ABC/BOB D'AMICOThe newest season of Dancing With the Stars doesn't premiere until next week, but Sherri Shepherd already seems to have salsa'd her way to a scandal.
A Radar Online report (which has since been pulled down) claimed the 44-year-old host of The View started rehearsing with DWTS pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy three months ago—a big no-no, since contestants can only start training after the official cast announcement, which was made on Feb. 28.
But Thursday on her ABC talk show, Shepherd slammed these cheating rumors, even pointing out that she's actually partnered with Maksim's brother Val.
"I have never danced with Val! Or Maks," she said.
So how did this rumor start? Shepherd said she "[loves] to dance," and that before her wedding last year to Lamar "Sal" Sally, she took dance classes. She claimed this was before she was in negotiations to compete on DWTS.
But don't think a love of dance means she's ready to sweep the competition off their feet. "I'm 159 pounds, I'm diabetic, and I'm pigeon-toed," she said. "You all don't want me falling on that dance floor!"
For his part, Val is laughing off the rumors. "If you don't got 5 haters by the end of the week, you doing something wrong," he tweeted. "Damn I must be doing something right!"