Hope Solo might be famous for her heroics as goalkeeper for the U.S. women's soccer team, or even as a celebrity contestant on "Dancing with the Stars," but there's one accolade of the athlete you might not be aware of: Queen of trash talk.
Hope Solo has always been outspoken. But, since releasing her memoir, "SOLO: A Memoir of Hope," in August, shocking allegations from the book have steadily trickled out, dissing everyone from Solo's former "Dancing With The Stars" partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy, to former teammates, coaches, and other athletes.
Today, a newly leaked excerpt from the book finds Solo claiming that "Dancing With The Stars" is rigged. Damn you Hope Solo. You just can't stop breaking America's heart, can you?
A Radar Online story brings to light the passage from Solo's book about a conversation with her former DWTS partner about a secret memo deciding which celebrity pair would be eliminated each week. With the show's All-Star season kicking off this week, this revelation couldn't happen at a more awkward time for DWTS.
"Maks later told me that he had argued with the judges because he had been told we were going to be eliminated, that there was some secret memo going around that said who would be ousted each week. He explained that he wanted to cause some drama on the live portion of the show so that they wouldn't be able to resist keeping us around, hoping for more fireworks. It seems to have worked -- we weren't eliminated that week."
ABC is reportedly considering legal action against Solo for her accusations, according to Radar.
Just tack this onto the growing list of baseless-accusations Solo's made since she began courting her book to the media.
In "SOLO: A Memoir of Hope," the athlete also claims that former U.S. Women's soccer coach Greg Ryan once shoved her after benching her for the Brazil match, after he had consulted with team veterans, including Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach.
Solo also harshly criticized former U.S. Women's soccer star Brandi Chastain. In an excerpt ESPNW obtained from the book's epilogue, Solo analyzes the firestorm that emerged after she very publicly criticized Chastain on Twitter. As suspected, it wasn't just Chastain's commentary that irked Hope Solo. It was the seeds of an old guard vs new guard rivalry within the USA women's soccer program, as well as hard feelings over Chastain's comments about Solo's positive drug test due to medication she was taking.
Excerpts from ESPNW:
"More annoying was the feedback I heard from home and from fans on Twitter about the way the game was being broadcast on television. NBC had hired Brandi Chastain to do the color commentary on our games. She had been relentlessly negative during our qualifying matches, nitpicking little details and criticizing Pia's strategy...
"I'm not looking for a cheerleader -- far from it. We're all soccer junkies, and we hear a lot of expert commentary while we travel the world. I want the best of the best for our games, and I just don't feel that Brandi is very good at articulating the game. I love that ESPN added Ian Darke to their team for our World Cup, and I like Arlo White on NBC, but I feel that our networks too often take the easy way out: "Oh, let's hire Brandi. She's a world champion who took off her shirt, and people know her name. It doesn't really matter if she's a good analyst or not."
"Everything Brandi says seems to have a direct correlation to her playing days, so many years ago. "When I played with Carla Overbeck ... " she will say again and again. I'm not sure that many of our new fans have any idea who Carla Overbeck was. It seems to be a continuation on that long-running theme: the '99 team would never give us our due or recognize how far the game had advanced or how much more athletically skilled our team was than theirs. They were clinging to their glory days and unwilling to recognize that times have changed. Most of us were sick of it."
"I knew that would get a reaction, but I felt that someone needed to stand up to Brandi. She had a microphone and an international platform. Why couldn't I voice my opinion? That's the beauty of social media.
When the tweets came across everyone's Twitter feed, the bus erupted with cheers.
"Hell yeah, Hope," my teammates cried. Christie Pearce Rampone and Abby Wambach and others offered up high fives. "Somebody finally said it," they said. It was a bonding moment for our team."
Solo also accused her former DWTS of slapping her. "He was often nasty, swearing at me and being harshly critical," Solo writes. "He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly."
The dancer has outright denied the allegations, and says he is shocked and hurt by the accusations made against him. He said he has made it clear to his friends that he was never physically abusive to the Solo, despite her claims against him.
"Maks is one of the nicest guys in the world. This is 100 percent not true," said an unnamed source close to the show. "At the moment, Maks and ABC are not making any public statements, as they are considering legal options. Not only did Hope not tell the truth in the book, she also signed a contract with the producers of 'DWTS' and could be in breach of contract."
Chmerkovskiy took to his Twitter account to defend himself. "Always hated hypocrites and liars," he tweeted. "But when someone is both AND an opportunist, I just feel bad for them. Can't win at someone's expense."
Former partner Kirstie Alley also showed him support. "I think it's always important to use your 15 minutes of fame to create something good in the world," she tweeted. "On that note ... smooch and buona notte."
A source close to Solo says she won't back down despite growing pressure and potential legal issues.
"Hope is standing behind what she wrote and has no intention of issuing an apology. No one has tried to muzzle her yet -- today she did a bunch of interviews, including ESPN," said a colleague of hers.
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