Dancing With the Stars has always been more than just a reality TV dance competition. Yes, it’s taught a few celebrities with two left feet how to dance the salsa and cha-cha, but it’s also been a place where showmances, and even real romances have been found.
The show is also a place where professional dancers and their celebrity partners have developed friendships that have lasted beyond the dance floor. For pro Emma Slater, she’s continued to have a lifelong bond with her Season 28 partner, actor James Van Der Beek, amid his cancer diagnosis.
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DWTS’ Emma Slater Reacted To Her Former Partner, James Van Der Beek’s Cancer News
In November, James Van Der Beek revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer. In an Instagram post, he shared that he had wanted to tell the world about his cancer diagnosis when he was ready, but unfortunately, a tabloid got hold of the news and was planning on releasing it.
“Each year, approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis. And I’m one of them.”
He continued, “I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before. I’m in a good place and feeling strong. It’s been quite the initiation, and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready.”
In a second Instagram post, James shared journey with cancer in an exclusive People interview where fans learned that he was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer.
Several celebrities commented on James’ initial Instagram post in which he revealed his heartbreaking cancer news. His Dancing With the Stars pro partner Emma Slater commented on his post.
“All my love always and forever partner,” along with a heart emoji.
Emma’s ex-husband, Sasha Farber, also commented on James’ post with several heart emojis. Other stars also sent their love and support, with Boy Meets World actress Danielle Fishel commenting, “Here for you if you need to talk with someone also going through it.” In August, Danielle was diagnosed with breast cancer.
James’ Dawson’s Creek co-star Busy Philips also commented on his post. “My wonderful friend, I’m sending you and your beautfiul family all the love and prayers for your healing and complete recovery.”
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Emma And James Continued To Have Friendship After The Show
Dancing With the Stars is one of the most rigorous reality TV shows out there. Once a professional dancer meets with their celebrity partner, there are literally no days off. These partners typically work together between five and eight hours a day to nail down their routines until they end up being the couple to get eliminated. That means these partners tend to form close bonds, whether that’s a friendship or even a romance.
For Season 28, pro Emma Slater was partnered with Dawson’s Creek actor James Van Der Beek. The pair did not connect on a romantic level as both were in committed relationships (James has been married to his wife Kimberly since 2010, and Emma was married to DWTS’ Sasha Farber), but they did become extremely close after the competition.
After the season, Emma was seen hanging out with the Van Der Beek’s in June 2023. An Instagram post shared by Kimberly shows Emma hanging out with her former partner, his wife, and even their children on a short getaway. Kimberly and Emma appeared to have become really close, as the former called the pro a part of her “sisterhood.” In fact, DWTS host Alfonso Ribeiro’s wife, Angela, was also among the tight-knit group.
“This crew flew in for a last min. much needed, coming together. Sisterhood is there to hold you when you need to be held and make great memories. We did just that…”
The Instagram post also showed Emma and James recreating their samba performance. The actor didn’t forget one move as the former partners wowed their friends with their performance. James had also shared their dance on his Instagram. He captioned it, “@vanderkimberly: “Can we see that sambe you did 4 years ago?” Me & @theemmaslater: “Give us ten minutes.”
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Emma Called Dancing With James “Very Rare”
In June 2023, Emma Slater was a guest on Kimberly and Peggy Rometo’s Bathroom Chronicles podcast, where the host spoke fondly of James during their Dancing With the Stars experience.
During their conversation, the wife of James revealed that she and their six children would rewatch all of James and Emma’s DWTS performances when the actor was out of town. “Whenever James is out of town or a lot of times he goes off and works, we all sit in front of the TV and literally play every single routine that you guys did on the show. We love it so much.”
“And it is one of the highlights of our life.”
Emma was touched by this and admitted that out of all the celebrities she had worked with over the course of her DWTS career, working with James was her favorite.
“Everytime is special but that journey was very rare, very special, and really, really probably the most intense one for me,” the pro shared.
She added, “Of course, like me and James really, really connected. I often look at videos too. Videos from everybody, but the videos that I watch of me and James is the samba, the Pasodoble.” Emma also said that during those dance weeks, she worked James “really hard,” but he “majorly delivered.”
Emma and James went pretty far in Season 28. They came in 5th place with The Bachelorette’s Hannah Brown and pro Alan Bersten winning that season.
Dancing with the Stars is a popular dancing competition reality TV show airing on ABC and Disney+. The series features various celebrities who pair with professional dancers to compete in front of a panel of judges. The US version of the UK TV show Strictly Come Dancing premiered in 2005 and was originally hosted by Tom Bergeron for its first 28 seasons.
- Main Genre
- Reality
- Cast
- Carrie Ann Inaba , Bruno Tonioli , Len Goodman , Tom Bergeron , Cheryl Burke , Tony Dovolani , Derek Hough , Mark Ballas , Karina Smirnoff , Maksim Chmerkovskiy , Kym Johnson , Sasha Farber , Val Chmerkovskiy , Emma Slater , Sharna Burgess
