Alfonso Ribeiro Reacts to Alan Bersten and Emma Slater’s Steamy Onstage Kiss — and Their Real-Life Spark: ‘No Surprise, I’m Happy for Them’

Emma Slater and Alan Bersten's relationship hard launch was a long time coming.

The Dancing with the Stars pros delighted fans during their final performance on the DWTS: Live! 2025 tour on April 19, as they kissed at the end of their dance and finally confirmed their romance after months of fan speculation.

According to Alfonso Ribeiro, "there was no surprise" amongst the DWTS family about Slater and Bersten's "connection." The "launch" of the relationship was a surprise, though, he tells PEOPLE.

"Emma's my sister and she's at my house several times a week. So, clearly, my household knew what was going on. We just didn't know that they had made the decision to launch," the Dancing with the Stars host said at Disney's Get Real event in L.A. on April 22.

"At the end of the day, [I'm] happy for them," Ribeiro, 53, continued. "When people find something that they enjoy — enjoy it, live it. Why live a lie?"

The launch also made sense given the "rumors were out there" already about a potential connection between the dancers, as Ribeiro noted. "I think that people were already [speculating]."

Though Ribeiro was very much in the loop on the dancers' secret romance, his co-host Julianne Hough was not on the same page.

"I live under a rock," she said after hearing about the kiss days later. "I don't know anything."

And while she believes that DWTS showmances can "sometimes" be "messy," Hough also feels that they can also be "really beautiful."

"There's so much trust that has to be built with a partnership and so, there's instant chemistry in an attraction way, but the chemistry that's built is usually built off of trust," she continued. "And that's why there's probably so many showmances because you're with this person every day, and being vulnerable, and showing up. So I root for it, I think it's a beautiful place to meet people."

Slater, 36, and Bersten, 30, are far from the first stars to fall in love in the DWTS ballroom. In fact, Slater was married to fellow pro Sasha Farber for four years before their divorce in 2023, though the dancers have both kept things very peaceful following their split as they continue to work together.

Slater told PEOPLE last year that she "couldn't be happier" and that "spending time by myself has been the most rewarding thing that I’ve done in the last few months," as she admitted, "I'm truly dating myself, and I love that."

Bersten has also been romantically involved with a DWTS star before as he dated his 2018 partner Alexis Ren for several months.