Cat Deeley on 'Teddy Bear' Maks Chmerkovskiy Joining SYTYCD: 'He's a Big Softie' (Exclusive)

The longtime host of the dance-competition show also tells PEOPLE that there are “two big changes” coming to Season 18 of Fox’s ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’

Cat Deeley has nothing but praise for the new So you think you can dance judge Maks Chmerkovskiy.

Ahead of the season 18 premiere of the Fox dance competition show on Monday, the television host, 47, tells PEOPLE that Dancing with the stars The alum, 44, is an “amazing” addition to the show because he’s “quite strict.”

However, Deeley reveals that fans will also get to see another side of the dancer and choreographer, saying: “He’s a big softie too. And he’s a bear.”

“It’s not important. They will dance with anyone, they will mess around. He is a mollusk, but he will tell it like it is,” she adds.

Cat Deeley at the 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards Press Room held at the Microsoft Theater on September 3, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

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Deeley recalls how Chmerkovskiy can keep his cool no matter the situation, saying, “A girl came on the show. She was only 5’2, cute as a button, so beautiful. But she was a jiu-jitsu master because her dad ran the school, and she literally took Max down like that… He said, ‘I don’t know what happened. I walked up to her and the next thing I know I’m on the floor.’ I said, ‘I love you.'”

Chmerkovskiy isn’t the only new member coming to The SYTYCD judging panel. Allison Holker Boss — who starred in Season 7 SYTYCD alongside her late husband, Stephen “tWitch” Boss — will also serve as a judge for Season 18. They’ll be joined by JoJo Siwa, who replaces Nigel Lythgoe following sexual assault allegations. She previously appeared as a judge in season 17.

Deeley describes Holker as “the most amazing dancer,” adding, “But it’s not just technical. She feels it from a very emotional place. When she dances on stage, you can hear her breathing. She takes you, transports you to a completely different place.”

Allison Holker Boss and Cat Deeley.

Frazer Harrison/Getty; David M. Bennett/Hoda Davaine/Dave Bennett/Getty

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He notes Holker’s “emotional capacity that sets her apart from other dancers” and says she is “very raw and very emotionally available” when talking about her late husband.

“I think the more we can have these conversations, the less alone people will feel,” she adds.

Deeley also teases “two big changes” coming up SYTYCD season. “First, we’ll put them in the house together and we’ll film them backstage,” she says.

“Usually, what happens on the show is we just don’t have time to fully tell people’s stories or fully have time to do it,” she continued. “I got to know them all very well, but now we want the audience to do the same.”

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She adds, “So there’s going to be a side of it where the audience feels like they know every single person on that show personally.”

The TV personality says the “other big change” is that the contestants’ challenges will represent experiences “that a normal dancer working in the entertainment industry would face”.

“And whether it’s on Broadway, whether it’s halftime of a football game, whether it’s a video, whether it’s a stage performance, whatever it is, we’re going to give them all these different challenges,” she continues. “So, then, when they leave the show, they can go on and have a super successful career.”

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Season 18 of So you think you can dance premieres Monday at 9pm ET/PT on Fox.

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Source: HIS Education