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Amanda Kloots Says Pro Partner Alan Bersten Was ‘Very Mean’ to Her on ‘DWTS’ Season 30
Amanda Kloots revealed she had a negative experience with “mean” pro partner Alan Bersten when she competed on Dancing With the Stars, although she thinks she helped make him a “better person” in the long run.
“He was very mean to me,” Amanda, 42, explained on the Tuesday, November 19, episode of the “Boyfriend Material With Harry Jowsey” podcast.
“But I think it’s because he, you know, Russian … growing up Russian in that Russian dance atmosphere, and he did see a lot of potential in me and he saw that we could possibly win this thing,” the Broadway veteran continued.
Amanda’s experience as a former Radio City Rockette gave her a dance background advantage, and she believed Alan, 30, pushed her harder because he thought they had the potential to go far in the competition.
“I think when a pro has a star that has that potential, they can get very mean because they’re like, ‘I can win, I want to win,'” she said of the Moscow, Russia, native. Alan has won one mirrorball trophy, coming in first on DWTS season 28 with partner Hannah Brown of The Bachelorette fame.
Amanda and Alan came in fourth during 2021’s season 30 of DWTS. NBA player Iman Shumpert and pro Daniella Karagach won the mirrorball trophy that year, beating out Dance Moms alum JoJo Siwa and pro Jenna Johnson for first place.
Amanda added that while she got “yelled at” by Alan while practicing their dances, she didn’t make a fuss over it so that they could concentrate on their rehearsals.
“I wanted to do well. I’m a dancer, so he would push me, and I knew they would just want me to have a breakdown or something. But I knew that if I had a breakdown, the producers would want to come in and to an OTF and then we would lose an hour of our rehearsal time,” she explained, referring to an “on the fly” interview done in reality TV to capture the raw emotion of a moment.
“So, I would just keep it bottled up and we would just be like dancing and I would be raging inside,” the former The Talk host shared.
Amanda joked that her anger towards Alan’s treatment of her was helpful at times, especially when working on the tango when she was “just so mad,” adding again that “he could get mean.”
The fitness instructor thinks that his future partners benefitted from Alan’s experience with her.
“I think Alan has grown up a lot in the last couple of years. I helped him become a nicer person in teaching,” she reflected when it came to his celebrity partners after her, adding “I know he’ll agree with me,” on that point.
Amanda’s recollection about making Alan “nicer” seems to be true, as his season 33 partner, Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher, has gushed over their positive working relationship.
“Alan and I truly get along so well, and we have a lot of fun together,” she told E! News on November 14. “I love my teammates, and I love him. I think we’re building something really beautiful here.”
Hannah, 30, worked with Alan prior to Amanda. She wrote about him in her 2021 book, God Bless This Mess, saying while they sizzled during the competition performances, things were different than what they seemed, as the two were “just totally different” in their communication styles.
“Our chemistry on the stage led to the press speculating that we had something more going on between us, but we didn’t. Off the dance floor, we were not compatible people,” Hannah claimed.
“We performed well together, for sure, but we weren’t really compatible in the rehearsal studio, either,” she wrote.
While the former beauty queen acknowledged that there were “always” conflicts between pro dancers and their star partners and the on the show, “Alan and I had the most volatile relationship of the season, by far. It was either we acted like best friends and true partners, or we couldn’t stand each other.”
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