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There are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes of Dancing with the Stars that we don’t know about. A lot of that has to do with the relationships between celebrities and professional dancers. Some of those relationships blossomed to romance, and others crashed and burned. We know this because many of the dancers later revealed personal things about their partnerships.

Some dancers confirmed who their least favorite partner was after years on the show. Others revealed the emotional and physical toll that the show took on celebrities. Here are 15 surprising things the pro dancers revealed about the celebrity contestants.

1. Cheryl Burke said Ian Ziering is her least favorite partner

Cheryl Burke and Ian Ziering stand next to each other in colorful outfits on Dancing with the Stars
Cheryl Burke and Ian Ziering | ABC

The professional dancer is going on to her 20th celebrity partner on the show. Someone was bound to be her least favorite, and that was the 90210 star. “My least favorite [partner] would be Ian Ziering,” she said on a podcast called Allegedly. “The fact that his name is not EE-AN and it’s EYE-AN makes me want to throw up.”

She also revealed that the show covered up his bad behavior. “That’s the true colors that they didn’t show on Dancing With the Stars,” she said, referring to the actor’s behavior on Celebrity Apprentice. “Think of spending time with that for like eight to 10 hours a day, seven days a week for three months.” She also said the actor made her want to “slit [her] wrists.”

She later apologized, saying she said those things in the heat of the moment and didn’t mean to mock suicide. But she also later claimed she didn’t regret saying that Ziering was her least favorite or that she was joking.

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