Brooke Burke reflects on her connection with Derek Hough during their time on ‘DWTS’

Brooke Burke and Derek Hough seemed to have chemistry during their time competing together on “Dancing With the Stars” and now we know why.

Burke was a recent guest on former “DWTS” pro Cheryl Burke’s podcast “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” and spoke about pairing with Hough for Season 7 of the dance competition back in 2008.

While they won that year, Brooke Burke said she and Hough initially had a rough time of it before it became “magical.”

And intense it seems.

“I actually hoped we would have had a love affair,” the actress said. “I don’t think I’ve ever said that.”

While Hough had some harsh critiques of his partner at first, it appears that the intimacy grew as they continued to rehearse.

“But listen let me tell you why: You are intertwined with someone’s body when you’re not a dancer,” Brooke Burke said. “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.”

That went on for three months and Burke, who was married to fellow actor David Charvet at the time, said such a connection “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,” she said. “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?”

Burke and Charvet split in 2018 and Hough, who is now a judge on “Dancing With the Stars,” married Hayley Erbert in August 2023.

During the podcast Cheryl Burke predicted that Hough was going to “freak out, in a good way” over Brooke Burke’s revelations.

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