Why Gleb Savchenko Is ‘Glad’ Ariana Madix Joined ‘DWTS’ Over Scheana Shay

Scheana Shay‘s dream to join Dancing With the Stars won’t be cosigned by at least one professional dancer from the show.

Pro Gleb Savchenko weighed in on Shay’s recent comments about how she wanted to appear on the dancing competition before her Vanderpump Rules costar Ariana Madix was offered the gig for season 32.

“I’m glad Scheana didn’t go [on the show],” Savchenko, 40, told the U.S. Sun on Tuesday, April 2. “I don’t think she would’ve had the same chance as Ariana.”

Savchenko recalled seeing Shay’s moves on the dance floor before her 2014 wedding to Mike Shay — as he choreographed their first dance.

“I remember it wasn’t easy,” he recalled. “I’m not saying bad things about her. I think Scheana is amazing. I really like her. She’s an awesome girl and everything.”

According to Savchenko, Scheana, 38, didn’t appear to have “a lot of dance experience” at the time, adding, “Maybe she’s improved over the last 10 years and got much better now.”

Savchenko also offered some advice for others hoping to join the show.

“If you ever want to be on Dancing With the Stars and you feel like you have enough celebrity power to be on a show, whoever that is — it’s not just Scheana or anybody else — you should start taking classes,” Savchenko continued. “People think, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll just chill for a couple of hours in the dance studio. I’m going to hang out with this handsome dude who has got a Russian accent, and he’ll be smiling.’”

Bravo fans know that Scheana got emotional when Madix, 38, was offered a slot over her.

“This year, I started taking dance class. I was preparing in case I did get it. It was kind of a punch to the gut, for sure,” Scheana told Lisa Vanderpump during a March episode. “I am so happy for her. But I can be happy for her and sad for me at the same time.”

Scheana had a similar conversation with Lala Kent, saying, “Even her getting Dancing With the Stars, she knew how bad I wanted that. And I told her, ‘I am so genuinely happy for you. I will be there every f—king Monday that you want me there. She does deserve everything she is getting right now and I am so happy for her that she did not go down a dark spiral. I just am hurting still.”

She continued: “Why can I never have one moment where it can be about me? I am hurt. I lost a very, very dear friend. I am struggling with that. But I am not allowed to feel anything because it is only about Ariana. I am tired.”

Madix, meanwhile, pointed out that her involvement with DWTS paved the way for more opportunities for her costars.

“On one hand, I can totally understand being happy for a friend while also feeling like, ‘Oh, you did also really want this thing for yourself,’” Madix said that same month on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “But on the other hand, my thought process is that if one person from our show gets on it, wouldn’t that help someone else from our show get on it?”

Scheana has since clarified the point she was actually trying to make on screen. “I literally meant this as a joke. I did not mean shade,” she said on her “Scheananigans” podcast last month. “I often feel that at times when I tend to be self-deprecating, it’s not received well. It doesn’t land.”