Craig Sjodin/ABCYou always banter with the ones you know!
Erin Andrews made her debut as Dancing With the Stars' new co-host, replacing Brooke Burke-Charvet, on Monday night and her return to the ballroom felt all too familiar, thanks to her playful back-and-forth with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, her partner when she competed on the ABC reality hit's 10th season.
After the Season 18 premiere and Andrew's DWTS debut, E! News chatted with the Fox Sports reporter and Maks, the fan favorite professional dancer who returned to the ballroom after taking a two-season break, about their bickering and what viewers can expect this season. (Hint: a lot of "dishing out!")
"I stuck it to Maks all season long when we were dancing," Andrews explained of her teasing of Maks during the premiere. "I think that's the best way to co-exist with Maks…to just, you know, give it back to him. He loves it deep down. He's a big boy, he can handle it!"
And if you think Maks was taking it a bit easy on Erin during the first show, well, you may be right.
"I just wanted her to have an easy first show. And she knows, and she's been told, that she's going to have to take it because there's a lot of dishing out," Maks, who is partnered with Olympian Meryl Davis, explained to us. "I'm obviously not someone to shy away from something and we've got nine more weeks, hopefully!"
To hear more from Maks and Erin, including his thoughts on Burke-Charvet's exit and the contestant that she's really connecting with, watch our exclusive interviews with the former DWTS partners above!