‘DWTS’ Season 31 Partners Britt Stewart And Daniel Durant Open Up About Their Recent Engagement: “We Were Both Emotional, Overwhelmed With Joy And At Peace”

Daniel Durant and Britt Stewart didn’t just score a fifth place ranking while competing together on Season 31 of Dancing with the Stars — they eventually found love!

The two announced their engagement to People, which took place on a Christmas Day hike with their families, per Entertainment Weekly. As they and their parents each took a turn sharing what they are grateful for, Durant told People that he “was the last one” to go, prior to revealing a ring

“And I started talking about the year, about us meeting and everything that happens in life,” the Coda star recalled. “I just feel like there’s balance. She sees me. She knows my culture, my language, and understands everything about me.”

The pro dancer noted that they were “both emotional, overwhelmed with joy and at peace knowing that this would eventually be part of [their] story.”

“It felt like magic, but at the same time, it felt right and normal,” she continued.

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The two made their relationship public and Instagram official this past Valentine’s Day, but Durant clarified that they did not start seeing each other until after they were booted from the show.

“I’m a really competitive person, I wanted to win this thing and so I saw that in her and we trained,” he explained.

In order to communicate with Durant, who is deaf, Stewart began learning American Sign Language (ASL) once she was paired with him on the show.

“When I met him and found out he was my partner on Dancing with the Stars, immediately I was like, I must learn ASL because I’m teaching him how to dance,” she shared. “I’m not going to use his interpreter.”

The pair performed a jazz routine, set to Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence,” which featured a large part without any music to emulate “what it’s like to dance from a deaf perspective,” per TODAY.com.

Stewart discussed the performance in her interview with People, telling the outlet, “For me, it was the moment when our lives showed each other.”

She continued, “I was really able to see him and his experience in Dancing with the Stars, but then just a little of his life too.”

Durant noted that he “couldn’t imagine not seeing” Stewart following their exit from DWTS.

“I think, in that moment, we realized what we had felt for each other,” he said. “It was more than friends and naturally we connected and started dating after that.”

Stewart also looked back on the development of their relationship.

“It’s funny, I remember us meeting,” she reflected. “I remember us as teammates. I remember us as best friends, and then I remember us together. And now it feels like we’ve just been together for forever.”

The couple took to Instagram to announce their engagement earlier today, as well, and have since received many messages of congratulations in the comments section, including from DWTS co-host Julianne Hough, as well as from pro dancers Peta Murgatroyd, Emma Slater, and Ezra Soza.