Dancing With the Stars lore explained – from | TV Shows

Since its first premiere in 2005, Dancing With the Stars has seen a whole lot of superstar and skilled pairings compete for the mirrorball trophy. Off the dance flooring, many of those partnerships have turned into lasting relationships, marriages, and households.

Former professional Kym Johnson met her husband, businessman Robert Herjavec of Shark Tank fame, during Season 20. The couple married and are mother and father to 7-year-old twins, a boy and a woman. Another on-screen romance led to marriage for former professional Artem Chigvintsev and wrestler Nikki Bella, who had been paired in Season 25. The pair share a 4-year-old son, Matteo, though Bella filed for divorce in 2025 after Chigvintsev’s arrest for alleged home assault.

More lately, professional Britt Stewart and her Season 31 companion Daniel Durant started relationship following their semi-finals elimination in 2022. The deaf actor and Stewart announced their engagement on Dec. 29, 2023, days after a Christmas proposal. They share two cats. Other relationships had been shorter-lived, such as professional Alan Bersten’s temporary romance with Season 27 companion Alexis Ren.

Several execs have married fellow dancers. Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy tied the knot in 2019 and welcomed their son, Rome, in 2023. Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov wed in 2014 and are mother and father to daughter Nikita. Longtime execs Sasha Farber and Emma Slater wed in 2018 but divorced in 2024, though they continue to be pleasant. Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who wed in 2017, are raising three sons together, Shai, Rio, and Milan.

Other notable connections embody Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green, who competed together while already relationship. They have a son, Zane, and turned engaged in 2022. Former professional Karina Smirnoff dated Mario Lopez, her Season 3 companion, and was briefly engaged to Maksim. Derek Hough, now a decide, dated Season 6 companion Shannon Elizabeth and is now married to former troupe member Hayley Erbert.

Unbeknownst to many new viewers, he show has also maintained a strong hyperlink to Utah and the Mormon religion. Several of the most profitable professionals – including Derek and Julianne Hough, Lindsay and Rylee Arnold, Witney Carson, Jenna Johnson, and Brandon Armstrong – grew up in Utah and had been raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“There’s nothing else to do,” Armstrong said on the “Lightweights” podcast in October 2024, joking about why so many ballroom dancers come from Utah. “You play sports, go to school, date super young. These guys get married when they’re 19, 20 years old. And then you dance.”

Much of the expertise comes from Orem’s Center Stage Performing Arts Studio, which has skilled execs, troupe members, and even Super Bowl halftime performers.

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“Dance is so big in Utah,” Derek Hough told Us Weekly. “It’s one of those places that appreciates dance at a different level.”

The Mormon religion itself encourages the development of skills, which Emmy-winning choreographer Bonnie Story said might clarify the self-discipline many dancers carry to training. Former BYU dance chair Lee Wakefield once famous, “Mormons danced when they crossed the plains to Utah, and one of the first buildings they built was a dance hall.”

Lindsay Arnold added her perspective on the “Hot Smart Rich” podcast in May 2025. “The Mormon culture is very much, like, we want our kids to be good kids and to not get into trouble and to not explore different things that could lead them in troubled areas,” she explained. “So I feel like a lot of parents put their kids in something and then push it hard.”