DWTS Champ’s Controversial Romance Launch ‘Wasn’t a Mistake’

Heavy DWTS star Kaitlyn Bristowe is apparently dating Zac Clark.

A former “Dancing with the Stars” champion just launched a new romance, and it has fans buzzing. Kaitlyn Bristowe, who won season 29 with partner Artem Chigvintsev, is now seemingly dating Zac Clark.

Clark proposed to “The Bachelorette” star Tayshia Adams during her season. Bristowe announced her split from former “Bachelorette” star Jason Tartick in August 2023. She was also engaged to her final rose recipient Shawn Booth before that.

Bristowe and Clark’s connection was revealed via New Year’s Eve social media posts shared by guests at a party “The Bachelorette” star threw at her home in Nashville, Tennesse.

Now, Bachelor Nation spoiler king Reality Steve is sharing some tidbits about what he knew behind the scenes of it all. He noted he had heard about the romance a while ago, and he indicated the “launch” was done quite intentionally.

Here’s what you need to know:

Reality Steve Had Heard Kaitlyn Bristowe’s Romance Launch Was Coming

During Reality Steve’s January 1 “Daily Roundup” podcast, the Bachelor Nation spoiler guru shared some franchise-related relationship teasers.

“I am hearing rumblings of another name in Bachelor Nation, that might have hard-launched somebody last night, but at the time of this recording, nothing had happened,” he teased.

Reality Steve explained he had recorded the podcast episode several hours before the new year hit. He would not name any names at that point, though.

He insisted, “It’s these people’s story to tell, it is not mine.” Reality Steve added, “I just know that there is somebody who is seeing somebody that has not announced it yet.”

Reality Steve went into quite a bit of detail about the Bristowe and Clark pairing in the January 2 episode of the “Daily Roundup” podcast.

“I was hearing that there was going to be a soft launch…but I didn’t want to say any of the names,” Reality Steve explained. He continued, “The name I knew was Kaitlyn. I did not know who she was soft-launching with. However, I’ve suspected it was going to be Zac.”

Reality Steve also noted, “That video did not get out accidentally, it wasn’t somebody ‘oops, slipped.’ That was a soft launch.”

As the Urban Dictionary explains, a “soft launch” refers to social media posts that allude to a new relationship. In contrast, Urban Dictionary indicates a “hard launch” is “An explicit and purposeful announcement of a romantic relationship, usually announced on social media.”

Kaitlyn Bristowe & Zac Clark’s Relationship Isn’t Brand New

In his podcast, Reality Steve also revealed he had heard rumblings about Bristowe and Clark’s romance a while ago. “This is something that I had heard about, the first time I heard about this was October 19.”

However, he noted, “I didn’t know any details. It was rumblings, it was rumors,” at the time. Reality Steve added that he didn’t work to confirm anything about the relationship in October when he first heard about it.

Tidbits showing Clark at Bristowe’s party hit social media intentionally, according to Reality Steve. He was clearly inferring that “The Bachelorette” star was fully involved and aware the posts were happening.

“It wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t a ‘Oh sh*t, somebody shouldn’t have recorded this.’ That was done on purpose,” Reality Steve shared.

As Reality Steve noted, rumors about Bristowe and Clark dating have been swirling for a while. He also pointed out that neither of them has shared the other outright in their own social media posts, yet.

Despite all of that, as Reality Steve mentioned, “Kaitlyn has been taking major heat for this in the last 24 hours. Neither of them have come out and said they were dating. However, it’s kinda known.”

He continued, “There were rumors out there for months. Like I said, I found out three months ago, meaning, it had probably started, at least the talking, or some sort of communication between the two had started well before then. This wasn’t, like, a total secret.”

Many Bachelor Nation fans who closely follow the social media posts of past contestants, and sites like Reddit, had already been aware of this rumored pairing. As Reality Steve noted, though, “To people who don’t follow stuff online, I’d say 98% of the world had no idea.”

Bristowe quickly became quite defensive over the backlash she started receiving. Despite that, Reality Steve suggested, “I’m sure they’re gonna be a couple on social media. I mean, this was a soft launch that happened on New Year’s Eve and it was planned. We’re gonna start seeing stuff between Kaitlyn and Zac.”