Brooke Burkeis setting the record straight about what happened between her andDerek Houghduring their victoriousDancing with the Starspartnership.
In PEOPLE’s exclusive sneak peek at Monday’s episode ofTamron Hall, the 52-year-old television personality clarifies her remarks about how she would have considered “a love affair” with the professional dancer had she not been in a committed relationship withDavid Charvet. (ShemarriedCharvet in 2011 and the couplesplitin 2018.)
Burke explains that she was referring to “the chemistry between pro and celebrity,” adding, “When you’re on a show like that, you’re dancing, you’re breathing, you’re in each other’s arms. You’re learning the dance, the rhythm, the struggle, the challenge, the triumph, the fear that you share when you step out onto that floor. It’s an extremely intimate experience. Chemistry for sure.”
Brooke Burke and Derek Hough.Kelsey McNeal/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Kelsey McNeal/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
“He’s adorable. He’s really like my little brother, saying I would have had an affair… I don’t know, maybe I was just chatting,” she continues. “We didn’t — let me just set the record straight — and I was in a faithful marriage. But it’s like that dance where you’re just, you’re so close and you’re so connected and that intimacy, you can’t fake that.”
The actress claimed theDWTSexperience “is more than most people go through in a marriage.”
“You’re sharing. You’re fighting. You’re competing, you’re learning, you’re failing at times,” she added. “You’re trying to win, you’re communicating, you’re not communicating. You’re fighting. You’re laughing. You’re crying, you’re scared out of your mind. So it’s all of these human emotions. To me, it was extremely sensual. Sensual, not sexual.”
Derek Hough and Brooke Burke.Jason Mendez/Getty; Frazer Harrison/Getty
Jason Mendez/Getty; Frazer Harrison/Getty
Burke believes chemistry is part ofDancing with the Stars, explaining, “I think when you’re on the dance floor, the audience reads that, like you can’t fake that. You’re either gelling and you’re connected and it’s fun to watch and you’re telling a love story, with your bodies out there in a competition show. That’s what people respond to. And people do fall in love on that show. People have gotten married on that show.”
Last week, Burke discussed herDWTSexperience with Hough, 38, on pro alumCheryl Burke’s podcastSex, Lies and Spray Tans.
On the podcast, she recalled meeting Hough, saying, “I just thought he was so young and green and safe. I had no idea he would be such a powerful, badass choreographer.”
“I would have had an affair with him,” she shared. “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,” she went on. “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?”
She summed up that she’d only ever “had one experience with one person like that [outside the ballroom]. Life-changing.”
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Tamron Hallairs weekdays (check local listings).
source: people.com
