Maksim's New Bachelor Gig: "I'm Going to Give Him Hell," Says Derek Hough

Find out what's got the blond hottie all riled up about his Dancing pal?

Has Maksim Chmerkovskiy set himself up for some major torture on the next season of Dancing With the Stars?

Quite possibly. "I'm going to give him hell when I see him," says fellow pro dancer Derek Hough.

Why? Because, as you may have heard, Maksim is the new Bachelor—in the Ukraine…

"I'm not going to lie," Hough told me last night at the Bulgari benefit for Save the Children and Artists for Peace and Justice. "When I first found out, I was very surprised and kind of found it funny.

"Well, not funny, but I know Maks," he continued. "It was like, 'You're going to do the Bachelor? And in the Ukraine?' "

Hough said he hopes Chmerkovskiy, who was once engaged to DWTS' Karina Smirnoff, does find love in his native country. "But when I seem him," he laughed, "I'm going to be like, 'Dude, you and [former Bachelor and DWTS celeb competitor] Jake Pavelka are in the same club now! Is there a clubhouse you go to? Do you have like Bachelor jackets, too?' "

Let's just hope Maks has better luck finding the right woman than Jake did.