On Season 32 of DWTS, contestant Mauricio Umansky was paired with pro dancer Emma Slater. Mauricio’s casting was announced a few months after he and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards confirmed their separation. Meanwhile, Emma was also recently single after divorcing her fellow Dancing with the Stars pro-Sasha Farber, who also competed on Season 32.
Mo and Emma continued publicly supporting each other months after the Buying Beverly Hills star was eliminated from DWTS. At the moment, Mauricio and Emma still insist they’re just friends. However, speculation persists, and here’s why.
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars always features sultry dance routines. Naturally, there’s also a strong degree of trust that has to come with the most successful partnerships, hence why it’s led to many romance rumors throughout all 32 seasons. And, in some cases, the steamy routines on the dance floor lead to actual relationships.
But there’s a difference between intimacy on the stage and off. Sure, their steamy routines may have initially raised some eyebrows. But speculation about Mauricio and Emma peaked thanks to a paparazzi shot.
Mauricio & Emma hold hands, Kyle reacts
In October, Mauricio and Emma were photographed holding hands after having dinner together in Beverly Hills. Naturally, viewers of DWTS and RHOBH wondered if this dinner was a date. Just after the hand-holding pictures came out, Mauricio dedicated his DWTS routine to Kyle. The week’s theme was the most important year of your life. Mo chose 1996, an important year for his career. And, most notably, the year he and Kyle got married.
These photos marked a turning point in Kyle and Mo’s divorce. Before then, the two went out of their way to appear chummy. But Kyle was bothered by the potential public display of affection. At the RHOBH reunion, Kyle said it “did not feel good” to see those photos. Some saw this as hypocritical, considering Kyle’s paparazzi shots with Morgan Wade.
However, others pointed to speculation that Mauricio was unfaithful to Kyle during their marriage. While Kyle said there were things she couldn’t forgive, she never specified if that included infidelity. Instead, she remained adamant that the reasons for the split were nobody’s business.
Mauricio supports Emma on the DWTS tour
In March, Mauricio supported Emma by attending the DWTS tour. Emma made an Instagram post to gush over her former partner’s support. Under a photo of the two hugging, she wrote, “super grateful that we were partnered on the show, if you met him you already know he’s just the best.” She added that he “stole the show just by being in the audience”.
Paul “PK” Kemsley also wrote a gushing comment about their mutual friend. Elsewhere in the comments section, a lot of people wrote that they looked like a “cute couple”. However, others accused Mauricio of being disrespectful to Kyle.
Emma hopes Mauricio will be in her life forever
Just recently, Emma spoke about their continuing friendship. The dancer was naturally asked about Mo at the Race to Erase MS Gala. She admitted to TooFab that dealing with the headlines and speculation about her love life was difficult. Emphasizing that “it’s all love, it’s all friendship,” Emma didn’t hesitate to confirm she and Mo are still close. She praised him as “amazing” and told both TooFab and Us Weekly that she thinks he’ll be in her life forever.
“We really do click,” she told Us, adding, “We sort of went through difficult times at the same time together and were each other’s confidants. It was a really nice season. Difficult for both of us, but we’re really really grateful that we had each other.” Adding that “you get really close to your partner throughout the season,” Emma also mentioned how grateful she was that Mo supported her on the DWTS tour.
Emma’s comments came at an interesting time. The previous week, Kyle confirmed that Mo moved out of their shared home and into a condo. Kyle also removed “Umansky” from her Instagram bio.
Making things even more interesting is that filming for Season 14 of RHOBH is underway. And, after much back-and-forth, Kyle will be back for another season. Mauricio was also spotted filming with PK.
