‘Dancing With the Stars’: Hannah Brown Reveals She and Pro Partner Alan Bersten Call Each Other ‘Babe’

Hannah Brown and Alan Bersten may not be dating, but the Dancing With the Stars partners aren’t shying away from pet names from one another. In an Instagram Live session Monday, ahead of the ABC show’s semifinals, Brown revealed that the professional dancer calls her “babe,” and that she reciprocates in turn.

“I’m like, ‘Babe, come on!’” the Bachelorette alum explained. “We are, like, so close at this point. So he could … say anything, and I would be like, ‘Whatever.’ Like, we’re just really at that point where we’ve spent every single day [together]. He’s had to become my best friend. It’s been great.”

Bersten chimed in that the sweet name for one another has come after the two achieved “a level of trust” over the past two months of dance practice, with which Brown wholeheartedly agreed.

The chemistry between the Dancing With the Stars partners has had many fans thinking the two are more than just friends, especially as they attended last week’s CMA Awards arm-in-arm. But both Brown and Bersten have insisted their friendship is completely platonic.

Last month, during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Brown joked to guest host Justin Hartley that she barely has “time to get paper towels,” let alone date someone. She added of her time on The Bachelorette this year, “I don’t have time to date right now…I tried that. I actually dated 30 guys at one time. I don’t know if you know this or not. I spent a whole year of my life trying to date and it still didn’t work out.”

When asked later by an Instagram follower if she and the choreographer were “a thing,” Brown quipped, “Yeah, we’re a thing. Team Alabama Hannah!”

She added to Hartley, “No! I’m not [dating him]…We’re great friends. He kind of has to be my best friend, so I make him be.”

“It has been an amazing experience,” Brown added of her time on DWTS. “But, like I said, I have just been—trauma from dating, so we’re not going to do that right now. We’re gonna dance.”

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: Taylor Hill / Contributor / Getty