Amanda Kloots is walking back comments she made about her “Dancing with the Stars” partner Alan Bersten being “very mean” to her during their time together on show.
Kloots posted a photo Nov. 19 on her Instagram stories that showed her smiling alongside Bersten. In her caption, she explained that she and the pro dancer had “built an incredible partnership” while competing on Season 30 of reality dance competition in 2021.
“Setting the record straight! I love @alanberston very much! We became the best of friends during DWTS and still are today,” wrote Kloots.
Kloots, a former Rockette, went on to say that she and Bersten “joked then and now about how tough he was” during the reality dance competition. She added that she was not surprised by Bersten’s strictness because she “grew up in the ballet world.”
Kloots explained that she and Bersten formed a “bond” during the competition, which aired a little more than a year after her late husband, Broadway star Nick Cordero, died in July 2020 at age 41 from COVID-19-related complications.
“We also laughed a lot, cried, and built an incredible partnership in that time!” she wrote of her time with Bersten. “Alan helped me tremendously with healing and grief and finding my love for dance again. I’m forever grateful to him.”
Kloots’ comments came hours after she revealed on the Nov. 19 episode of Harry Jowsey’s “Boyfriend Material” podcast that Bersten had been tough on her when the pair competed together on “DWTS.”
Kloots told Jowsey, who competed on “DWTS” in Season 32, that Bersten pushed her because he recognized her talent.
“He did see a lot of potential in me and he saw that we could possibly win this thing. And I think when a pro has a star that has that potential, they can get very mean because they’re like, ‘I could win, I wanna win,’” she explained.
“I got yelled at,” she added, laughing. “And the thing is, like, I wanted to be good. I wanted to learn. I watched that show for 29 seasons before I got on it, so I was so excited to be there. I wanted to do well.”
Kloots explained that Bersten would “push” her during rehearsals to the point where she felt like she was having a “breakdown.” But she refused to let her emotions get the best of her.
“So I would just keep it bottled up and we would just be like dancing and I would just be like raging inside,” she added, still laughing.
Despite Bersten’s intensity, Kloots said she had “a blast” competing with him. “I would go back on in a heartbeat,” she said.