Dancing queen! After winning season 29 of Dancing With the Stars, Kaitlyn Bristowe is taking her talents on the road with the cast — and the former Bachelorette is already feeling the pain.
“The pros have actually been rehearsing much longer than myself, which I don’t think is fair. I’m like, ‘They’re not the ones that need the rehearsal time. I do!’” Bristowe, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting the tour. “I’ve been rehearsing for the last three days and I really prepped to go on Dancing With the Stars — I was, like, training, I was going to physio, I was doing all the things. And I kind of threw myself back into this forgetting how intense it was. My body is so stiff just from three days, my neck is already, like, I pulled something.”
The “Off the Vine” podcast host took home the mirror ball with Artem Chigvintsev during the 2020 season of the ABC competition, which didn’t feature group dances due to coronavirus protocols.
“It is so fun feeling the energy of all the pros and dancing together, and it already feels like we’re one big family, having so much fun together,” Bristowe continued. ”It’s such a different energy dancing with everyone. And I can’t wait for people to come watch the tour.”
Season 29 also didn’t include an audience in the ballroom.
“I’m so excited because I think [a crowd] just changes the whole dynamic of the energy. I got to do that one Janet Jackson dance to announce that I was going on tour and just hearing people cheer in the crowd — it’s a game-changer,” Bristowe explained, noting that she feels similarly about her podcast tour. “It’s just a whole other ballgame.”
The host added that she’s been told that the 2022 tour, which also includes season 30 winner Iman Shumpert, is “different” from past live shows.
“There’s just gonna be a lot of different elements to this show and there’s so much jam-packed into one show that, like, you’re really gonna get your bang for your buck if you come,” she told Us. “You’re gonna see it all, you’re gonna see everybody.”
Before hitting the road in January 2022, Bristowe will cohost the live After the Final Rose with Tayshia Adams when Michelle Young’s season of The Bachelorette concludes on Tuesday, December 21. “I’m so scared,” she admitted about the taping before laughing. “Kaitlyn on live national television – what could go wrong?”
She’s also in the middle of planning her wedding to fiancé Jason Tartick — but leaving most of the details to her wedding planner.
“They’re a lifesaver when it comes to this. … I wanted a wedding planner no matter what because I am not a good decision maker with wedding stuff,” Bristowe explained. “Like I wanna say, ‘I don’t really care about the flowers,’ but maybe I do once I see them, I don’t know. I just want somebody to make it the perfect day and I just wanna show up and enjoy what marriage and [a] wedding is really supposed to be. … It’s gonna be up to the wedding planner to really take the reins on this while I’m gone. And Jason, but he’s so busy too.”
Tickets for Dancing With the Stars Live 2022 are available now at dwtstour.com.
