From the ballroom to the real world! Many of Dancing With the Stars’ celebrity contestants and their professional partners developed strong bonds and friendships throughout the process.
Months — and even years — after their seasons concluded, many of these former pairs have continued to be good friends to their one-time dance partner.
Four years after competing on season 24 of the popular dance competition series in 2017, Simone Biles enlisted her former pro partner to help her come up with a gymnastics routine ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
During the fifth episode of her Simone vs Herself Facebook Watch series, which aired in July 2021, the athlete revealed she brought in Sasha Farber to change up her floor routine.
“Usually, I have a different choreographer, but this year I felt like we needed to be a little bit different, spice it up,” Biles explained. “Whenever I worked with Sasha on Dancing with the Stars, we always said, ‘Oh, my gosh, if we could do a floor routine, how cool would that be?’”
Throughout the Facebook Watch episode, Farber expressed his excitement to work with his former partner again. “From the first day to [being] where she is already, I can’t wait to see what it’s like in months to come,” the Australia native said at the time, noting that he hoped to bring out the gold medalist’s “sassy” side in the new routine.
Sometimes DWTS partnerships form lasting bonds outside of work, as it has for Cheryl Burke and former Backstreet Boy AJ McLean. Since their run on season 29 of the competition series, Burke has been open about how the musician has been an invaluable source of support during her struggles with sobriety, having also been through it himself.
“I always believe that people come into your lives because it’s either a reflection of who you are or who you want to be or who you’re trying not to be,” the professional dancer previously told Us Weekly following a September 2020 episode. “But there’s always this reason. There’s a reason for this energy and energy coming together.”
Burke and McLean have maintained their close bond after competing together in 2020, even starting a podcast and attending AA meetings together.
For their parts, both Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold have remained busy after winning DWTS in November 2017. However, they still make time to keep up the friendship that they forged on the ABC show.
“#TBT to this partnership,” Fisher shared via Instagram in July 2020 alongside a throwback photo of the duo. “Love my sister @lindsarnold who manages to keep her abs through pregnancy 😂.”
Scroll below to find out which other former DWTS pairs have remained close after dancing up a storm in the ballroom:
