):
I'll marry Cheryl. Okay, okay, So who do you kiss?
I'll kiss, I'll kiss Sharna, and I'll kill Jeff. Actually
I was surprised by that answer. I thought it was
the other way around with those two, but I didn't
know which way that ship was going to go. But also,
(45:26):
I do have one final final question before we let
you go. So this is for both of you, Cheryl
and Glenn. Okay, if you guys could do one dance together,
what would it be? And to what song? The Lambada
to Ricky Martin Let's get loud. That's not by Ricky Martin,
(45:47):
that's by Jennifer Lopez. That's not even close. What's your
I'll do uh with you? I'll do I'll do I'll
do an what with Cheryl to Celin only if she
(46:09):
sings it live? I know I can't. I'm trying to
picture this song, and I'm like, I don't know how
that's gonna work. Yeah. No, See, Gleb and I were
always partnered together because we're like the only married not unmarried,
but I'm married. But you know what I mean A
couple of that's on the show, and it's we've gone
through so much together because we're both genuinely just ballroom dancers, right,
So we've been like, definitely, we've had a great time,
(46:31):
but I don't know if we're going to be doing
that this season because of the pandemic. Well, I do
want to wish you both. I do want to wish
you both the best of luck. I know, glab B,
glab dude, you're solid, dude, your girl dad. But you know,
I'm gonna be rooting for my girl, but secretly I
could get eliminated. I'll secretly also rooting for you, glab
(46:52):
don't worry. Thank you guys so much. Glare the best,
loved change, Thank you, Thank you. All Right, you guys,
we're gonna take a quick break and we're gonna cut
my back and answer a couple of your questions here
on I Heart Radio. Pretty messed up, all right, you guys.
(47:24):
When we're back here on I Heart Radio. Pretty messed up. Uh.
First of all, again, Gleb, thank you so much man
for coming on. I just realized I never talked deep
with Gleb like he is such and you know you're right,
like Renee, he is. I've never seen him in a
bad mood, and I always just thought like Gleb was
just always you know, he's always happy whatever, but like
(47:46):
he's a really good person. He is. That's the most
I've talked to him since the same It literally came
right through the zoom. He was a stand up guy,
stand up Yes, Like he's genuinely a solid dude. And
even though I talked to him like a handful of times,
you know, I just I'll say this, from my first
(48:08):
impression of him to right now, he's he has grown
a lot. He has matured and grown um in the
in the year that it's been since I last saw him.
So hats off to you, my man. All Right, you guys,
so listen, Uh, we're coming up to the end of
the show, and as always, we do love to answer
(48:30):
your emails and questions, so please continue to send him
into us as well as don't forget to hit that
subscribe button, give us five stars. We love e leve
level when you do that. And I'm gonna ask you
the first question. AJAU go ahead, a J. This is
from Brittany. Thanks Brittany, a J. You've talked about some
post COVID anxiety dreams about being in crowd and being attacked.
(48:51):
What was your reaction to the fan who ran on
stage to bear hug you from behind in Vegas and
how does that affect how you feel about interacting with
the fan base in general. Keep Brittany for your question. Well, Brittany,
it's Brittany bitch. Um. You know what. Uh, First of all,
it scared the ship out of me. Um. You know,
it's been a while since Well, no, it's it's it's
(49:15):
been since the last leg that we were on in
Latin America. We were well this this happened the second
second night of the most recent Vegas Mini residency that
I did with the after party, myself, Joey Fatone, Nick Carter,
and Jannia Morris from Boys to Men. Um. Yeah, I
(49:36):
was literally singing and all of a sudden I went
to turn to the right and this girl's face, no mask,
was just right there and then Joey picked her up
and carried her off the stage. And then afterwards Joey said,
look now, ladies, if you do this, you will get
(49:58):
kicked out of the show. This young lady now does
not get to see the rest of the show because
she made poor life choices. And you know, so no.
But then, but then, my wife asked me before I
came home because she heard about it, and she goes,
do you think you should COVID test before you come home.
I'm like, listen, it happened so quick. She did not
(50:21):
kiss me, She didn't even touch me. She just like
had her face right there. And I think before she
had a second to react, she was taken off stage
and I and I did get tested as soon as
I got home. And obviously I'm fine. Otherwise you guys
would all know about it. Cheryl, do you want to
know why I didn't see it happen because age on
(50:41):
backstage and A J says, bro run up to the
room and grab my pink cat, and he says, you
have eight minutes. So literally, I'm running through the lobby,
up the elevator looking for his hat box, run back down.
By the time I get back down he's already on
stage with a different color head on. I do you
(51:03):
want to know something I told they do this. I
can't remember the last time security in Vegas told me
to slow down. Okay, his floating across across the Venetian
Renee was limitating. Those are huge hotels. That's that. But
(51:24):
to finish that question up, Brittany, because the last part
you said, how does that affect how I feel about
interacting with the fan base in general? Look, I I
will always be uh, you know, hands on with the fans.
I will jump into the crowd. Um. I've staged though before. Like,
I do like to engage with the crowd. But I
(51:45):
will say this, Um, as long as it's on my
terms where I feel I'm in control of the situation,
will I actually do it? If I walk out of
a hotel and I get surrounded by people, that scares
the shift out of me. Um. And yeah, now it's
(52:07):
ten times worse. But over the past probably five to
ten years, it's begetting progressively worse and more stressful for
me to be surrounded by you know, hundreds, if not
thousands of people and it's just me and my one
security guard. Like, if they wanted to they can kill us, like,
there's nothing I can do about it. But now especially um,
(52:31):
it's a little nerve wracking. But like I said, as
long as it's under my terms, and I'm like okay,
I'm I'm I'm gonna jump out. My security knows I'm
gonna jump in the crowd, and then I go. I
do a couple of fist bumps, and then I get
the back on stage. That's it, and then I feel
like it's much better. So thank you Brittany and that
girl that jumped on stage. UM, I hope you enjoyed
(52:55):
what part of the show you did see? All right,
So the next question, that's hilarious Sarah. It's like, look,
if you have to lose your mind again, where a
Cheryl Burke mask? Exactly? Uh So we have want one
more question from Lauren, who says each of you has
(53:18):
to perform one way or or another in your career.
How do you deal with performance anxiety and can you
remember a certain time when it wasn't all time high? Um,
I'll be short and quick. UM, I don't get performance anxiety. UM,
I don't get nervous before I go on. Um No,
(53:41):
I was more nervous with you right up a Nhill showtime,
and then the minute it was go time, I was
I was flying on all cylinders and I was yeah,
but I mean, like again, I got judged on the
wrong part of the dance. You know, you and I know,
(54:01):
and and we'll take this to our grade. I will
talk my Argentine tango from the point that it started
to the end of it or epic. Either way, it
was close to perfect. You said it yourself, so you know,
(54:24):
damn carry an, We're gonna have to have a chat.
But wrong, I don't get nervous. I think if there's
any ounce of anxiety ever, it's so minute, and it's
usually at award shows, mainly because you're performing in front
of your peers. You're looking out into a sea of
multi Grammy award winning artists from all genres of music,
(54:48):
and you're just you know, your balls are out. So
it's like, literally, do you know what? It makes sense now,
right because you are a seasoned, veteran performer. But early on,
did you get nervous? I mean, like I have anxiety.
