Brooke Burke Reveals She and Derek Hough Tried Couples Therapy During ‘DWTS’

Brooke Burke and Derek Hough didn’t have an easy road to victory when it came to Dancing With the Stars. The fitness pro, who would go on to co-host seven seasons of the ABC dance competition after being crowned the winner of Season 7, revealed that she and her pro partner Hough went to couples therapy to work out their issues before taking home the win in 2008.

“We weren’t connected. We weren’t gelling. We were having issues,” Burke, 52, revealed on Monday’s episode of the Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans With Cheryl Burke podcast. Hough, now 38, was “exhausted” recording an album at night and was struggling with his confidence as a 23-year-old pro dancer, while Burke was “fried” with a 3-month-old baby at home. Neither member of the team was at their best – and they struggled to communicate due to their 14-year age gap.

“I was a woman and a mother. I felt like he was a young man,” Burke explained. “We weren’t meeting each other in a place that was serving us. So we went to this life coach therapy session. And I was surprised that it never aired because I thought it was super real and super valuable.” During the session, Burke learned “valuable” advice that she still utilizes in her life today. “The life coach had said, ‘You have to meet each other with honesty,’” she recalled, explaining, “She wanted me to be able to say, ‘I’m exhausted, I don’t have the energy to be here, my baby was crying all night, my family misses me, I’m f-king scared, I don’t know this routine, you’re being mean, I’m not OK!’ There’s something amazing that happens when you meet someone with truth and honesty.”

“The other thing she said that was really valuable was, ‘You guys are not in this to win it.’ And we weren’t,” the television personality continued. “[Derek] was really scared and insecure. He just thought, ‘Let’s stick around for as long as we can. We’re not gonna win the Mirrorball Trophy.’” While Hough never expressed that feeling explicitly, Burke said neither she nor her partner were fully committed, especially as she was dealing with a foot injury.

“I knew his young mind. I knew he wasn’t competing to win. I knew it was an opportunity for both of us – I was there to get to know America in a different way,” she said. “I think he was there because it was a great gig as a dancer, it was big for him. I don’t think people sign up for Dancing With the Stars to win the Mirrorball Trophy – it’s not even attainable. You don’t think it’s possible. So the life coach said, ‘You’re both here, and you’re committed to being here. You might as well frickin’ get in it to win it.’ And we were like, ‘Oh.’”

The two were able to recommit to the challenge ahead of them and ended up taking home the win that season. “I left that stint going, ‘I can do anything,’” Burke reflected. “I realized what it was like to commit three months of my life and do it and do it well. It changed my whole life.” Burke would go on to co-host Dancing With the Stars from Season 10 to 17, while Hough would win the Mirrorball Trophy five more times before becoming a judge on the dance competition in 2020.