‘Dancing with the Stars’ Mirrorball Winner Brooke Burke ‘Would Have Had an Affair’ With Derek Hough ‘Had I Not Been Married’
Former Dancing with the Stars mirrorball winner and former host Brooke Burke admitted that she grew so intimately close with then-pro partner Derek Hough during season 7 that she “would have had an affair.” However, there was one caveat to her declaration: “Had I not been married.”
Brooke Burke admits her connection with Derek Hough was ‘intimate’
In an interview with former Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke for her podcast Sex, Lies and Spray Tans, Brooke Burke discussed her quest for the show’s mirrorball in season 7. Her pro partner was Derek Hough, who was entering his third season on the celebrity competition dance series.
Burke admitted on the podcast, “Had I not been married… I would have actually hoped we would have had a love affair.” She then revealed, “I don’t think I’ve ever said that.”
She continued, “I would have had an affair with him. But listen, let me tell you why: You are intertwined with someone’s body when you’re not a dancer. There is no way that I have ever been so connected — besides with a lover or a husband — than I was with Derek.”
Burke revealed why some competing celebrities catch feelings for their pros. The intimacy of the dances is the biggest reason.
“For three months, you are in someone’s arms. Why do you think people fall in love? You smell them, you feel them, you’re breathing with them. It can be more intimate than making love in a bedroom — you’re making love on a dance floor,” she continued,
“You feel more connected. If you have energy, you’re doing this dance, and you’re in the rhythm, and then there’s trust, you’re sharing fear, you’re doing something you’ve never done. How often do you go through an experience with someone where they’re all you’ve got?”
However, Brooke Burke and Derek Hough didn’t initially hit it off professionally
The dance duo initially struggled to find their footing as professional partners. Burke’s then-husband, David Charvet, even told her to try and connect on a personal level with Hough.
Burke admitted that professionally and personally, she and Hough were “disconnected.” We were in our own world, yet we were a partnership, a team … [but] we weren’t behaving like teammates.”
Therefore, the pair attended a life coach therapy session where they learned to express what they were feeling at the time. After the meeting, Burke and Hough committed to each other to “meet each other with honesty and compassion.
“As soon as we changed our mindset and as soon as we got in it to win it and as soon as we met each other with honesty, something magical happened, and we found faith in each other — at least I did — and we just decided to win,” she says.
Behind the scenes at ‘Dancing with the Stars’ can ‘tap into your insecurities’ says Brooke Burke
While Dancing with the Stars live shows are a razzle-dazzle of lights, glitter, and excess behind the scenes, some stars are at a loss. The series can “tap into your insecurities,” says Brooke Burke.
“People don’t realize behind the scenes, there’s a whole series of events that happen on Dancing with the Stars that will break you down, and they will f*** with your mind, tap into your insecurities, shake you,” Burke admitted. “And if you’re lucky, you push through the other side of those moments.”
However, the competition of the experience and giving it her all was the winning moment even more important than the mirrorball. “One of the greatest feelings was winning — but it was also completing an experience and giving it my all, everything I had.”
Burke concluded, “Even if I didn’t win, I was proud of … devoting three months, seven days a week. So I left [that competition] going, ‘I can do anything!'”
Brooke Brooke co-hosted the show from season 10 through season 17 (2010-2013). Derek Hough is the head judge seated between Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli at the judge’s table.
