Melissa Rycroft wowed fans and judges alike with a showstopping waltz during last week’s season opener of Dancing with the Stars. But the Bachelor dumpee has her work cut out for her if she hopes to win the respect of acid-tongued professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

Maks, who is paired with actress Denise Richards on DWTS 8, believes the former Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders has a leg up on the competition thanks to her extensive dancing background.

Is it just us or does this guy find something new to bitch about every season?

“Its very hard for me because Tony [Dovolani] is my best friend, but if we’re gonna call it what it is, it’s very unfair because Melissa’s a dancer – she was a cheerleader and did ballet,” Maksim told TVGuide.com on Sunday.

Melissa had less than 48 hours to prepare for last week’s debut after stepping in to replace Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell, who was forced to drop out of the competition due to a serious knee injury.

The lack of rehearsal time didn’t seem to affect her performance; Melissa waltz earned a score of 23 out of 30 with the judges.