US fitness personality Brooke Burke has admitted she “would have had an affair” with Derek Hough during their time together on Dancing with the Stars.
Burke, 52, was paired with the American choreographer, 38, for the 2008 edition of the dance competition series, with the pairing eventually winning the Mirrorball Trophy that year.
Burke has now revisited her time on the show, recalling how her and Hough’s partnership evolved, during the latest episode of fellow DWTS alum Cheryl Burke’s podcast Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans.
“Had I not been married... I would have actually hoped we would have had a love affair,” Brooke told Cheryl, explaining why she ended up “crushing on Derek” after producers organised couple’s therapy for them.
Brooke was married to David Charvet when she competed on DWTS. She filed for divorce from the former Baywatch star in 2018.
When Cheryl revealed Hough had spoken about “how hot” Brooke was, she reiterated: “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. And it’s every single day. So 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, you feel more connected.
“If you have energy, you’re doing this dance and you’re in the rhythm, and then there’s trust, then you’re sharing fear, you’re doing something you’ve never done. How many times do you go through an experience with someone where they’re all you’ve got?”
However, Brooke and Hough struggled initially to build a connection and “weren’t behaving like teammates”, she said.
While Brooke was a new mother at the time, having given birth to her and Charvet’s daughter three months before DWTS, Hough was “exhausted” from recording an album alongside the show.
“I was a woman and a mother. I felt like he was a young man. We just, we weren’t meeting each other in a place that was serving us,” Brooke said. “So we went to this life coach therapy session. And I was surprised that it never aired because I thought it was super real and super valuable.”
She also revealed Charvet encouraged Brooke to “connect [with Derek] before a performance” after their initial dances together.
The Emmy-winning choreographer recently married fellow DWTS pro Hayley Erbert during a ceremony in California.
