‘DWTS’ Partners Mauricio Umansky and Emma Slater Spotted out Together Amid Romance Rumors

Mauricio Umansky and Emma Slater were spotted spending time together once again, hot on the heels of their Dancing With the Stars elimination on Halloween. According to TMZ, the former dance partners accompanied a friend to a club in Los Angeles before heading to Koreatown by Porsche to the Line Hotel on Friday.

The speculation on the former DWTS partners stems from Mauricio’s separation and potential divorce from Halloween actress and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards. But while TMZ reports that he was photographed possibly putting his hand on Slater’s back, the person he is touching is not the Dancing With the Stars pro.

The pair have denied the reports and made clear that they were friendly after being photographed holding hands leaving a Beverly Hills restaurant in October. “We do want to address this story, this whole thing that’s going out and about, about whether Emma and I are dating,” Umansky said in an Instagram story alongside Slater. “About whether we went out on a date. For full clarity, we are not dating…We are really good friends. We’ve been dancing together for six weeks, four hours a day, every single day.”

“Guys, you don’t understand, it’s intense,” Slater added. “Like you really form a very, very special bond. And I think we’re similar personalities, so we’ve got a super supportive relationship. We’re definitely there for each other. And it’s beautiful, that’s a great thing.”

Umansky explained the dinner as the close to a rehearsal day and a cap to an emotional time. “Lots of the stories are wrong. And yes, it’s a very emotional week, we were talking about the week during dinner, and when we came out of dinner, we were recapping, and I reached out to grab Emma’s hand, and she grabbed my hand.”

According to TMZ, Richards was not happy with the rumors and the potential new romance for her estranged husband. During the red carpet for Bravocon, Richards commented that she was amid a “divorce,” but she later got emotional while discussing the separation on the stage.

“I didn’t even know how to navigate it without a camera…So that was very difficult for me and my family and that’s what threw me off in the beginning,” she said. “Starting the show, even today, we’re still under the same roof and I didn’t know how to manage that. And I also am somebody who can’t pretend. I don’t have a very good poker face. So a lot of those things that happen with my husband, you can see I’m not thrilled or happy.

“We love each other very much and we are family no matter what happens and have a very strong family unit,” she continued. “My 3 girls still live at home…he was busy doing DWTS so he wasn’t around as much but we’re trying to figure it out. We know we love each other.” Richards adds that this situation is not “my fairy tale,” but it seems like a possible reconciliation could be on the horizon.