Dancing With the Stars pro Alan Bersten and chef Giada De Laurentiis are addressing rumors there was tension between the season 35 partners.
“I think people might have blown it out of proportion,” Bersten, 32, said during a joint appearance with De Laurentiis, 56, on the Tuesday, September 29, episode of Danielle Fishel’s podcast. “We had nothing but love for each other.”
Speculation began swirling of a rift between Bersten and De Laurentiis when their week two intro package showed the DWTS partners having an argument in rehearsals. Bersten explained that the pair did not watch the intro package before their dance and were confused about what happened when they were later asked about their relationship after their performance.
“I think it was just that pressure of getting it, and the time crunch,” Bersten said of the emotions running high during rehearsals. “I saw how much Giada cared. I saw her wanting this as opposed to giving up,” Bersten said. “To me, that the butting of heads, I think we were on the same page. There was just frustration of, why isn’t it happening faster? By no means did I ever feel any negativity or anything.”
The pair were then eliminated after performing a salsa to “Bella Ciao” by Becky G and earning a 12 out of 30 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
De Laurentiis, for her part, shared that she learned she’s a “perfectionist” while competing on DWTS.
“We really, really, really cared about it,” she said. “I wanted to do a good job. As good a job as I possibly could for Alan, for my daughter. Because you’re vulnerable and because you’re on live television. … I really cared and I wanted to do a great job. I wanted to make everyone around me, and myself, proud. I think that when you have that, kind of, perfection mindset, you get frustrated when you’re like, ‘Why can I not get this simple side step? Why? Why is my brain blocking it?’”
She continued, “I think that is where the frustration came up and the feeling of stress, of like, ‘I only have X amount of time so I don’t have a moment to waste.’ And I keep saying to everybody, it wasn’t that Alan and I were frustrated with each other. We were frustrated with ourselves. I was frustrated with myself and my ability, or lack of.”
Bersten echoed De Laurentiis’ sentiment, sharing that there was no “animosity” between them.
“We had fun in rehearsals and we were learning and even if it was a little bit like high pressure, it was always fun,” he said. “People are gonna say whatever they want. We really did have fun in rehearsals.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
