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"Maksim Chmerkovskiy and ABC have offered differing statements on the professional&amp;#039;s Dancing with the Stars future. Chmerkovskiy said last year that he would not renew his Dancing with the Stars contract when it expires in late 2013, but reports this week suggested producers would not even ask him back for the new season.  &amp;quot;I just want to set the record straight to all of my amazing fans that I will unfortunately not be returning for this season of Dancing with the Stars,&amp;quot; Chmerkovskiy said. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve been a Pro dancer on the show for about seven years now and am eager to explore other opportunities that have been made possible because of Dancing with the Stars.&amp;quot; He continued: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m going to take this time to dive into producing and acting, while fulfilling my sponsorship obligations. &amp;quot;A big thank you to all of my fans for your never-ending support. I also want to thank the entire cast and production of Dancing with the Stars.&amp;quot; Maksim&amp;#039;s brother Val Chmerkovskiy will back for this season of the reality competition and is to be paired with Shake it Up star Zendaya. Dancing with the Stars will premiere on March 18 at 8/7c on ABC. Dancing with the Stars season 16 cast in pictures:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/dancing-with-the-stars/news/a461778/dwts-maksim-chmerkovskiy-abc-give-differing-statements-on-his-future/>