Kaitlyn Bristowe didn’t always take Dancing With the Stars partner Artem Chigvintsev’s tips while training for season 29.
“Usually my advice to whoever goes on the show is, like, just surrender,” Bristowe, 40, said on the Thursday, April 9, episode of her “Off the Vine” podcast. “It is so much better when you shut up and listen.”
She continued, “I wanted to fight Artem on so many things and tell him, [but] at the end of the day, I’m, like, ‘Nothing else matters except for him trying to get what’s best out of both of us and if I just shut up and listen, I’m going to get more out of this than if I try and back-talk him all the time.’”
Bristowe and Chigvintsev, 43, were paired for 2020’s DWTS season 29, where they ultimately clinched the mirrorball trophy.
“You guys are the professionals,” the former Bachelorette told retired pro Cheryl Burke on Thursday’s episode. “After that many seasons of doing something, you’re, like, ‘I think I know what I’m saying.’”
In the years since Bristowe and Chigvintsev cha cha’d their way to victory, they drifted apart.
“You know, what’s funny is I actually feel like Artem and I had — it [was] like a business,” Bristowe exclusively told Luxury Handbag Shopping in October 2022. “Then we moved forward, and I haven’t really talked to him, which is kind of sad. I don’t know. He’s busy. He’s dancing every day. He’s got a little sweet boy at home.”
Chigvintsev, who shares 5-year-old son Matteo with ex-wife Nikki Garcia, left the ballroom competition after season 32.
As for Bristowe, she’s remained a dedicated fan of DWTS.
“There’s something so magical about watching it. I watched it with my mom from the first season it was on to now,” she told Us. “You know, knowing what that process is like and the hard work that these dancers put in every day and how hard it is on your body and your mind, I love supporting the show and I actually miss it so much that I get this overwhelming feeling of joy that I, like, cry on every dance and laugh and I’m like, ‘Oh, I miss it.’”
She added at the time, “It’s such a family over there. … The No. 1 thing I learned about myself in that process was how resilient I was. I was like, ‘My body is meant to do some crazy things. … If I can do Dancing with the Stars, I can have a baby. I can do anything.’”
Bristowe returned to the ballroom during season 34, performing a special routine with contestant Andy Richter.
“I [did a] Viennese waltz with the heart of the show, I would say,” she told Extra in November 2025 of being asked back. “I am a ‘Fandy,’ and together we are ‘Kandy.’ I am rooting for Andy all the way.”
Richter, 59, and partner Emma Slater were ultimately eliminated during the 20th Birthday Party episode after his dance with Bristowe.
