Kaitlyn Bristowe and Artem Chigvintsev are riding the wave of success from Monday’s Dancing With the Stars. The pair took to the ballroom and delivered a stunningly beautiful Viennese Waltz that earned them the first ‘9’ score of the whole season.
Speaking with 360APROKO’s Lauren Zima after the show, the duo dished on the performance and how they plan to address some of the feedback they got from the judges during next week’s “’80s Night” episode.
“They’ve seen me do the elegant flowy stuff,” Bristowe shared, reflecting on remarks from Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba. The judges all said she’s proven herself to be talented with traditional ballroom numbers, and they are excited to see what she can do with a Latin dance.
“So I think they just wanna see [something] a little bit more upbeat,” Bristowe said. “Which we’re definitely going to bring next week!”
“You’ll see how it looks, and you’ll be like, ‘I love that!” Chigvintsev said of their big plans for next week.
Bristowe’s journey has been something of a rollercoaster during her time on the show, going from an ankle injury that threw her future on the show into question, to becoming the first celeb to earn a ‘9’ in just a few weeks’ time.
“I’ve been rehearsing in heels. I swear, I just like prayed to the ankle gods and it’s like they gave me a new ankle over night,” Bristowe joked. “I mean, it’s still sore, but I don’t care.”
Along the way, Bristowe has been getting a lot of help and support — both from Chigvintsev’s tutelage and from her loving boyfriend, Jason Tartick, to whom she dedicated Monday’s performance.
“He’s just the most fun-loving outgoing supportive human being on the planet,” Bristowe told 360APROKO of her boyfriend.
In a pre-taped package that preceded her performance, Bristowe opened up about how she met Jason while taping her Off the Vine podcast, and it was essentially love at first sight. Now the pair have been together for a year and a half, and couldn’t be happier.
When she first found out that she and Chigvintsev would be dancing to Luke Combs’ “Crazy Beautiful,” the former Bachelorette star explained that the song “reminds me of Jason and the way he feels about me,” and that she “will 100% be thinking of Jason when I do this dance.”
Meanwhile, Chigvintsev is feeling the love from his happy family — including his partner Nikki Bella and their 2-month-old baby boy, Matteo.
Bella — who first met Chigvintsev when she was his partner during season 25 of DWTS — has been very vocal about her struggles with postpartum depression, and the longtime DWTS pro reflected on the importance of destigmatizing that battle.
“It’s a real thing. And nobody talks about it, which is the worst. Because people should talk about it more,” he explained. “It’s real and it’s as real as can be. And you just have to show support and give as much love as you can. It’s important.”
“I told her, ‘Whatever you need, I want to do it… I want to know what you need to feel better. I want you to be happy.’ And obviously she’s super happy with [the baby].”
Fans will get a chance to see how Bristowe and Chigvintsev try to up their DWTS game next week when the show goes retro for “’80s Night.” Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. 360APROKO/PT on ABC.
