Are Briar Nolet and Erik Linder From ‘DWTS: The Next Pro’ Dating? Why Fans Suddenly See Sparks Flying

Briar Nolet and Erik Linder competed on Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, where they developed undeniable chemistry that caught the attention of cast and crew throughout filming in Australia.After connecting via DM before production and meeting in person at the first group breakfast, Erik asked Briar out following her elimination, officially beginning their relationship after filming wrapped in May 2026.Briar recently opened up about the nature of their relationship and where they currently stand as of July 2026.In the spirit of Heated Rivalry, it looks like Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro might have a competitors-to-lovers story of its own. Okay, so they’re no Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, but! The show follows 12 professional dancers who move into a house together and start a “grueling audition process” for a coveted spot on Dancing With the Stars season 35.Spoiler alert: Briar Nolet and Erik Linder are two of the hopefuls competing for said spot and have fans side-eyeing their serious chemistry. But are they actually dating? Let’s investigate.Are Briar and Erik dating?Briar spilled all about her connection with Erik during an appearance on The Joe Vulpis Podcast after she was eliminated from the competition on the season premiere, and according to her, he is very much her boyfriend!“Erik, my boyfriend, is the opposite of me,” she gushed on the pod. “He is, and you’ll see on the show, he’s, like, chill dude. He is, like, cool dude, Mr. Chill. He can perform when he performs, but as a person, his personality is very calm, which is great because I’m so up here that he very much grounds me.”How did Briar and Erik meet?During her conversation with Joe, Briar also dished about her and Erik’s meet-cute, which just so happened to be on the show. But before that even happened, she explained that he had cold-DMed her asking if she’d be in Australia, where the competition series was filmed. They kept in touch throughout the production process, but it wasn’t until the first group breakfast that they met IRL.“I was there for a week…literally not long. And we had a great connection,but we were very much focused on why we were there,” she said, in part, before revealing the cast and crew would tease her about her crush. “It was funny though, a lot of the crew and a lot of the cast was like, ‘Ooh!’ prior to Erik. Or they’d be like, ‘So like, how’s Erik?’”Add Cosmopolitan as a preferred source in your Google search results.Use your Google account to add this to your settings.Though Briar claims she friend-zoned Erik during the competition, he ended up asking her out once she was eliminated and saw their connection through once filming wrapped.How long have Briar and Erik been together?According to Briar, she and Erik officially started dating once filming for DWTS: the Next Pro wrapped. Production in Brisbane, Australia, kicked off in February 2026—likely around the time they met—and filming ended in mid-May.Though it’s been roughly two months since then, the pair has popped out together at public events. They made their red carpet debut at the 10th anniversary celebration for La La Land in Los Angeles on July 20.Jon Kopaloff//Getty ImagesAaand they’re truly keeping us fed with full-on dancing content on their socials:Couldn’t be more obsessed with these cuties if I tried!!