It's worse now than it ever was before. Yeah, I've
never gotten what do you think? What do you think, Well,
(55:09):
first of all, I'm clear headed. Second of all, with
that comes so many thoughts and my own soap opera
happening in my head. And I've never been so like
connected also to my feelings. So I'm actually first of
all acknowledging the fact that, um, I do have anxiety,
and I do have like there's been lots of revelations
this year, right and for me as far as like
(55:31):
social anxiety, and now I have ball from dancing anxiety.
And it's like I get more nervous more than ever,
absolutely now that I get older. Yeah, dance a phobia.
That's tough. I mean, like especially when you're telling your
partner not to be nervous. Yeah, I know that Renee
gets anxiety after I clock a ball straight down the
(55:51):
drive then he has to come up behind. But Renee,
you said he used to get nervous when you do podcast. Well,
you haven't gotten to me yet. I was going to
tell you, I know, I before I direct something, I
have nightmares consistently. My nightmares are always the same. It's
(56:14):
I'm on the set. I have no idea what what
the the pieces about. I don't know what the story is,
and everyone's asking me questions and I have no idea
and I just want to run every time. And I
think that's what that anxiety I think does help me
(56:36):
obsess where where while I'm I'm not asleep. When I'm awake,
I want to know every last shot how it's going
to be. Uh, And I don't. But by the time
we shoot, driving to the set, I feel like I
completely know everything that we're supposed to get or we're
(56:58):
not going to have a good shoot. To say, though, dude,
you and I have directed three videos together, and I've
worked with a lot of directors in my career, and
I gotta say nine times out of ten, all the
other ones at some point during the shoot they lost
their ship and they yelled at somebody, or they like
(57:19):
went they just walked off the set to go cool off.
You're the most like, You're as cool as cucumber the
whole time. Thank you. You're talking to people respectfully, You're
you're being productive, and you're getting ship done and thank you. Know.
Do you know what? For me, I've never heard Renee
(57:40):
yelled not I don't think I can't yell either, so
it's yelled. My yelling is monotone. Still that doesn't count.
This is my yells. It's still yelling for me. One date,
one shoot day happens, it's like Christmas, like a kid
(58:04):
in a candy store. Like for me, I feel so
lucky to be on the set. And I think that
even the one time on a Boy in a Man
where the boy the play there as a kid. Um
he started having like these weird like delusions where he
(58:25):
was talking about lizard people and and and I was like,
oh my god, I'm losing our actor, and like that
was the closest I ever got. That was the That
was the closest. I was like, you just have to
go yes, yes, the lizard people are here and they
(58:46):
need you to get the shots. You can go back
with them to the mother ship. Well you know what happened,
just quickly, just for the because it's interesting. Uh. It
was the only time I'd ever worked with someone that
I didn't meet because we didn't have time. And it
was like, okay, this kid he's got looks the part,
blah blah blah. And his mom said it was his
(59:08):
tenth project. He was having a melt down and he said,
my mom lied, this is my first paid gig ever.
Kind of thing, and he was literally having a little
mini meltdown, like a like a tiny tune meltdown, and
and I just said, come on, let's go for a walk.
And we walked out in the fields. And but that
was the closest I ever got to panic. And I
(59:29):
was like, oh no, because we just shut up and
do that part. No, it's fine, but well listen Brittany
and Lauren, thank you guys for your questions. I hope
you think that we answered them as best we could.
And uh, everybody out there, man, stay safe, love each other,
take care of each other. And uh can go find
glack at at globs of Chenko on Instagram. We never
(59:52):
asked him, so I feel bad. Well, yes, there you go,
and good luck spelling that. But I'm sure you se
spens a V C H E n k O Savchenko
I one spelling bee. That was the only subject that
was good in. So there you go. Thank you guys.
It's always for tuning in. Uh, we will see you
(01:00:13):
guys next time on Pretty Messed Up on I Heart Radio.
Follow Pretty Messed Up on i Heart Radio, or subscribe
wherever you listen to podcasts.
I'm pretty Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Pretty
(00:21):
Messed Up on I Heart Radio. I'm your host A J.
McClean with my beautiful and sexy, darling gorgeous co host
Rene Alisondo. Okay, calm down, no, and the stunningly talented
and beautiful and gorgeous and sexy and well, you know, tiny,
(00:43):
but good things come in small packages. Cheryl Burke share
Bear love you love you so much. Hey, guys, miss
you guys, love you, miss you so Okay. So it's like,
literally it's full circle. You know when we started this
podcas cast well over a year ago. Uh we we
(01:04):
started when you and I were doing Dancing Stars, and
it is that time again. We have literally come full
circle and they've announced the pros, so you know, you
know what that means. So our listen, guys, are are
our guest today is a Russian dancer born in Moscow,
choreographer and model who is currently a professional dancer on
(01:26):
the US version of Dancing the Stars. He previously appeared
on the UK, Australian and Russian versions of the show
as well. He began dancing at the ripe age of
eight years old. After fourteen years in marriage. He recently
recently announced I had coffee before this. I'm sorry. He
recently announced his separation from professional dancer Elena. They have
two daughters together, Olivia and Ziata. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome
(01:52):
to the show. Glebe Dan Glab is on time. Guys.
Let me tell you something because Glab is so I
remember that when we were doing the show he was
always late. Always, but he has an excuse this time
because he's a single dad. And but let me tell
(02:13):
you something. The last two Zoom meetings we had with
the executives was great, on time and also late. Dude,
you're on time, bro. I remember when we're doing the
show together. I'm like, where's Glab? Where's Glab's late for
the stage before the show started, I was like, I'll
see you soon. Okay, what's happening. I was trying to
(02:34):
get on it and for some reason it didn't let
me right away. But that's great. Welcome, Welcome, buddy, Good
to see you, man, I haven't seen you in years.
And this is Renee, a our other co hosts. Rene. Welcome, Welcome, welcome,
And you know myself and you know obviously share you
know this girl over here, So dude, here we are. Here,
(02:57):
we are again full circle Like we literally started this
podcast after opening night of last season. Um, so here
we are full circle back Dance You with the Stars
is wrapping up again here season thirty. Can you believe it?
Crazy dude? How many seasons have you done on the
(03:19):
American version? I joined on season sixteen, and I was
on for about two seasons and the left and they
came back in season twenty three. Season three, I was
on and this, I mean this is like nine seasons between.
I've done the Russian version and the UK version, and
Brian have done the Australian version. Yeah, did you ever
(03:43):
win one of them? Damn? Mean no, I don't think
that was Actually I need that Mirrable trophy. I need that.
Where's your Mirrable there? It's broken because I won back
in season yes nine five, thanks for the reminder, and
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back in season two and three. Gleb, Gleb, I have
a question for you, because, uh, Backstreet Boys performed on
Strictly Come. You know that something probably about Strictly Come
dancing the original version, you weirdo. So I'm assuming when
you say the UK version you're talking about Strictly So,
so look, I'm just gonna ask you. I already know
(04:28):
Cheryl's opinion because she expressed it multiple times in rehearsals,
but I'm curious what is your opinion as far as
how how the shows differ, Like, let's let's use the
original Strictly Come Dancing compared to Dancing with the Stars.
