'Dancing With The Stars' Pro Alan Bersten Addresses His Relationship With Hannah Brown Amid Dating Rumors
"Bachelorette" Hannah Brown and her partner on "Dancing With the Stars," Alan Bersten, formed a special bond on the show as they performed all the way to their Mirrorball Trophy victory. During their run, they formed a tight bond that led to a flurry of dating rumors.
Bersten addressed those rumors and talking about their relationship with PEOPLE on Tuesday.
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“Hannah and I built such an amazing relationship during these 11, 12 weeks that it’s nice to look back and reflect on how amazing this experience has been and what a friend I made in Hannah,” he said.
“Hannah and I, it was a different partnership than I’ve ever experienced before because after rehearsals almost every day we would go and eat and just hang out and that’s very rare when you spend six hours with someone that you want to still see them afterwards,” he continued. “So I’m really lucky that me and Hannah became such good friends.”
Bersten was asked specifically about whether or not the two were anything more than just friends.
“I don’t think so,” he replied. “I think it’s just friends.”
He also noted that part of what formed their bond was Brown's drive to be better when the judges were harsh.
“I feel like Hannah did such a good job and she didn’t get her perfect score until the freestyle, where I feel like she really did some amazing numbers and really gave her heart out there,” Bersten said. “But I can see why the judges were a little more critical of her. I feel like they wanted to really push Hannah because they saw the potential that I don’t think she saw in herself yet.”
Those less-than-perfect scores brought them closer.
“Hannah and I built such a good relationship throughout the season that we could really trust each other and when we had to work on a note or a critique that the judges gave us, we just went through it and we realized that the more we put in during the rehearsals, the better it’s going to feel on Monday.
"And after every show on Monday, we looked back at the dances and we would feel good if we knew that we gave it our best,” he said.
“Even if the judges didn’t give us the best scores, as long as we tried our hardest, that’s when we knew we did a good job,” he added.
