Ryan Lochte may have been the target of the protesters who stormed the stage in the Dancing With the Stars premiere, but pro Maks Chmerkovskiy was concerned about another person.

Lochte has been dealing with all kinds of negative press since his gas station incident in Rio, and that extended to his Dancing With the Stars debut on Monday. Two men wearing anti-Lochte shirts ran on stage as he was being critiqued by the judges, upon which security escorted them out of the building.

It was a scary incident for many in the ballroom, but Chmerkovskiy was mostly scared for his pregnant fiancée, Peta Murgatroyd, who was in the audience.

"Most of us were in the back room when the incident happened, and we watched it on TV just like everyone else. It was pretty funny because the whole time the camera was stuck on Carrie Ann [Inaba]'s face, and we were confused about what exactly she was trying to do... until we realized that something was going down in the ballroom," he recalled to Entertainment Weekly. "At that point, to be honest, my only concern was my pregnant fiancée [Peta Murgatroyd] in the front row. She was near where Tom Bergeron was standing with the contestants after the performance. So I was worried about Peta, and I was glad when I saw everything was under control and that it was just a couple of people trying to make a statement."

Chmerkovskiy is hoping this is the last we see of any interruptions or awkward moments.

"DWTS allows for the opportunity to go and show people what else you want them to see. Then we're able to know who you are aside from just the tabloids. That's Ryan's opportunity. Everyone is here for a reason, and I just want this season to go hiccup free from here on because to be honest, we really don't have time for it. We have very late rehearsals and very early call times, so we just don't have time for this stuff."

Dancing With the Stars season 23 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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Dancing with the Stars, Reality TV, ABC