What is the most noticeable difference that you've experienced between
the two shows. I'm always curious to ask. I've done both.
(04:52):
No one for pro the music is longer like this
start a minute minute forty five and by the time
you get to the semifinals, so you go to Blackpool
or you make a final if you're lucky, you are
about doing like to ten like a problem Blackpool hardcore
two minutes. Yeah, it's crazy. And for those people that
(05:15):
don't understand, they're like, oh that's it. No, no, no no, no, guys,
Like it may not look like it, but we were
exhausted after ninety seconds, like a mom, steps and choreography
have to come up. It's crazy. And and another thing
that they don't give you a lot of props, you know,
like we're here, we're so spoiled, like we want a
freaking shower. We want uher Mr shower over there, everything,
(05:40):
and they give it to you. They're You're like, no,
it's just that, Yeah, that is true. I've noticed that,
Like when we did the show, it was the middle
of the season and we were like we we had
two performances, so we were in the middle of the
show and then we closed the show, and I I
I do really like recall it vividly that the dances
(06:03):
were longer, and I mean, look, I think the longest
dance we did Cheryl was what maybe a minute and
a half minute? No, I'm minute thirty five a minute
the Backstreet Boys number and dud it. That was long
okay for me, I can't imagine two minutes and and longer.
But what I do love about strictly come as a
(06:25):
j said, I do love the fact that it's authentic
to ballroom dance. And I think that with that being said,
that is what our show really really is about. It's
not about like can we do jazz? Can we do
all these different types of dancing, which I don't mind,
But like, I think the reason why, like if you
were to rewind back to my good old days, it
was because of the fact that we were experts in
(06:48):
ballroom and I think that that is refreshing to see.
And a for sure Len Goodman, who used to judge
Strictly Come Dancing, I'm sure he prefers that, and he'll
be back this season. There's gonna be four people at
the judges table. F y. I do have to say
I was kind of surprised when I did the show
that there was more than just the ballroom styles, more
than the chat chaw and you know, the fox trot.
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There was like lyrical, there was jazz, like there was
these other things that to me, that's not what I
when I relate. So I struggled so much when I
first joined the show because my background is just pure
ballroom mom and with you answer like a lot of
other kids, you know, I mean, I'm really little. I'm
(07:33):
I'm there with you. Don't forget I couldn't do hip
hop and jazz and like contemporary any of this stuff.
I was like, damn it, Like I really really struggle
with that. And you know, but this is the greatest
thing about the show is like you learn, like you
actually I can say that I'm a better dancer now
than I was before, even though I'm not professionally competing anymore.
(07:54):
If it makes sense, you know what I mean? Like
in the show, show pushes you so much that you
you have to come up, you have to become better.
So for those people that don't know you, club, tell
us a little bit about like how you even got
here to the United States and the process. And I
would love to talk. We have time, Gleb and I
(08:20):
go way back, you guys, way back, way back. Well
Number one that I'm from Russia. I grew up in Moscow.
I uh a bore room dancer. Um. I was always traveling,
like since fifteen years old. I've left my family, moved
to a lot via dance there for the country, represent
the country, went to the World Championship. Then I went
(08:43):
back to Moscow and all that kind of stuff. Lived
in Hong Kong for eight years, Australia two years, UK
two years, and then in It was always my dream
to be in American In two thousand and four, I
packed my back literally like back back into the smallest
suitcase you've ever can imagine. I had abouts in my
(09:06):
pocket and I flew to New York. At that time,
my girlfriend's grandparents lived in Cornee Island, Brooklyn. That's where
I stayed for the first in one of those you
know apartment buildings, and like it took me an hour
to get to the city. So every day I would
go to dance down Square where I met Sheryl for
(09:26):
the first time. And I was teaching. I was teaching classes,
and I was like living the dream. I was in America.
I spoke zero English. I was just like, hello, that
was That was about it. It's pretty good, that's it.
But then you know it just and it was always
my dream to be here, and here I am. And
by the way, I just like, but four weeks ago,
(09:48):
about a month ago, I became a citizen. Congratulations, Yeah,
thank you. Huge. It's huge. It's like a lot of
people don't understand, like I mean, growing up in Russia,
like had no money nothing, you know, like being now here,
being on the one of the best shows out out there,
(10:09):
um and even like toping to U a G. I'm
like a huge fan. I remember what a j came two.
It was a season I think it was like season
twenty eight. I was dancing with Lauren and Landy Akin
too or herself. I was like, I couldn't even say
a word. I was like, damn, like what like like,
I don't remember that? I do remember that, and yeah,
(10:32):
said Lauren. Lauren goes you know, I love you, babe,
but my my partner is the biggest fan, and I do.
I do remember that. She was really sweet and so
were you. So I have to ask, so, like, during
during the time before you got to become an American citizen,
in between seasons, have you been flying back and forth
or have you been able to stay here in in
(10:55):
l A or like, have you only been here for
like a work visa or have you been going back
and forth? Well do you still are you still a
family there? Right? I still have my parents, my grandparents,
my sister lives in Europe. But so they got me
the show got me working visa and for about two
and a half years a standard working visa and then
apply for a green card through the Extraordinary Migration UM
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and we got approved and then since then waited for
five years and now I'm a citizen. But I did
travel back and forth to see my family. I brought
my parents so where they came to the show and
they were like, oh my god, dude, we're so proud
of you like pride. You know. I I heard an
interview that you did when your partner was was her
name again, the comedian Nikky Gleiso, Yes, And I heard
(11:44):
your just recently your podcast um when she was interviewing
you and you said that your dad, I guess it
wasn't didn't really accept the fact that you moved to
was it Lithuania? You came back, you were partner lists
and you wanted to model, right? Was that how it
all went down? Like do you find a lot of
people asking this? They're like, so it costs so much
(12:04):
money to ballroom dance, right, and at the end of
the day, it's not as glamorous as what people think
it is. Why do we do it? Like why do
you think that you competed back in the day for
really nothing in return on just our pride? I guess.
I mean it's it's like a you know, it's like
it's an addiction. You know, when like I was a
(12:25):
kid and it was like I had nothing, so for
me to go and dance, it was something. It was
an event. It was a highlight of my day. You know.
I wanted to be in a dance studio. I wanted
to go to a competition. My parents used to punish
me if you know, I was bad in school or
something else, they would be like, no, you're not gonna
go to compete, Like I pushed my I have two daughters.
(12:46):
I pushed my daughter to go to dance like I
dropped to day and dropped off a dance student. She
was like, damn, like I don't want to hit like
I mean, like I asked for dance shoes for my birthday,
and I don't want to dance with dad any more.
Asking a parents to give him dance shoes for his birthday,
not a PlayStation, not a bicycle, not a skateboard, by
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dance shoes. How grazes that? That's so, you know, it's crazy.
I mean the mental health aspect, though, when what do
you think? Like, look, I think we are born we
were born into ballroom dancing almost right, So we're so
used to that living in that like fight flight or
freeze mode where we're constantly living that like roller coaster
of emotions, right, And honestly, it's probably not the healthiest
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to constantly live in that like excitement and then crash
and burn and then excitement and then crash and burn.
