We'll stay friends, though. She's not going to run from me. She's very cool. I like people like that: Normal, down to earth. I think we've kind of created a bond so we'll stay in touch for a long time. And when she's ready to come back and do the jive, I'll absolutely be there. 100 percent. For her to go off the show that way is unfortunate. I was sitting talking about this with a bunch of people. We've had 75 celebrities on the show since Dancing with the Stars started. And I think 74 of them were doing it for reasons other than love of dancing. Whether it was self-promotion, [a desire for] change of some kind, going back into the spotlight ... All of which is just fine. It's nothing bad. But she is the only one who actually did it because she really liked dancing.

She wanted to do something that was fun and exciting and that's why she joined the show. She was the only one who had that kind of beautiful aura about her when it came to all the stress and drama and spending a lot of time practicing. She never wanted to leave the practices. In fact, that stupid rehearsal that this injury happened at during wasn't supposed to happen. The two of us were so tired and I was like, "We'll just go home." She was like, "No, I'm practicing." I told her, "I'm at your mercy," so to speak. "If you feel like you need to practice and go over it, we'll go over it." But this is not an injury that had anything to do with dance. This was wear and tear on her Achilles tendon over the last couple of decades of volleyball. It would have happened sooner or later.

Dancing the jive that I'd choreographed for Misty on Tuesday with Edyta, it was such a sad-happy dance. I didn't want to do it. Misty wanted this to happen. Because she offered it to the production and they said, "Yeah of course we'll ask Maks." If it was just production then I wouldn't do it. But because Misty wanted to see that dance I was like, "Yeah of course." It was the least I could do to make her happy. It's very hard to deal with injury when it happens to somebody close to you. It sucks. I'm amazed with how she's dealing with it, and how strong she is as an individual and I think that's what's going to facilitate in her rehab and make it that much faster. People physically are capable of coming back. The reason that something like this is potentially career-ending is because people can't come back mentally. Somebody like Misty is accomplished and she's done it all. She's won records in volleyball that aren't going to be beaten for a very long time, if ever. So for her, the mentality of getting back into the same place she was in before this happened is something you just need to be an incredibly strong person to be able to do. If anybody can do it, it's her.

I don't know if you'll see me on the show doing more professional dances this season. Everything is up in the air. It sucks. I'm not going to lie. My position right now is a little stupid because I feel like when you get eliminated, you're good to go and you do your thing. Right now it's like, "Okay, what just happened? Am I voted off?" I just need a couple of days to get my stuff together. Coming up next weekend [October 19th] is an event that my company organizes. It's a big, big competition. It's the biggest youth dance participation in the country. It's going to be in Downtown Brooklyn. So I'm definitely happy that I'll be able to attend it because it's a big deal for me. We've run it for five years. It's something that I was really looking forward to and I was making my peace with the fact that I'd miss it cause I was going to be doing Dancing With the Stars. And now that I'm off I'll be able attend it. And then just more time for me with students and studios and lots of other stuff.

There's been speculation around on the internet about guest judges this season. I don't know if that's true, or if I'm being considered. I'd love to do it. I don't know if they want me to. I'm a licensed judge in our professional circuits and I've judged numerous events, so I'd do it. I'm a fair guy but I do have a lot of people on the show whom I am friends with. It's not something I'd propose to anybody. But if they asked me, I would do it.

Since Misty and I are out, there's room for someone to move up. I think everybody has underestimated Warren Sapp. Or they underestimated him in the beginning and now it's kind of obvious that he has the potential. He's done it in Latin dancing and ballroom dancing. He's a very quick learner and student. Nobody predicted him to be a contender but I think he might be. I think it's now between Brooke Burke and Toni Braxton, Maurice Greene and Warren Sapp. There's your final four.

As for result night and Rocco being told he would have been eliminated but is safe for one more week because Misty had to withdraw from the competition, can I just say how stupid that format was? It was one of the worst result night show formats. I understand that they were dealt a bad hand with Misty's injury, so they scrambled and tried to come up with something, but they have to come up with something better. It's like, "Okay, you guys suck and you shouldn't be here but you are. So go have fun and go and prepare for the main event." That just wasn't nice. And especially with Rocco. He's a cool guy but he gets so caught up with it, it's almost a borderline insecurity. So I can just imagine how hard it is for him and how hard it's going to be for Karina to prepare for next week. I think it should have come up to bottom two and then they could have said, "the couple who goes home tonight is ... no one." That would have been a predictable but nice way of coming out of it.