Brooke Burke Insists Connection With ‘DWTS’ Partner Derek Hough Was “Sensual,” Not “Sexual,” After Claiming She Would Have Had An Affair With Him

Brooke Burke isn’t dancing around the headlines. After saying that she “would have had an affair” with Dancing with the Stars judge Derek Hough — whom she competed with and won the 2008 season of the ABC show — the TV personality told People that in reality, she was just speaking to “the intimacy between celebrities and pros on the show.”

“It’s almost, I would say, required, if you want the audience to respond to you,” Brooke said. “And it’s so vulnerable, it’s very romantic. I really felt like Derek and I were telling a love story on the dance floor.”

She noted that she and Hough had “boundaries,” as Brooke was married to Baywatch actor David Charvet at the time, whom she said “sat in the audience every single show.”

“There was nothing funny going on — just to be clear — but I understand how that happens and why,” she clarified to the outlet.

She claimed that her comments were a result of “the confusion between sexual and sensual.”

“You can have an extremely sensual experience, a passionate experience — with boundaries — that I think is very healthy,” she shared. “I think it’s a conversation that should be had. I think it’s very human. I think it’s very powerful. And I think that’s the beauty of the show.”

Brooke told Fox News Digital that she was “very surprised at headline after headline after headline” following her appearance on former DWTS pro dancer Cheryl Burke‘s Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast, where she first made the remarks.

“And if anybody took the time to listen to the podcast, they would really understand the reality and the vulnerability and the sharing that I was doing about the intimacy in these relationships that are formed on the dance floor,” she added.

Last week, Brooke also told The New York Post that the story was “blown out of proportion.”

“That’s the problem with media, right?” she said. “We did a podcast, girlfriend to girlfriend, revealing a little bit of behind-the-scenes into the chemistry that’s required, and, you know, that happens on Dancing with the Stars,” adding that it was a “very honest conversation within boundaries.”

Brooke relayed to People that she has not since reached out to Hough, whom she described as “like a little brother,” because “it’s a non-issue.”

Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC and Disney+.