Dancing With The Stars dancer Gleb Savchenko hits back at Maura Higgins after she said she would refuse to partner with him after his messy split from her best pal Brooks Nader

Dancing With The Stars dancer Gleb Savchenko has hit back at Maura Higgins after she insisted she is refusing to partner with the professional. 

The Love Island UK star, 35, shared her hopes that she won't have to face the Russian professional dancer, 42, because she doesn't agree with the 'way he talks about women'.

She said she will be remaining fiercely 'loyal' to her best pal and former DWTS contestant Brooks Nader, 29, who dated Gleb.

However Gleb has now responded to Maura, as he explained he has 'never heard' of the star and insisted he will not 'lose any sleep over the opinion of someone I've never met'.

In a statement to the Daily Mail he said: 'Until I was asked to comment on this story, I’d genuinely never heard of this girl, Maura, so I’m certainly not going to lose any sleep over the opinions of someone I’ve never met.

'It’s odd to publicly attack someone you’ve never even met, but if that’s how she wants to make headlines before the show starts, that’s her choice. 

'I’ll stay focused and leave the unnecessary drama to everyone else.'  

Gleb and Brooks endured a 'messy' split after they sparked a romance during their time partnered on the show in 2024. 

And on Monday, Maura told E! News, 'I'd be happy with anyone but Gleb. That's only because I'm loyal and I'm friends with Brooks [Nader].'

She added: 'I don't really like the way he speaks about women. I don't really want to spend all my time with someone like that. I'm like, no thank you.'

Maura is hoping she will instead be paired with Valentin Chmerkovskiy as she teased in a video of them dancing together. 

Maura's comments about Gleb come after he branded his ex-girlfriend Brooks 'the worst sex' he has ever had. 

'When I dated her, it was pretty bad. Probably the worst sex of my life' the ballroom dancer claimed to Dakota Mortensen, ex of reality TV star Taylor Frankie Paul. 

Gleb also claimed the Louisiana-born beauty often took things to a rough level that he was not comfortable with.

'She was so f***ed up,' the Moscow-born dancer and choreographer said. 'She wanted to make out with me, and I was like, "That's not my vibe."'

Gleb also alleged that Brooks, who has also been linked to actor Taron Egerton, 'choked me, pushed me against the wall, chipped my tooth'.

The Daily Mail reached out to representatives for Brooks and Gleb for further comment on the story and has yet to hear back.

They began seeing one another in the fall of 2024 when they were partners on Dancing With the Stars, with it quickly becoming apparent that a romance was forming.

Brooks intimated in an October 2024 TikTok clip that they had parted ways.  

'Gleb got way too comfortable, especially in the amount of time he was spending at Brooks’ home, to a point it had begun to concern Brooks’ people and family close to her,' an insider told US Weekly of the couple's split in the fall of 2024.

Things appeared on track again the next month, when Brooks welcomed Gleb to her family's Thanksgiving dinner. 

The duo parted ways again in April last year, with Gleb telling Page Six he was caught off-guard by their split.

'I was surprised to learn through article(s) published today … that Brooks has ended our relationship,' the dance pro told the outlet at the time.