There's never that like constant um feeling where you're just content.
How do you think your mental health has been affected
as far as back in your competition days and now
that you're famous and ballroom dancing on television front of
(13:52):
millions of people. I mean, look, it's it's pretty much
the same thing, because you like when you compete your perform,
you're living the moment and that's your like, that's you
drive that you drop that you want to constantly do that,
like you depend on that. You know, you spend I
used to when we used to live Hong Kong. I
(14:12):
used to teach and literally take all the money that
I just made and go and spend on my lessons.
Like I would not save anything. I would not go
and by like think about like I have to you know,
drive a car like or something. No, Like I took
a train and I took Aspen Sellers lessons. You know,
Cheryl knows exactly what I'm talking about. One of our
(14:34):
like mentors and teachers in the ballroom dance in world
where Yeah, um, but it's sort of your dance career,
you know. Ants at some point, you know, and you
want to do something else whether you become a teacher
or a judge, or you know, a f a dance
dance instructor, like in the fitness center, like a lot
of other people that I know my friends do, or
(14:57):
I was lucky enough to get on show and I'm
still on the show and I'm going to be thirty
eight in two weeks, so I'm like, what the hell
am I gonna do in two years? We talked about
this question when We're shooting this thing at Disneyland. I
was like, what are we gonna do? So, to be honest,
(15:18):
are you going to do? That huge question mark in
the air is like a helped me out, like a
backup answer. I mean, look, look, I'll do you know,
I'll do it all. I look, I look. First of all,
I can relate to something you said earlier, which is like,
what what you do is like an addiction for me.
(15:40):
I live to be on stage. I live to be
behind the camera. I live to perform. It's my safe place.
I'm the most goofy, awkward dorc when I'm not on stage.
But when I'm on stage, that's where I've thrived, That's
where I excel. Excuse me, and that's you know, that
I can relate to as well as myself and Renee
(16:01):
are both fathers. We both have daughters. I have two girls.
Renee has a nine year old little girl. Um, you know,
I just want to ask you because look, I can
I can say from experience now that I've done the show,
the schedule is a mother it's grueling. So how do
you balance being a single dad now with your girls
(16:26):
and the schedule of the show, which you you know,
it's it's it's freaking seven days a week. So how
do you how do you balance? How do you how
do you make it work? So scary? Honestly, I don't
know because I haven't met my partner yet. I'm meeting
her on Monday, and then they're canny give me the
schedule and I'll be like freaking out. I look, we
(16:47):
share custody five to fift so week with Elena, week
with me, um and um, I just had to find
the I interview the several babysitters. So literally, I'm just
gonna try to do it all, like I'll try to scass.
Is it your first season being single? A single dad?
(17:08):
Is being wow? Yeah? And it's I mean, look, and
I'm still going through this whole thing and it's super
new to me. I'm I'm scared as fun, to be
honest with you, I'm like, how how is it gonna work?
And I mean, I'm I enjoy to be with my girls.
I feel like to me, I'm the best dad, Like
(17:29):
I give them everything. Um, and I love, love, love
love being with them. And you know, I'll try to
I'll try to balance my schedule with their schedule as
much as I can. Try to schedule rehearsals when I
live is in school. Uh, there's a lot of goes
to kindergarten, so that's easier. But again, I don't want
(17:49):
to miss on the good stuff, Like I don't want
to miss some things that you know, I might have
late rehearsal and you know, the girls might have some
activities in school that I have to be there. So
but they I'm sure they work. How old? How old?
I have eight and four and both of my girls
(18:09):
are in dance. Uh, my oldest is incompetitive We we
just did nationals back in July. Um and in you know, Vegas,
and you know it's it's crazy. Um. You know, Also
what was really funny was the very last day and
mind you these kids are in these rooms for like
(18:31):
six hours straight grinding. But the last day was ballroom
and and it was Val and Jenna we're teaching, and
it was the cutest thing. Like my oldest walked up
to them afterwards and said, my daddy was on your show. Uh,
he didn't win. He should have won, but he didn't win,
(18:52):
and Val just cracked up and lost it. And I
just think it's just it's just cute. But I'm just wondering,
Like I always say this whenever I have a kid.
If I have a girl, especially, I won't let her
ballroom because I look, there's a lot of great things
about ballroom dance, but there's also the fact that you
have to grow up so fast, right, And I think
(19:13):
as well, like let's just be honest here, you know,
the fact that you're so close with another gender and
you're literally grinding, and with that, you know, like, for instance,
I think I had sex when I was way too young,
and I think that had a lot to do with
the exposure that I was seeing and traveling alone basically
without a chaperone because my mom was busy working trying
(19:33):
to afford my dance career, and I was exposed and
to all these um, I guess, inappropriate behaviors for a
little girl to see. And how do you feel? I
guess I guess it's different now, right because like you
can dance alone now in the ballroom competition world, you
can she you're you're dancing with your daughter as pro am.
Now when she finally finds a partner, how does that
(19:54):
work with you? Like, how do you feel about that? Well,
she had a partner before, But I feel like at
that that young age, when they're like seven or eight,
they still don't know. There's still not in close contact
when they do ball room and they're still don't realize
what do you mean they don't know? But I mean,
like I'm saying like they're they're not mature enough to
(20:17):
be like, oh, I'm dancing with a boy and like
I'm like so close and grinding and all that. But
like when you're listening, what Olive is eleven? Like she
understands everything now, Like she probably understands one day I do.
She like learns history from TikTok And I was like what, yeah,
because I was studying. I was studying. I was prepping
(20:38):
for um um citizenship exam and we were going through
all the questions and I was like, olive it, do
you know who was the first president of the United
States of a man? And she goes like, of course
I did, George Washington. I was like, what's okay, who's
the father of the United States? She was like, of
course I do. So she's like super advanced, like and
you've seen her. She looks she's eleven. She's not in
(21:00):
the eleven yet, but she looks like thirteen. So at
that age. Agree with you that it's kind of early.
But I mean, I because that ballroom dancing is such
a close show, like you said, such a close contact,
you know, our form of art of sport, that it's
(21:20):
you just grow up so fast. Like I see this
videos of like five year old girls and they're like
like little skirts and the awareness of our bodies, right
Like we're very aware. Right, So it's like no matter what,
you know, hormones are raging, especially from the boys. Right Like,
so listen, and I've said this before, like I lost
my virginity when I was thirteen years old, you know,
(21:41):
and I danced my first dance. Well I'm just letting
you know, just to like, you know, don't be you know,
a loof because there's I'm just saying. I'm not saying
that your daughter specifically. I'm just saying, like, there is
that fear and concern that I have, and I was
wondering if you had it as well. That's all. I mean,
four boys a little different, right, Like I can't say
(22:03):
from my experience, I probably loved every second of it,
Yeah for sure. I don't know. I don't think. Here's
the thing like in and here, it's a lot of
proram when professional dances with an amateur. So when the
Olivia has a competition, I go and dance with her,
perform with her, so because she doesn't have a partner.
