ABC "Dancing With the Stars" ballroom
Former “Bachelorette” Kaitlyn Bristowe was crowned the winner of “Dancing With the Stars” season 29. During the season, she was partnered with Artem Chigvintsev.
Bristowe has previously been open about her relationship with Chigvintsev not always being a positive experience during her time on the show. When she was a guest on Melissa Joan Hart’s podcast, “What Women Binge,” she shared that the professional dancer was “cut-throat” and “angry.”
“I think he was going through stuff in his own personal life and I was, like, so giddy to be in there, and he was going through so much on the outside world,” Bristowe shared at the time.
Now, she says that she and Chigvintsev have not kept in touch.
Bristowe Compared the Partnership to a Business Relationship
In an interview with Us Weekly, Bristowe shared that she and Chigvintsev don’t talk very often now that the show is over.
“You know, what’s funny is I actually feel like Artem and I had – it [was] like a business,” she told the outlet. “And then we moved forward, and I haven’t really talked to him, which is kind of sad. I don’t know. He’s busy. He’s dancing every day. He’s got a little sweet boy at home, and he just got married, which, I was so excited for them.”
Bristowe also shared that she gave some advice to Gabby Windey, who is currently a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars” and has been partnered with Val Chmerkovskiy.
“I gave her all my advice and she said that she’s got some big shoes to fill and she is doing just fine,” Bristowe shared. “She is doing incredible. I know how busy [it gets] and how many hours go into that, so I have tried to reach out a couple of times and be like, ‘Do you need anything?’ But I know she’s busy.”
Bristowe told the outlet she’s rooting for contestants Jessie James Decker and Daniel Durant.
Bristowe Thought Chigvintsev Did Not Like Her When She Was on the Show
During an early 2021 episode of her “Off The Vine” podcast where Chigvintsev’s fiance, Nikki Bella, was a guest, Bristowe opened up about her experience on season 29 of the show and shared that she wasn’t sure her partner really liked her while she was on the show.
Bella was a former partner of Chigvintsev’s, but she was engaged to John Cena during her season. After later breaking off that engagement, Bella and Chigvintsev became a couple and later welcomed their first child and got married.
“Tell me, was Artem… Did you feel like he hated your guts during the season, or did you guys have, like, a flirty thing?” Bristowe asked.
Bella said she didn’t have a flirty relationship with Chigvintsev during her season on the show, and she didn’t actually even like him that much at the time.
“He kind of made a comment about my jive and got really mad at me,” she said. “And I was like, ‘You know what, dude? J.Lo and Beyonce don’t jive. I don’t have time for this.’ And I walked out and I got in my car. I remember at the time calling John [Cena] going like, ‘I am quitting. Like, I am not going to stand for this. He is a d***.”
Bristowe shared personal experiences about what she felt when she was with Chigvintsev in the ballroom.
“I’m glad because I was like, maybe he just didn’t like me at all as a person,” she said. “Because I’ve heard all the dancers are like that – very strict, that’s kind of how they grew up in their world of dancing, that’s how they were taught – and Artem even said to me, ‘I don’t want to use Russia as an excuse, but I’m Russian.’”