Danielle with… Giada De Laurentiis and Alan Bersten

Pod Meets World

Host Danielle interviews Giada De Laurentiis and professional dancer Alan Bersten about their recent experience on Dancing with the Stars. The

Key takeaways

• Giada De Laurent::use a method of writing down dance steps to help her brain process movement.
• Alan Bersten describes his role as part professional dancer and part full-time therapist for celebrities.

Main topics

• Dancing with the Stars experience
• Ballroom dance training techniques

Notable quotes

It wasn't that Alan and I were frustrated with each other; we were frustrated with ourselves.

Conclusion

The episode highlights the rewarding nature of stepping outside one's

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. I'm Melissa Jeltsin, host of the What Happened to Her podcast. We're kicking off the season with the Sandra Birchmore story, a case the police wrote off as a suicide in a snowstorm. Her family never bought it, and the man they suspected wore a badge. You Speaker 3 (0:19) never know who that devil is because he's wearing a disguise. Sometimes it's a police uniform. Speaker 4 (0:24) And you can get access to all episodes 100 % ad-free with an iHeart True Crime Plus subscription exclusively on Apple Podcasts, available only to iHeart True Crime Plus subscribers. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search for iHeart True Crime Plus, and subscribe today. Lisa, tell them about our new show. Speaker 7 (0:45) We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Iwano. We're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 6 (1:14) I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast. The true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on an amazing guest. Speaker 3 (1:26) Ooh, I scammed him. What? I could talk to you for an hour. Speaker 6 (1:29) You're a generational yapper, like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 7 (1:44) Hi, this is Kylie Brakeman, Angela Geratana, Speaker 3 (1:47) Jeremy Colhane, Patrick McDonald. And Speaker 7 (1:48) we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists podcast. The Speaker 3 (1:52) improvised character comedy podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of Eurovision participants. And we do a little Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up? He winks on Halloween. He gets Speaker 1 (2:07) right up next to the microphone. Speaker 7 (2:08) I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other. Speaker 1 (2:12) You've never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Listen to Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 6 (2:25) Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Poynter, chair of women's health and gynecology at the Adria Health Institute in New York City. I'll be talking to top researchers and clinicians and bringing vital information about midlife women's health directly to you. A Speaker 7 (2:40) hundred percent of women go through menopause. Even Speaker 6 (2:43) if it's natural, why Speaker 3 (2:44) should we suffer through it? Speaker 6 (2:46) Listen to Decoding Women's Health with Dr. Elizabeth Poynter on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (2:56) Hey, everybody, it's me, W. Kamau Bell. This season on my podcast, Who's With Me, I speak with Bruce Lee's daughter, Brandon Lee's sister, and my friend, Shannon Lee. Speaker 6 (3:05) Back to your initial point of stewarding my father's legacy and giving my energy to that. You're lending your life to stewarding somebody else's life. Speaker 3 (3:17) Listen to Who's With Me with W. Kamau Bell on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (3:25) You broke me. You do not deserve happiness. Speaker 5 (3:28) I'm Andrea Gunning. On this season of Betrayal, Carl thought he was living a normal, drama-free life until the messages started. Speaker 3 (3:37) Someone's not going to make it out of this alive. Speaker 5 (3:40) Every piece of evidence pointed to the wrong guy. Speaker 3 (3:44) He was not going Speaker 8 (3:45) to stop unless we stopped him. Speaker 5 (3:47) Listen to Betrayal Season 6 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 5 (4:09) Back to Danielle with I Am the Danielle. I was a child star who was relatively retired from the business until I was asked to play the same character 10 years later. Then I slithered back into my hole, only to return almost a decade after that and compete on season 34 of Dancing with the Stars. Since that time, I have launched more podcasts than anyone else in the greater Western hemisphere. And now with a new season of Dancing with the Stars, once again, blowing the collective minds of mainstream pop culture. I am talking all about it. Recapping every week with Kim Johnson Herjavec while talking to the incredible cast of pros and celebrities creating the weekly wow moments in 2026. And this week, I am talking to two fan favorites who helped build a deafening anticipation for the show. And though eliminated week three, displayed a degree of determination and resilience that was undeniable. He is in his 11th season on the show and a mirror ball champion back in season 28 with Hannah Brown and a runner up for his incredible run in season 33 with Olympian