But like back in Russia, there's no program everybody dancing
(22:25):
with the same age boy the girl. So maybe, um,
but I mean, look, it's I just need to have
an open conversation, you know, like I'm sure they love
you so much. You know that they're not hiding anything anyway.
But I'm just saying that you do have to grow
fast in the ballroom dancing world. You know. Go ahead, So, Cheryl,
now I was going to say, so, if I hear
(22:48):
you correctly, you think that ballroom dancing actually expedited losing
your virginity. You do believe that. So if you hadn't
been a dancer, you don't think that would have happened
that age. And because of the sort of aware traveling
and the physicality of it and being aware of your body.
(23:09):
But you're also like in this partnership, right, and with partnerships,
not like dancing with the stars, Like we're in these
partnerships for years, and so you grow up together, you
experience the world together, you travel the world together, you
share hotel rooms because you have to save money. You
it's just like you're in this I guess marriage in
a weird way, right that you become so comfortable and
(23:30):
it stuff happens. M not to make it so dark
all of a sudden that scare you. J Hey, J's
got real quiet. I mean, look, stick to hip hop.
Ava for sure is definitely boy crazy right now. Lyric
lyrics my little genius. I've told you this before. Ava
is also very very intelligent, very sharp. But if I
(23:54):
were to put them both side by side, Ava is
me through and through. She's a performer, she loves to
write music. She's a singer, she's a dancer, um, she's
she's writing her own lyrics now, like she's really passionate
about that lyric. On the other hand, is like, I
(24:15):
mean I've said it before. She's like Stephen Hawkings without
the wheelchair, Like she's just a little genius and it's frightening.
But she did tell me the other day, Daddy, I
want to be an actress. I'm like, okay, which scares
me even more than being a dancer. But you know,
but look, just like you said, Leab, you know and
(24:37):
and and and and I know that Renee has the
same thought pattern, which is, look, whatever our children want
to do when they're passionate about, we will be there
to hold their hands and to and to walk them
through and to support them. Unless what they're doing is
harming themselves or others, we're gonna be there. And and
we all got girls, so we're gonna also be like
(25:01):
looking at the boys, like if you don't fit the
bill home, you get the out like you like I don't.
I don't own a gun. I don't own a gun,
but I have five very very big security guards, and
I'm a I'm a really good golfer and I don't
ever miss with a certain club. So you know, there's
definitely ways to get my point across. I always had
(25:22):
this weird, this weird vision of like the first boy
to come up to the door to take a vow
on on you know, go to the mall or go
to the movies and all my tattoos and like me going,
hey man, you know I just got out of prison.
And then that kid goes and googles me and goes, no,
you're in a boy band. You're a backstreet boy. You
didn't go to prison. What I was gonna if you
(25:46):
don't mind a j I was gonna say, since we
are a podcast about mental health and addictions and all
that sort of thing. Um, I tend to agree that
I think I don't think it's impossible to grow up
through competent competitive dance and then acting and all that stuff.
(26:06):
I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think it's a
high risk of ending up with certain disorders or or
low self esteem. Yeah. When when I think about I mean, right,
like as a dancer, maybe it's different in your world.
I was a dancer gleab and there is this auditioning
(26:29):
and then it's like, O, you didn't get it, and
you didn't get it. In the same with actors, you're
constantly being put up on the chopping blocks and then
you get so I guess what I'm trying to say
is for you, you you're not concerned about your kids
following this or do you feel you have enough experience
to guide them to keep them feet planted? I think
(26:53):
I think it it's our job as parents to protect
and die that you know, and we're always there for them.
We always see what they're doing, how they're behaving, and
then you know where they're going. So you know, there
there's such a fine line, like when you see there's
something wrong, you have to have a conversation with them,
Like you have to explain what's good, what's not good.
(27:15):
Like I constantly tell a little bit like you know,
like you can't like you go to she goes to
a regular school, right, so she she doesn't go to
private school. So I was like, you know, there there's
there's something like if you know someone asks you to
try this, so this or whatever you see, you can't
do that, talk to me first, like tell me to
tell me what's going on. Yeah, because you know, it's
(27:37):
such a it's such a you know it's such a
risky thing. And like I say, you want to hang
out with only the good guys. You don't want to
hang out with the bad guys. So you're a great
model though, so that you don't think you have anything
to worry about. So glad you know, Look, obviously it's
(28:06):
it's public knowledge that you have recently separated from your wife,
and you know all of these things, and now you
being a single a single father, and now to put
the icing on the cake, Dancing with the Stars is
back on again and you're back back. So like my
my my thought is like, okay, um, if this were me,
(28:28):
and and this is me speaking of of of the
way I am personally, Like, that's a lot of pressure
in my for for me, if I was going through
what you're going through and then have to work and
then have to balance being a single father, Like, what
is the thought process that goes through your head now,
(28:48):
you know, going into this season with you know, going
through a divorce and then also having to you know,
find the time, you know, to schedule around your children.
Hand he told you, he said he's terrified, but you know,
but but then also at the same time, you know,
there's look I've I've been through it. You and I
(29:11):
and Cheryl were all in the public eye, so like
you know, I thankfully wasn't part of the social media
uh era in the sense of any bad breakups or
any relationships that I went through. It was behind closed doors.
Nobody was the wiser. But you guys are in the
(29:32):
social media generation. So anytime you go through a breakup,
it's been everywhere. So how how how does that affect
you moving forward in let's say a new relationship. Do
you feel like people are gonna be looking at you
were judging you, or do you feel like you know what?
You don't know me, You don't know what really went
(29:53):
on there, You don't have a right to judge me,
like get to know me kind of a thing, you know.
I mean, well, let's and I to be honest with you,
it's I try not to think about it. To mean.
Most important is my kids, you know what how they
think and when we've separated, when we moved with you know,
we both live in different places. My kids come to
my place, you know, they go to hers. We try
(30:15):
I try to make it the most comfortable environment for them.
And that's the most important thing for me. We made it,
and we had this conversation that we made it fun
for them. Like I said, listen, you have two homes now,
it's much better. Like you have your a lot of
toys here. You got a lot of toys. They're like,
you know, when they come to me, we do all
these fun different activities. You know. When they go to her,
(30:37):
they do other fun, different activities. So to me, that's
the most important. Whatever went in the social media or
whatever the crap was put out there, it's all in
the past. I don't really give give a shit about it.
Like it's you know, people people exactly how you said.
People don't know the truth. You know, they only can
judge whatever it's been said, but it's not the truth.
(30:59):
So have their kids, have their friends said anything? Because
it is social media? As a J said, like it's
easily like you're not you don't need to pick up
a magazine anymore, Like it's just there on your phone. Right,
do they like, have they gotten any I guess feedback
or have they been any negativity from their friends or
their fellow classmates. Not really, because I mean, like Olive
(31:21):
is still pretty young, you know, she does she's like
into TikTok and that kind of stuff. She's not like
reading or whatever. Um. One thing was kind of like
that when the teacher she didn't even know that me
and Atlanta were splitting, and her teacher in school told her,
all your parents are getting a divorce, like and he
(31:43):
asked her a question. I was like, that's a everybody say, well,
I'm not sure in front of everybody or not. But
like she came home saying it to me, like, my
teachers just told me that your mom your mom getting divorced?
