Ariana Madix is ready to double up her paso doble.
Four weeks into her run on Dancing with the Stars, the Bravo star has become a front-runner who’s consistently landed among the top scorers thanks to her team-up with pro partner Pasha Pashkov.
Summing up her attitude each week on ABC’s ballroom competition, the Vanderpump Rules star, 38, exclusively tells: “I’ve always been a really hard worker and so I enjoy being put to work.”
Luckily for Madix, though, the work could very easily turn into play if Paskov’s wife Daniella Karagach (another DWTS pro who’s been paired with fellow high-scorer Jason Mraz for season 32) and Madix’s new love Daniel Wai join the mix.
Madix met Wai, a 37-year-old fitness influencer, in the spring less than two weeks after ending her nine-year-relationship with VPR costar Tom Sandoval when she discovered the TomTom bar co-owner, 41, had been having a months-long affair with their friend and castmate Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, 29.
In the months since the fan-dubbed Scandoval threw the whole Vanderpump cast into disarray, Wai has been a consistent presence by Madix’s side. He even joined Madix’s brother Jeremy and her costars Scheana Shay and Brock Davies to cheer on his love as she declared in the season 32 premiere that “scandal does not define me.” He was also in the ballroom in week 2 as she said she was “closing the book on the drama of my life.”
When asked if she might be able to teach the fitness influencer a few moves now that she’s mastering everything from the samba to contemporary, Madix told: “I’m sure he would love for me to teach him some tango moves, but I only just learned them.”
She continues, “I would need Pasha to give Daniel tango lessons.” In fact, she adds, “We need a double date — Pasha and Dani, and me and Daniel.”
And thanks to Madix’s recent partnership with Red Robin off the dance floor, she has a go-to idea for how the foursome can refuel and shake things up after dancing.
The hamburger chain and the Single AF Cocktails author launched the new Burgertini on Tuesday, which Madix describes as “a cross between a classic dirty martini and somewhat of a bloody Mary.”
“I feel like it was the perfect marriage of burgers and cocktails,” she says of the vodka-based cocktail, which features muddled tomatoes, beef broth, pickle brine and Red Robin signature’s seasoning blend. And while she acknowledges the thought of a burger cocktails is “wild,” she teases, “I love to get a little bit wild. So this is how we ended up here.”
For those who want to keep their burgers on a bun, Madix favors the OG beef patty, telling: “I’m a classic girl — load up the pickles, the tomatoes, get that good buttery bun. I ask for extra mustard every time.”
The Bravo star notes that lately Red Robin is “upgrading their cooking methods, they’ve upgraded their ingredients,” then adds — seemingly nodding to her new man — “we’re all upgrading here.”
Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC and Disney+.
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