The Real-Life Partners Of Dancing With The Stars Pros

ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" may be one of the most challenging reality competitions on television. Professional dancers are known for their grace, excellent balance, and physical strength, and viewers have watched these pros pair up with singers, athletes, and television personalities who sometimes have two left feet. While there have been celebs that have shocked viewers with how well they can rumba, quickstep, and tango their way to the Mirrorball trophy, there were also some controversial contestants. And those who lacked patience and discipline have caused outright drama with their pro partners.

Viewers have watched partners bicker throughout rehearsals and even go so far as wanting to call it quits because it was clear that they just couldn't get along for the show. Who could forget Season 10's unpleasant pairing of reality television star Kate Gosselin and dancer Tony Dovolani, or the disastrous coupling of soccer star Hope Solo and Maksim Chmerkovskiy in Season 13? 

A lack of chemistry can hinder a performance for these couples, and fans have seen a few pros struggle to teach their celeb partners routines. Thankfully, "Dancing With the Stars" is just their day job, and these professionals can go home to their real-life partners without needing to worry how to teach them the cha-cha or Charleston in a matter of days. Several of these pros are married to dancers too! Here are the real-life partners of "Dancing With the Stars" professionals.

Professional dancer Lindsay Arnold Cusick was only 19 years old when she made her debut in Season 16 of "Dancing With the Stars." However, she would be a member of the dance troupe from Seasons 17-20, until she became a professional yet again in Season 21. It wasn't until Season 25, when she was partnered with singer and actor Jordan Fisher, that she would finally get her hands on the Mirrorball trophy, which she has since considered her favorite season yet, per her website.  

The pro is happily married to her high school sweetheart, Samuel Cusick. According to People, Lindsay and Samuel tied the knot in 2015 in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the dance pro sharing, "I could never have imagined that when I was 16 years old I would have met the man I would marry and who would by my partner — yesterday, today, and tomorrow!" 

In November 2020, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Sage, sharing the wonderful news with her Instagram followers. While the birth of her daughter prevented Lindsay from competing on Season 29, she was able to return for Season 30, telling Hollywood Life, "I want to be a part of this show for as long as they'll have me." Since then, Lindsday has had another daughter, June, born in 2023, and is pregnant with her third child.

Season 30 of "Dancing With the Stars" had a first when they welcomed real-life couple actor Brian Austin Green and professional dancer Sharna Burgess as partners on the show. Burgess has been a part of the show since Season 13 as a dance troupe member and later become a pro in Season 16 when she was partnered with comedian Andy Dick. During Season 27, Burgess finally got to take home the grand prize when she won the competition with partner and radio personality Bobby Bones, which came as a shock to many viewers, per The Washington Post.

Burgess and Green made their relationship Instagram official in January 2021 when the dancer posted a photo of the two sharing a sweet kiss while on vacation. The couple has been smitten with one another ever since, even though Burgess admitted to Page Six that dancing with your significant other can be a "challenge." She said, "It's a learning curve for me. I've never done this before. I've never dated anyone that I've danced with, whether it was in my competition life or my 'Dancing With the Stars' career. So everything for me is new."

As for Green, he joked to People, "If I mess up, I wouldn't be surprised if Sharna left me." For their first routine, the couple danced the Foxtrot and ended their performance with a steamy kiss.

Witney Carson McAllister became a professional dancer on "Dancing With the Stars" in Season 18 when she was partnered with Australian singer Cody Simpson. The pair finished in 9th place, but she would go on to win the Mirrorball Trophy the very next season when she was paired with "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" actor Alfonso Ribeiro. The pro continues to impress viewers with her dance moves, and she picked up her second mirrorball in Season 34 with Robert Irwin. 

When she's not dancing with celebrities on live television, Witney is busy raising her family in Los Angeles. The dancer and her husband, Carson McAllister, were high school sweethearts and tied the knot in 2016 in Utah, with "Dancing With the Stars" pro Lindsay Arnold as her matron of honor, per Life & Style. Being so well-known, Witney told People that she enjoys going home to her husband who has known her since way before the fame.  "Just knowing that I have someone who knows me before all of this started, someone who has always been there for me, through thick and thin, it's such a comfort. He totally keeps me grounded. I love that he's not in the industry because he can bring me back down to earth."

The married couple welcomed their first child together, a son named Kevin, in January 2021, with Witney and Carson sharing the exciting news on her Instagram. They had a second son, Jet, in 2023. 

What better way to find romance than appearing on the same show? Pro dancers Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson's love story took place while the two were both on "Dancing With the Stars." Chmerkovskiy was already a pro, having come into the show on Season 13, while Johnson's first appearance was as a troupe member in Season 18 in 2014, but later becoming a pro in Season 23, per Us Weekly. 

According to People, the two stars began dating in 2015 but kept their relationship under the radar. Their romance was short-lived, and Chmerkovskiy moved on with Amber Rose, who he was partnered with on Season 23, but that relationship would be brief too, and the dancer later reconnected with Johnson. Johnson told Us Weekly that it was "almost unavoidable" that she and Chmerkovskiy would come back together, adding, "There's something about the show, man. You're so hands on ... Dance is very physical."