Alona Maher. My other guest is the Emmy-winning chef and entrepreneur who helped mold the industry that became food television and is the only person to have studied at Les Cordon Bleu and appeared on Scooby-Doo. Fresh off the ballroom floor, welcome Giada De Laurentiis and Alan Burstyn. That is unbelievable. You Speaker 8 (5:40) know you're an intro, Danielle. Speaker 5 (5:43) Welcome. I'm so happy to have you here with me. Alan already knows how I feel about him and his girlfriend and his dog. So Giada, I just wanted to personally congratulate you for taking such an incredible leap and proving to yourself what you are capable of. I feel like the scores and eliminations are truly a different competition than the one we. put ourselves through and you succeeded in my opinion with flying colors. So I wanted to give you your flowers as someone who has been on the journey themselves. Speaker 2 (6:22) Yeah, it's a, it's one hell of a whirlwind journey. Yeah. I will say that, um, I was impressed that I was actually able to do what I did. I certainly had an unbelievable coach in it all, Alan. There's no chance, not a zero chance I could do any of it without him. I think that, you know, he pointed out some really interesting things about me, some great and some, you know, that need work. As we all do as we go on these journeys. I think it's really hard for what Alan does because he's thrown into this like relationship. Like right away, you have no time to get to know each other. He has no time to understand like how does someone who doesn't know anything about music? I mean, I couldn't count music. Right. So Alan had to teach me that. So I think in his, I don't know, he'll talk about it, but it's. it's probably mind boggling trying to understand how, how do you teach this person that you just met and you only have a finite amount of time to get them ready for this. So it's impossible. I mean, it's, it's an impossible task. So the fact that I actually got out there and did two dances is huge. I wish I would have had an opportunity to get better and do more, but hell, you know, sometimes the universe has whatever it has prepared for you. Speaker 5 (7:51) Yes. And Alan, how do you handle that? Because like Giada mentioned, there's also a bit of being a therapist. You don't even have a chance to learn. No, I think it's full-time therapy. Full-time therapy. And you have to figure out how does this person learn the best? Are they auditory? Are they visual? Like, and teaching her how to count music. You have so much on your plate immediately and you need to do like a... a crash course. How do you approach your relationship with each new celebrity? There Speaker 8 (8:23) was a lot on the plate and she brought lasagna. Oh Speaker 5 (8:27) yeah, exactly. And there was lasagna on the plate. Speaker 8 (8:30) She bribed me with food. No, honestly, it was, every season is different and it's not just a learning experience for the celebrities. Like I learned so much from being with Giada. You know, just like you mentioned, like audio or visual. It was interesting this year with Giada. I had her write down her steps and I've never done that before with anyone. Speaker 5 (8:55) And do you feel like that was helpful? Speaker 8 (8:58) Giada, you tell me. Speaker 2 (8:59) Yeah. Oh, my God. Yes. It allowed me to sort of. Alan would say, your body knows the dance. Just go with it. Your body knows the dance. And I would say, but my mind doesn't know the dance and my mind has to get like, understand it. He's like, I wish you could throw that mind out for just a minute. So to allow you to just go with it. And that I think for me was one of the hardest things to do, like literally throw it out the window and just go with my gut or go with whatever my body was doing. But yes, writing it down. I thought the day we did it was like a waste of our time, but it wasn't. I literally somehow absorbed the tango in my brain as well as my body. They became one. So yeah, I think it takes a lot for someone like Alinda to know what to do. Yeah. Yeah. I Speaker 8 (9:44) think that's, but that's the whole thing is there's not something like, Oh, I know what to do. Everyone's journey is so different and everyone's learning experience is so different that it is like a puzzle. And that's why it's so fun after 11 seasons of like, Oh, it's not just copy and paste. It's like, let's figure it out together. Speaker 5 (10:01) And I think Speaker 8 (10:02) that's the beauty of the show and of the partnerships. And like, that's what makes everything so, so unique and real is that every relationship is different. And so like learning is different. And so it keeps us on our toes. Speaker 5 (10:18) Yeah, I'm not trying to infantilize these celebrities, but it is a little bit like parenting. Like you, there's no rule book for it. There's no guidebook. You just kind of get thrown in and each child is different and you not, you can't raise each kid the exact same way because they don't necessarily respond. So it's a little, and you also have no idea what you're in for until you're actually in it. Speaker 8 (10:40) Yeah. And for the celebrities as well. Speaker 2 (10:43) Yes. I think it's for the celebrity. You think it's one thing and