Is it true? And that was like I was, I
was caught off off guards. So I was like I
(32:03):
didn't even know just what to tell her. So I
was like we have to come none of their business. Yeah,
so that was kind of a bad, bad thing. But listen,
right now, it's all good. Like my acts is dating
so and living and what about you? Are you dating?
What's her name? But that's good, that's health. Look, you
(32:27):
know the funniest thing that the girl that I'm seeing
right now her name is Elina too, which is clearly
you've got a whole hang up on Elana's There's nothing wrong.
It's a beautiful name, it's a beautiful yeah, and so
have you have have the kids met her? Or is
it not there yet? Well? No, no, no no, she's a
single daughter. Actually she has a daughter, uh four years old. Um,
(32:53):
and we have a couple of play dates and it's
been a lot of fun. Oh nice. Is she going
to come to the show? Oh, I don't know anyone
is allowed to come to the show never mind. Yeah,
are you guys? So I hear that there's going to
be I'm pretty sure that there's the audience just like us,
like we're still in pods, you know how we were
a j last season. So yeah, I think you're right.
(33:14):
I think there might be. I don't know, don't quote me.
Of course it's going to be a live audience the
season after I do it. No, I don't think that's
but you know that's our favorite. Um. The COVID officer.
She we had one of those meetings again recently, and
she's just talking about the Delta variant and how much
worse it is than last week. Right, So like that,
Like I guess you know a couple of people on set,
(33:37):
you know, the crew went after testing and even after
being vaccinated, got it, you know. So he just has
it right now, my mom got it and she's and
she's vaccinated. My mom has the Delta variant. She's fine though,
But what sucks is she told me this morning she
goes the doctors, told me that because she has no
taste or smell, and the doctor said it could be
(33:58):
back in a week or up to six months. I'm
like Jesus. So she's like, you know what, I'm just
gonna eat rice crackers because I can't taste anything. I'm
probably gonna lose weight, and I'm gonna look fantastic. Love her.
Listen three months, three months ago, I wasn't vaccinated and
I got Delta and really never Yeah, I've never felt
(34:22):
worse in my life. My heart was like a hundred
and sixty seven uh beats a minute. I was. I
fainted a couple of times. I've called nine one one twice,
and literally ten days later, I got got a vaccine.
I was like, everybody who's not vaccine, go get a vaccine,
(34:43):
because how did you get it? Like nightclubbing with your
new girlfriend or something. No, no, no, no, I actually
I flew to San Antonio to um Corey got Funiki
Glazer shown by the way during the flight or something.
Like that. It was just it was pretty bad. I
(35:03):
came back and I was I felt like crap. I
went and it was negative. I won. The second time,
I was negative and I was dying, literally dying. I
thought like I couldn't like I couldn't breathe, like it
was just bad and I want. The third time, I
was like, well, you're positive, and then that wasn't home
for two weeks. But it was just that it was
the worst. Did your girlfriend get it? Just kidding, I'm
(35:24):
just busting your ball, so ball busting. So I I
just want to ask you, Gleb, just because I know
for me, um, you know, being in this business for
you know, the better part of almost thirty five years.
I've been in this business. I've been in the band
for twenty nine years. But it'll be you know, it'll
be thirty officially for the group in three, but I'm
(35:49):
the founding member, so I for me, this year's twenty
nine years. But my point is, you know, being in
the limelight, being on the go, being i mean, let's
face it, the both all the pros are sex symbols.
All you guys are congrgeous people, men and women from
head to toe in the limelight. So, like you know,
(36:13):
there is a lot of perks and a lot of
things that come with being in the limelight, and but
with those perks comes a lot of responsibility. And sometimes
I know, for me, I let it get the better
of me. For me, it was drugs and alcohol where
you know, it became a thing even though I I
(36:35):
was labeled the bad boy of the Backstreet Boys before
I ever touched a drink to my lips, before I
ever touched a drug. And then once I was already
knee deep in drugs and alcohol, I was like, you
know what, I'm really gonna live this bad boy quote
unquote lifestyle. Um, has it been hard for you, like,
(36:57):
you know, you are young, young, you're younger me, but
young being on the show young and you know, having
the success and having the tempt, has it been hard
for you like on the party side of things, or
you know, have you been able to kind of just
enjoy yourself? I mean, look, I always feel like especially
(37:21):
with kids, you know, they keep you grounded, Like you know,
they're my life, They're everything for me, and if I
suck up, it's you know, I'm responsible. I'm responsible for
their lives, for their future for everything. You know, I
do what I do, I do for them. I do
for me, but I do for them too, you know.
So I'm not like a I mean, I like to
(37:45):
go out and you know, maybe have a drink or like.
But I'm not like crazy body, you know, because you
know I'm old. I cannot wake up in the morning
and they're like hangover to rehearsal. Not oh my, don't,
don't don't even. I have a question, gone, I what
I what I You know? What I love is I
(38:07):
love working, you know, I love teaching, I love performing,
I love being in the studio. That's what I love
to do. That's like gets gets me out of the depression,
gets me out of like the dark thoughts or anything
like that. You know, if that's one was like another,
but another the negative part of that, like what if
(38:28):
it's all gone right? What's them? That's the biggest question.
You said something to me when I first saw you
at Disneyland. Um that when we shot that segment that
people will see soon. Um, but you said, like, I
have to stop drinking. Now. What did you mean by that? Exactly? Well? Yeah,
(38:48):
so I mean, what's it coming from a night out
or it was no, no, no, it was it's actually
coming from like I had this thought for a very
long time and Nika Glazer Comedians, she's sober for many,
many years, and we had this whole conversation that was
telling her Nikkie like I would love one day completely
stop drinking because it's not good for you. Like it's
not good for you period. You know, it's it gives
(39:11):
you this little buzz, but then it goes away and
then you have to hangover and they have to struggle
with that, like it's bad for your health and everything.
And he goes like, I'm going to give you this book.
I have this book. You read it. While you're reading it,
you can have a drink, you can drink whatever. At
the moment you finished reading it, you will never advertise
alcohol again. So I was like, I'm still waiting for
(39:32):
that book. Still you have you started the book started
the book yet, but I'm I'm I'm very close. I'm
very very close. So you want to do it more
from like, you want to stop drinking more because of
the effects that it that basically you go through right
when it comes to being hungover or even that depression.
Because when I used to drink. You see, the alcohol
just stopped working for me. So like I would consume
(39:55):
so much alcohol that I would take a look and
I'd be completely I thought so birth right, But I
was also a functioning alcoholic. And then I started to
realize my dad passed away, and then I just quit.
But you know, I realized that it's a disease that
I'm dealing with, which is addiction. And um, I think
that sometimes we can get lost in the shuffle of that,
(40:16):
because this is what this is. Part of our job
is to be social and network and to drink and
to go out and to be friendly. You know, do
you find that, um, do you find that you've just
reached your limit or do you feel like you might
you might be an addict. That's a very good question.
