Just for show! Dancing With the Stars contestants are often asked whether their onstage chemistry indicates an offscreen romantic connection.
“I gotta know — are those your acting skills or was that real?” cohost Alfonso Ribeiro asked Trevor Donovan and Emma Slater after their Rumba to Elvis Presley’s “Always On My Mind” during a September 2022 episode.
“If you’re really doing a good job acting, it all comes from the truth so there’s something real in every performance,” Donovan replied. Slater, for her part, was silent.
During that night’s post-show interview, the U.K. native told Us Weekly she was “so glad” the 90210 alum had answered Ribeiro’s question for them.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘That question! Like, wow, just out the blue,” Slater said. “We really do get on and have great chemistry, which made this dance so much easier. But then when Alfonso asked that question, I was so glad you answered because I was like, ‘I can’t.’”
The Hallmark Channel star, for his part, explained that his acting experience prepared him for having a strong connection with his dance partner.
“A lot of the movies I do, it’s [the] romantic lead and you have at least a couple scenes that are intimate scenes. And you’re with someone who [could] very well be married or that you just met or you’re not in a relationship and so you have to create that and luckily, we’ve had a few weeks of getting to know each other to become friends and break down that wall and be comfortable with it. … I just answered as truthfully as I could, and it is the truth,” he said.
In August 2022, Us confirmed that Slater had split from her husband and fellow DWTS pro, Sasha Farber. “They’ve been apart for many months now,” a source said at the time. “They both have not been wearing their wedding rings and are each leading a single life.”
The insider noted that although the duo had not filed for divorce, they were “figuring out” what their lives looked like without each other.
“It’s been a difficult time since they really care about each other and have been together for so long,” the source said. Slater and Farber exchanged vows in 2018 after dating on and off since 2011.
Scroll through to see all the DWTS couples who have defended their chemistry as merely part of the performance:
