Dancing With the Stars Backstage Scoop: Why Is Maksim Chmerkovskiy Offering to "Apologize Publicly" Already?!

Exclusive! We chatted with the contestants backstage after the ABC reality hit's March 24 episode, which saw the exits of Sean Avery and Diana Nyad

Oh, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, how we missed you and your mouth in the ballroom!

Never one to hold back in voicing his opinion, Dancing With the Stars fan favorite pro did just that on Monday night's show after he disagreed with the three judges' critiques of his routine with his celeb partner, Olympic gold medalist Meryl Davis. Maks? Didn't see any "mistakes" in their difficult swing dance, which scored a solid 25 from the panel.

Of course, this isn't the first time Maks, who sat out the last two seasons before returning for Season 18, has questioned the judges' evaluations. Maks chatted with E! News backstage after the ABC reality hit's show, which saw the double elimination of Diana Nyad and Sean Avery, about just not being able to stop himself from talking back to Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.

"I've climbed some mountains, did some soul-searching, got in touch with my Chi...whatever…and then came here and literally the first opportunity just spoke back to the judges," Maks said of returning to the ballroom after a two-season break. "Idiot! It's one of those things, like, I was really trying to think about this while they were saying something that made no sense. I was like, ‘Maks, don't speak. Just don't speak. Just smile, let's wait for the scores and be done with it. Move on, everyone's going to be happy.'"

Of course, the Russian dancer couldn't, saying he wasn't trying "to be disrespectful" during his post-performance interview with Erin Andrews. "It wasn't that bad, you just asked a question," his partner, Meryl, assured Maks during our interview with them.

"I genuinely wanted to know, were they seriously blind or just closed their eyes for that one second," he explained to E! News of his comments. "But look, I will apologize publicly when or if I find two mistakes that we did in this routine. That, I will do."

As for the night's double elimination, James Maslow, the Big Time Rush boy band member, revealed to us that he was particularly upset to see one contestant leave the ballroom so early.

"Diana we're really bummed about because she has the biggest heart in the world…she's the sweetest lady," he  said. "It's hard because you get to know people when you're working with them and they go and it's just going to be weird throughout the show.