I mean honestly, when I when I go out and
(40:39):
I socialize and you know, and I don't drink, it's
just much better. It just feels more real, like you
actually who you are. You're not like trying, like it's
a it's a different feeling and that's what I love
about it. But also, yeah, like I mean, the next
day is crazy, Like the next is bad for me,
(41:01):
you know, Like I just hate that feeling. I just
hee that feeling. And and also we're gonna stay money
not buying all the booze, you know, like you be
getting free booze. But that's when you say you when
you say you hate the feeling, do you mean just
the physical hangover or you don't like what you see
(41:21):
in the mirror on an emotional level or both it's
it's I think it's both in terms of I can't
I can't function properly. My hat is not working. I
lose time, I lose the day. I can't. I get yeah,
I get like I get not anxiety, but I get
a bad depression, like I started like hating everything around me,
(41:46):
like I started hating the fact that you know, like
it's just it's just bad. Well do you know I
have to say that listening to you cope with the divorce,
you seem to be generally an optimist, Right did you
grow up an optimist? Did you? Did you tend to
(42:09):
be the kind of person that could see the glass
have full as opposed to have empty? Because I thought
that was the most beautiful thing you said, the way
you reframed it for your kids. Now you get double
the pleasure, double the fun. That's a beauty. One of
my favorite films of all time is called Life is Beautiful.
Have you guys seen it? The Italian film where where
(42:29):
it's right in the middle of World War two and
it's a Jewish man and his son and they're trying
to kill them, and he keeps reframing everything as like
a hide and go seek, like made it fun for
the kid, basically protecting his kid. So I was really impressed.
That's the film I thought about when you said you
(42:50):
sat down with them and said you get double the pleasure,
double the fun. That's such a beautiful thing. Have you
always been that kind of person or the fatherhood bringing
that out in you? Yeah? I mean, look, I I
grew up. I didn't know better, Like I grew up
very poor, you know, we didn't know better. So the
(43:12):
only choice would have is to look forward, is to
wake up in the morning and do things, you know,
and look and hope and dream for the best, for
the bettest. So I still live that dream, you know,
I still hope and it's still so I can't like,
I can't allow myself to be negative and be like, oh,
(43:33):
like I've never never heard you any negative comment come
out of your mouth. Actually, you're very you are very
You were that. Yeah, you were the same way when
I was on the show. Like every time I see
you come out of your trailer or we'd be doing
the run throughs, or I see you in the rehearsal space,
You're always smiling. You're always like, what's up, age, Like,
(43:54):
you're just always in a really good mood. And I
don't know, I I didn't know if you were. You're
really in a good mood. You're trying to mind me
so that I would lose. I don't know what the
I I you know, I was trying to figure it out.
But listen, listen. I know that's that's that's my own
that's my own ship. I know. So listen, Glen. Before
we let you go. Um, first of all, thank you
(44:16):
for taking the time doing the show. Before we let
you go, I know this wasn't on our producer's list
of things to do, but I'm gonna curveball, so we gleb.
But we do this thing every so often called kiss
mary and kill. So you can kiss one, you can
marry one, and you can kill one. Let's just get
(44:39):
killed out of the way. That gets killed. No, but listen,
hold on. So these are your three choices to kiss,
Mary kill. Here we go, Jenna, Sharna, and Cheryl. You
have to pick one to kiss, one to marry, and
one to kill. You better watch yourself. You're always my
partner on the show. Watch it. Okay, she's gonna kill me.
(45:04):
I'll marry Cheryl. Okay, okay, So who do you kiss?
I'll kiss, I'll kiss Sharna, and I'll kill Jeff. Actually
I was surprised by that answer. I thought it was
the other way around with those two, but I didn't
know which way that ship was going to go. But also,
(45:26):
I do have one final final question before we let
you go. So this is for both of you, Cheryl
and Glenn. Okay, if you guys could do one dance together,
what would it be? And to what song? The Lambada
to Ricky Martin Let's get loud. That's not by Ricky Martin,
(45:47):
that's by Jennifer Lopez. That's not even close. What's your
I'll do uh with you? I'll do I'll do I'll
do an what with Cheryl to Celin only if she
(46:09):
sings it live? I know I can't. I'm trying to
picture this song, and I'm like, I don't know how
that's gonna work. Yeah. No, See, Gleb and I were
always partnered together because we're like the only married not unmarried,
but I'm married. But you know what I mean A
couple of that's on the show, and it's we've gone
through so much together because we're both genuinely just ballroom dancers, right,
So we've been like, definitely, we've had a great time,
(46:31):
but I don't know if we're going to be doing
that this season because of the pandemic. Well, I do
want to wish you both. I do want to wish
you both the best of luck. I know, glab B,
glab dude, you're solid, dude, your girl dad. But you know,
I'm gonna be rooting for my girl, but secretly I
could get eliminated. I'll secretly also rooting for you, glab
(46:52):
don't worry. Thank you guys so much. Glare the best,
loved change, Thank you, Thank you. All Right, you guys,
we're gonna take a quick break and we're gonna cut
my back and answer a couple of your questions here
on I Heart Radio. Pretty messed up, all right, you guys.
(47:24):
When we're back here on I Heart Radio. Pretty messed up. Uh.
First of all, again, Gleb, thank you so much man
for coming on. I just realized I never talked deep
with Gleb like he is such and you know you're right,
like Renee, he is. I've never seen him in a
bad mood, and I always just thought like Gleb was
just always you know, he's always happy whatever, but like
(47:46):
he's a really good person. He is. That's the most
I've talked to him since the same It literally came
right through the zoom. He was a stand up guy,
stand up Yes, Like he's genuinely a solid dude. And
even though I talked to him like a handful of times,
you know, I just I'll say this, from my first
(48:08):
impression of him to right now, he's he has grown
a lot. He has matured and grown um in the
in the year that it's been since I last saw him.
So hats off to you, my man. All Right, you guys,
so listen, Uh, we're coming up to the end of
the show, and as always, we do love to answer
(48:30):
your emails and questions, so please continue to send him
into us as well as don't forget to hit that
subscribe button, give us five stars. We love e leve
level when you do that. And I'm gonna ask you
the first question. AJAU go ahead, a J. This is
from Brittany. Thanks Brittany, a J. You've talked about some
post COVID anxiety dreams about being in crowd and being attacked.
(48:51):
What was your reaction to the fan who ran on
stage to bear hug you from behind in Vegas and
how does that affect how you feel about interacting with
the fan base in general. Keep Brittany for your question. Well, Brittany,
it's Brittany bitch. Um. You know what. Uh, First of all,
it scared the ship out of me. Um. You know,
it's been a while since Well, no, it's it's it's
(49:15):
been since the last leg that we were on in
Latin America. We were well this this happened the second
second night of the most recent Vegas Mini residency that
I did with the after party, myself, Joey Fatone, Nick Carter,
and Jannia Morris from Boys to Men. Um. Yeah, I
(49:36):
was literally singing and all of a sudden I went
to turn to the right and this girl's face, no mask,
was just right there and then Joey picked her up
and carried her off the stage. And then afterwards Joey said,
look now, ladies, if you do this, you will get
(49:58):
kicked out of the show. This young lady now does
not get to see the rest of the show because
she made poor life choices. And you know, so no.
But then, but then, my wife asked me before I
came home because she heard about it, and she goes,
do you think you should COVID test before you come home.