Chmerkovskiy proposed to Johnson in 2018 while the two were in Venice, Italy. Before the two wed, Chmerkovskiy admitted to ET that he felt jealous seeing Johnson dance with other men on the show. "I'm not perfect. But I have to check myself and be fair and say, like ... how can I hold this against her if I'm in the same situation?" Thankfully, his jealousy didn't get the best of him because, in April 2019, the couple got married in a lavish wedding in Rancho Palo Verdes, California. 

"Dancing With the Stars" professional dancers Daniella Karagach Pashkova and Pasha Pashkov have a long history together that began in 2009 when she was just 15 years old and Pasha was 22. At the time, Daniella was nervous to be partnered with Pasha because he was already a successful dancer and she was so young, sharing (via Dance Spirit), "people might not respect us as a compatible pair." However, they proved everyone wrong and won multiple competitions throughout the U.S. and overseas, per Dance Sports Info. 

Dancing together for quite some time, the pair developed a romantic relationship and got married in 2014, per Distractify. The couple brought their talents to the ABC show in Season 28, and as of this writing, they are both still competing. The couple shared with ET in 2019 that their future plans did involve having children.

"If we could, we would've had our baby like five years ago," Pasha said, with Daniella adding, "Absolutely. We really want to focus on this, this is something we've been wanting for a really long time — 'Dancing With the Stars,' not a baby [laughs] — and I feel like now that we have it, we want to put our heart and soul into it and do the best that we can in it." Danielle and Pasha did eventually become parents in 2023 following the birth of their daughter, Nikita, and the pair frequently share cute family updates on their social media. 

Pro dancers Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy found one another thanks to their love of dancing, meeting in 2009 for Broadway's "Burn the Floor." Chmerkovskiy would move on to become a pro on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" in Season 2 and would see Murgatroyd again when she became a troupe member in Season 12. She then became a pro herself in Season 13, per Us Weekly. 

It wasn't long before these two stars made headlines for starting a romantic relationship in 2012, but they split the year after. However, they rekindled their romance, with Chmerkovskiy confirming the news during an interview in 2015. That same year, Chmerkovskiy surprised Murgatroyd when he got down on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage after a live show in Miami, per E! He shared a photo of the special moment on Instagram, captioning it, "She said 'yes.'"

In 2017, the two celebrated a big year when they welcomed their son, Shai, into the world in January and got married in July at City Hall in New York, having their dream wedding at Oheka Castle in Long Island, New York, that same month, per Us Weekly. The pair have gushed about one another on social media since getting married, and have had two more kids: sons Rio in 2023, and Milan in 2024. 

Fans can't get enough of former pro dancer turned "Dancing With the Stars" judge Derek Hough (the pro with the most wins thus far) and his now wife, Hayley Erbert. The duo met after Erbert joined his and his sister Julianne Hough's "Move Live Tour" in 2014, and by the next year, she and Hough were reportedly an item, with Erbert later joining "Dancing With the Stars" as a troupe dancer in 2016, per Us Weekly. In Season 29, fans even got to watch the two perform a Paso Doble together in Week 6.

Ever since Hough and Erbert began dating, they have been sharing incredibly adorable moments on Instagram. From swimming with dolphins to re-creating one of their first dances together, the two are a match made in dancing heaven. 

Things have only gone from strength to strength for the couple, and they got married in August 2023, and welcomed their first child together, daughter Everley, in 2025.

Professional dancer Mark Ballas was a fan favorite on "Dancing With the Stars" and is the winner of three Mirrorball Trophies. Ballas left the show after Season 31 and took up other ventures, including forming the music duo Alexander Jean with his wife, BC Jean, who he married in 2016. 

Billboard reported that Alexander Jean was formed in 2015 and released their first single, titled "Roses and Violets" in 2016. Both Ballas and Jean tell their real-life stories through their music and lyrics, with the former pro stating, "As long as people are feeling something, and they can take something from our story and kind of [say], 'Oh yeah, I went through something like that,' then we're doing our job."

Jean was a solo star before meeting Ballas, but the two now have the opportunity to see the world together while they tour. Ballas shared with ET, "As musicians that are touring, it's rare that your spouse does the same thing and you can actually be in the same band. Usually, you'll be doing all these amazing travels and going on all these adventures, Facetiming, [but] you're lonely. We never have to say, 'I wish you were here.'"

Former "Dancing With the Stars" pro Kym Johnson-Herjavec and "Shark Tank" star Robert Herjavec have a fairytale romance that all started on the show's dancefloor. In Season 20, Kym was partnered with the businessman, and while they ended the show placing 6th, they developed a relationship that led to marriage and welcoming twins, per People. 

Interestingly enough, Robert's "Shark Tank" co-star Daymond John knew instantly that there was chemistry between the two. He shared, "I saw it immediately. I just saw that — this isn't just your dancing partner, but you're talking to 'her' in a very caring manner. I'm just really happy for him." The star couple wed in 2016 in Los Angeles, California, and soon enough, Kym announced that she was pregnant with twins, calling it a "miracle," per People. The couple welcomed their children, Haven and Hudson, in April 2018, with the pro sharing the sweet news on Instagram. 

The pair seem smitten with one another ever since tying the knot, with Robert telling Closer Weekly, "We're having a great time!" And Kym adding, "It's been amazing! In one way it feels like we've been married [so long]. In another way, it's gone by so quick. It feels like we've known each other forever. He's just amazing. We're best friends, and it's just easy."