then it turns into something totally different. And I get it. You're right, Danielle. It's kind of like parenting. Everybody can give you advice about parenting, but until you're in it, you don't really know what, what tips or tricks or tools you need in that toolbox to handle that child. And I will say at times we, we act a lot, at least for me, I acted like a child, like the frustration of not getting it. And I think both Alan and I both got frustrated, not with each other as much as with ourselves. Alan trying to figure out how the Speaker 1 (11:17) hell Speaker 2 (11:17) do I teach this woman? And for me, how the hell do I tell him how to teach me something that I can't even fathom understanding? And I think sometimes, you know, with the time constraints, it really gets to you. And, you know, that's when the therapy comes in. Speaker 5 (11:34) You have been in many high pressure situations in your career, Gialda, whether you are in a busy kitchen or you're on live TV. Where does Dancing with the Stars rank in terrifying experiences? Like what made you sweat more, the ballroom or the back of Spago's on a Friday night? I Speaker 2 (11:52) think the ballroom because I was prepped for the, you know, the back of Spago's. I went to culinary school. I had a lot of training for several years. I mean, yeah, there's. You never know what you're going to be in for there either, because it's, it's a live thing that's breathing. It's a beast, but definitely I didn't have, I did not have the same amount of preparation for dancing with the stars that I, that I had for my career. And I think that's the difference of the pressure, you know? And I said that, I think a few times to Alan, cause he's like, you've done live television before. I said, Yeah, but behind a stove with things that I love, with ingredients I can hold on to, with a knife I can hold on to, things that are my security blankets. There's no security blanket. You're literally naked. Yeah, yeah. You've got nothing to protect you. And yeah, it feels like you walked into a room totally naked. Speaker 5 (12:48) Yes. Speaker 2 (12:48) So, Alan, Speaker 5 (12:49) did you ever think about just choreographing a dance with some knives? Make her feel more comfortable? Speaker 8 (12:54) No, I was afraid. Okay. Speaker 5 (12:57) You Speaker 8 (12:57) know, it's interesting though. It's like. Speaker 8 (13:02) It's weird how like the very first week, I feel like Giada was so nervous. And then the second we like started, it was like, oh, we're locked in. Yeah. Speaker 4 (13:10) No, Speaker 8 (13:11) every week is different and every dance is different. And we had more time for the tango. So it's like, it's just, you can't. And I told her this, I was like, you can't, no matter what I say, you're not going to be prepared enough until you feel it yourself. Speaker 5 (13:25) Yep. Speaker 8 (13:26) No matter what anyone tells you. The second you go out there and you feel the energy, Speaker 5 (13:31) that's Speaker 8 (13:32) like, oh, I'm ready. Speaker 5 (13:33) Yeah. Yeah. I think I can do it. Speaker 8 (13:35) It's one of those things where like no amount of preparation will get you prepared. Speaker 5 (13:39) Yeah. Or if you're just not going to feel ready, you're just not going to feel ready. And by that time, by the time you know I don't feel ready, it's too late. There's nothing you can do. You're like, well, we could go back there and run it three more times. But if I'm not ready at this point. I'm probably just going to go out there and have to hope for the best. Speaker 2 (14:00) And what does Alan say when you say that? Speaker 8 (14:02) I don't like hope. Speaker 2 (14:04) You Speaker 8 (14:04) don't like hope. Hope is just like, there's zero control in hope. Speaker 5 (14:11) Yeah, but there's zero control, period. You can pretend to be in control. We can pretend. We can fool ourselves into like, yeah, I mean, there is. I Speaker 8 (14:21) think there's a difference between belief and hope. Speaker 5 (14:23) Yeah. Okay. You're right. I believe I can do it versus I hope I can do it. Yeah. Okay. I love that clarification. Speaker 8 (14:30) Yeah. To me, I'm like, you got to believe in yourself. You got to believe that you can do it. I don't want you to hope you can do it. Cause then like hope is like. Speaker 5 (14:39) It Speaker 8 (14:39) might happen versus believe like, no, I can make this happen. Speaker 5 (14:42) Yeah. I put in the work I've focused. I, you know, and, and I guess depending on whether or not the celeb has put in the work, you know, if someone's like, Hmm, I shouldn't have taken three days off, you know, then I Speaker 8 (14:53) don't know if anyone's ever taken one day off. Speaker 2 (14:58) Oh, Speaker 5 (14:58) I know Speaker 2 (14:58) some people. Well, I, yeah, I listen, I agree with both of you. You have to believe in yourself. And that is the. the ultimate lesson of Dancing with the Stars. You have to get there. And if you don't get there, then, you know, you don't get there, I guess. Speaker 8 (15:17) And I always use this analogy of like, you won't believe in yourself until you do it right. But you probably won't do it right until you start believing in yourself. Speaker 5 (15:27) Yep, Speaker 8 (15:27)