The new season of Dancing with the Stars hasn’t even started yet, but the rumor mill certainly has.
It seems that each season, at least one of the dance pros gets shipped with their partner, and this year, it looks like Emma Slater and Mauricio Umansky are the first ones to spark relationship chatter.
As The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fans know, Mauricio and his wife, Kyle Richards, have been separated following speculation that she moved on with country music star Morgan Wade.
They deny that a relationship is happening, but Kyle and Morgan also keep fanning the flames by spending tons of time together, and Kyle even kissed Morgan in a recent music video.
With Mauricio living the single life again, at least according to Andy Cohen, it seems like perfect timing for a little DWTS romance or at least speculation about said romance.
Of course, Mauricio could just really have hit it off with Emma Slater in a way that will translate to the ballroom floor — we’ll just have to wait and see on that.
Here’s where the Mauricio Umansky and Emma Slater romance rumors started
To be clear, speculation that Mauricio and Emma have anything going on beyond their dancing partnership is just that — speculation.
And it’s based on a blind item that reads, “This married reality star with a very good side gig is hooking up with his brand new co-star on a separate reality show.”
Mauricio is the only married reality star among the cast, and his marriage to Kyle Richards has been on the rocks for months. He also has a very good side gig.
His main gig is founder and CEO of the real estate company, The Agency. Mauricio’s side gig is his real estate-based reality show on Netflix, Buying Beverly Hills.
If true, this is some juicy tea spilling ahead of the upcoming DWTS season, but again, this is from a blind item. So far, we’ve not seen any indication that Mauricio and Emma are anything beyond dance partners.
DWTS wanted to cast Kyle Richards and Morgan Wade, too
We recently learned that Dancing with the Stars production didn’t just want Mauricio to join the cast for Season 32 — they wanted the whole love triangle.
A TMZ report claims that when production asked Mauricio to join the cast, they also asked his wife and her rumored girlfriend to compete too.
Kyle and Morgan are said to have declined the offer and are currently in Paris working on a documentary about the country music star.
Dancing with the Stars premieres on ABC on Tuesday, September 26 at 8/7c.