I'm like, listen, it happened so quick. She did not
(50:21):
kiss me, She didn't even touch me. She just like
had her face right there. And I think before she
had a second to react, she was taken off stage
and I and I did get tested as soon as
I got home. And obviously I'm fine. Otherwise you guys
would all know about it. Cheryl, do you want to
know why I didn't see it happen because age on
(50:41):
backstage and A J says, bro run up to the
room and grab my pink cat, and he says, you
have eight minutes. So literally, I'm running through the lobby,
up the elevator looking for his hat box, run back down.
By the time I get back down he's already on
stage with a different color head on. I do you
(51:03):
want to know something I told they do this. I
can't remember the last time security in Vegas told me
to slow down. Okay, his floating across across the Venetian
Renee was limitating. Those are huge hotels. That's that. But
(51:24):
to finish that question up, Brittany, because the last part
you said, how does that affect how I feel about
interacting with the fan base in general? Look, I I
will always be uh, you know, hands on with the fans.
I will jump into the crowd. Um. I've staged though before. Like,
I do like to engage with the crowd. But I
(51:45):
will say this, Um, as long as it's on my
terms where I feel I'm in control of the situation,
will I actually do it? If I walk out of
a hotel and I get surrounded by people, that scares
the shift out of me. Um. And yeah, now it's
(52:07):
ten times worse. But over the past probably five to
ten years, it's begetting progressively worse and more stressful for
me to be surrounded by you know, hundreds, if not
thousands of people and it's just me and my one
security guard. Like, if they wanted to they can kill us, like,
there's nothing I can do about it. But now especially um,
(52:31):
it's a little nerve wracking. But like I said, as
long as it's under my terms, and I'm like okay,
I'm I'm I'm gonna jump out. My security knows I'm
gonna jump in the crowd, and then I go. I
do a couple of fist bumps, and then I get
the back on stage. That's it, and then I feel
like it's much better. So thank you Brittany and that
girl that jumped on stage. UM, I hope you enjoyed
(52:55):
what part of the show you did see? All right,
So the next question, that's hilarious Sarah. It's like, look,
if you have to lose your mind again, where a
Cheryl Burke mask? Exactly? Uh So we have want one
more question from Lauren, who says each of you has
(53:18):
to perform one way or or another in your career.
How do you deal with performance anxiety and can you
remember a certain time when it wasn't all time high? Um,
I'll be short and quick. UM, I don't get performance anxiety. UM,
I don't get nervous before I go on. Um No,
(53:41):
I was more nervous with you right up a Nhill showtime,
and then the minute it was go time, I was
I was flying on all cylinders and I was yeah,
but I mean, like again, I got judged on the
wrong part of the dance. You know, you and I know,
(54:01):
and and we'll take this to our grade. I will
talk my Argentine tango from the point that it started
to the end of it or epic. Either way, it
was close to perfect. You said it yourself, so you know,
(54:24):
damn carry an, We're gonna have to have a chat.
But wrong, I don't get nervous. I think if there's
any ounce of anxiety ever, it's so minute, and it's
usually at award shows, mainly because you're performing in front
of your peers. You're looking out into a sea of
multi Grammy award winning artists from all genres of music,
(54:48):
and you're just you know, your balls are out. So
it's like, literally, do you know what? It makes sense now,
right because you are a seasoned, veteran performer. But early on,
did you get nervous? I mean, like I have anxiety.
It's worse now than it ever was before. Yeah, I've
never gotten what do you think? What do you think, Well,
(55:09):
first of all, I'm clear headed. Second of all, with
that comes so many thoughts and my own soap opera
happening in my head. And I've never been so like
connected also to my feelings. So I'm actually first of
all acknowledging the fact that, um, I do have anxiety,
and I do have like there's been lots of revelations
this year, right and for me as far as like
(55:31):
social anxiety, and now I have ball from dancing anxiety.
And it's like I get more nervous more than ever,
absolutely now that I get older. Yeah, dance a phobia.
That's tough. I mean, like especially when you're telling your
partner not to be nervous. Yeah, I know that Renee
gets anxiety after I clock a ball straight down the
(55:51):
drive then he has to come up behind. But Renee,
you said he used to get nervous when you do podcast. Well,
you haven't gotten to me yet. I was going to
tell you, I know, I before I direct something, I
have nightmares consistently. My nightmares are always the same. It's
(56:14):
I'm on the set. I have no idea what what
the the pieces about. I don't know what the story is,
and everyone's asking me questions and I have no idea
and I just want to run every time. And I
think that's what that anxiety I think does help me
(56:36):
obsess where where while I'm I'm not asleep. When I'm awake,
I want to know every last shot how it's going
to be. Uh, And I don't. But by the time
we shoot, driving to the set, I feel like I
completely know everything that we're supposed to get or we're
(56:58):
not going to have a good shoot. To say, though, dude,
you and I have directed three videos together, and I've
worked with a lot of directors in my career, and
I gotta say nine times out of ten, all the
other ones at some point during the shoot they lost
their ship and they yelled at somebody, or they like
(57:19):
went they just walked off the set to go cool off.
You're the most like, You're as cool as cucumber the
whole time. Thank you. You're talking to people respectfully, You're
you're being productive, and you're getting ship done and thank you. Know.
Do you know what? For me, I've never heard Renee
(57:40):
yelled not I don't think I can't yell either, so
it's yelled. My yelling is monotone. Still that doesn't count.
This is my yells. It's still yelling for me. One date,
one shoot day happens, it's like Christmas, like a kid
(58:04):
in a candy store. Like for me, I feel so
lucky to be on the set. And I think that
even the one time on a Boy in a Man
where the boy the play there as a kid. Um
he started having like these weird like delusions where he
(58:25):
was talking about lizard people and and and I was like,
oh my god, I'm losing our actor, and like that
was the closest I ever got. That was the That
was the closest. I was like, you just have to
go yes, yes, the lizard people are here and they
(58:46):
need you to get the shots. You can go back
with them to the mother ship. Well you know what happened,
just quickly, just for the because it's interesting. Uh. It
was the only time I'd ever worked with someone that
I didn't meet because we didn't have time. And it
was like, okay, this kid he's got looks the part,
blah blah blah. And his mom said it was his
(59:08):
tenth project. He was having a melt down and he said,
my mom lied, this is my first paid gig ever.
Kind of thing, and he was literally having a little
mini meltdown, like a like a tiny tune meltdown, and
and I just said, come on, let's go for a walk.
And we walked out in the fields. And but that
was the closest I ever got to panic. And I
(59:29):
was like, oh no, because we just shut up and
do that part. No, it's fine, but well listen Brittany
and Lauren, thank you guys for your questions. I hope
you think that we answered them as best we could.
And uh, everybody out there, man, stay safe, love each other,
take care of each other. And uh can go find
glack at at globs of Chenko on Instagram. We never
(59:52):
asked him, so I feel bad. Well, yes, there you go,
and good luck spelling that. But I'm sure you se
spens a V C H E n k O Savchenko
I one spelling bee. That was the only subject that
was good in. So there you go. Thank you guys.
It's always for tuning in. Uh, we will see you
(01:00:13):
guys next time on Pretty Messed Up on I Heart Radio.
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