Maks Chmerkovskiy Is an Athletic Competitor on 'The Traitors' but He May Be in Over His Head

Some of the Season 2 players in The Traitors are more experienced in reality TV than others. However, despite his experience on Dancing With the Stars, Maks Chmerkovskiy is not one of those super experienced reality TV personalities. He makes this clear when he has a hard time connecting to some of the other players, some of whom are "faithfuls," and others who are secret "traitors."

Aside from standing out to them in a negative way, through no real fault of his own, Maks is also standing out to viewers. Partly because Maks uses a cane on The Traitors, and it's a little bit confusing why. Over the years, Maks has had various injuries relating to dance, and even some that had nothing to do with his chosen career, however he doesn't appear to need a cane outside of the show.

In fact, Maks has shared plenty of Instagram videos where he is shown dancing or taking walks with his son, and there is no cane in sight. But we think we might know what is going on with Maks and his cane on The Traitors.

In the first three episodes of the second season of The Traitors, Maks does well in the missions, which all require a good amount of physical activity. But outside of those competitions, while walking through the halls of the castle, Maks tends to use a cane. There's a chance that Maks suffered an injury that requires him to use a cane at some times and not during others.

Or, the alternative is that Maks is using the cane as a tactic. If it isn't anything more than a fashion accessory, then the cane Maks uses on The Traitors could be his way to reel in the other players into a false sense of trust. If he is using a cane, he can't possibly be a physical threat, right?

Of course that's mere speculation at this point. But, because Maks didn't share an injury publicly around the time of filming for the Peacock reality show, and he doesn't appear to use a cane IRL, the most logical reason might be that there really isn't a solid reason for the cane at all.

Long before Maks filmed The Traitors, he suffered some injuries because of DWTS, including a calf injury and a pulled muscle in his shoulder. Since he left DWTS as a pro dancer, however, he hasn't publicly shared any other injuries with fans.

But as a lifelong dancer and all around physical person, who knows, a cane may be necessary at times. Even if he is still a beast in the physical competitions on a fiercely competitive reality show.

Watch new episodes of The Traitors on Fridays on Peacock.