Haim Perstein, who spent four seasons as a standout dancer on Israel’s Dancing With the Stars, is now adjusting to a new role as a judge on the show, which airs after the news on Keshet 12. Seated beside him at the judging table is his close friend Anna Aronov, who has long served as a judge on the program and once judged him from the other side of the dance floor.
In an interview on Erev Tov with Guy Pines, the two said their friendship was badly strained by the show. Perstein and Aronov first met when they were young, bonding as immigrants from the dance world. Over time, she became a judge while he became one of the show’s best-known dancers.
The breaking point came in the show’s third season, when Perstein danced with Yana Yossef and was the first contestant eliminated after Aronov helped decide his exit. Perstein said the decision devastated him. “I didn’t speak to her for two months, it was a crisis in the friendship,” he said. “I didn’t answer her calls. She called me the next day with a trembling voice and asked, ‘How are you?’ I said, ‘Everything is fine, I understand,’ and hung up.”
Aronov described trying to give him space, saying, “I said, ‘I’m here, waiting for you to calm down and for it to pass. I’m always here for you.’ You owe me a month of your life.” Perstein said he now sees it differently, explaining that judges must be professional even when they are friends with the dancers.
