Brooks Nader sets the record straight.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Nader explains the status of his relationship with his ex Dancing with the stars partner Gleb Savchenko. The Sports Illustrated the model, 27, says that after her divorce from Billy Haire earlier this year, she’s focused on enjoying her time with Savchenko without labeling it.
“Everything is real,” she explains. “And the TikTok thing, those little rebuttals and back and forth were real because we were kind of broken up — not that we’re similar, there’s no defining what we are — but he sent me that text and he started this whole TikTok thing. I just talked back to him and it was just funny and funny banter, but we didn’t talk. We were just TikToking, which is funny. No conversation, no words, and then we got fired up again.”
“Listen, he’s such a great person and a great guy and I’ve loved getting to know him and he’s fun to hang out with,” she adds.
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Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko.
Disney/Eric McCandless
front DWTS finale, where the two danced to “Reunited” by Peaches & Herb, Nader took to the TikTok livestream and read aloud the text Savchenko, 41, had sent breaking up with her after they were eliminated from the competition. She says she didn’t hold back because Savchenko took their relationship to social media.
“I know it seems like it’s all out there and I’m exposing all my affairs all the time, but there are so many parts of it that I don’t talk about that I keep secret and private, and I don’t usually do that,” she shares. “I mean, I’m still single, let’s be real, but I’ve tried to be private about who I’m seeing, but this one seems like he asked for it because he started this whole thing. So I said, ‘Oh, if you want to post those FaceTime secret tapes of me and whatever, I’m going to tell everybody what you actually did. Truth.'”
She laughs: “I say, ‘Sorry, you made the bed.'”
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Although they made amends, Nader says she continued to make fun of the situation because “I’m a business woman.” She recently partnered with Samsung, where an ad showed her blowing off Savchenko’s breakup text and upgrading her phone.
“That was really crazy because it was so real,” he jokes. “He broke up with me over a random text, and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, this would be great. Let me upgrade everything, including my phone, and make a commercial out of it.’”
Gleb Savchenko and Brooks Nader at the premiere of the 33rd season of Dancing with the Stars.
Disney/Eric McCandless
When they first met, Nader – who was married to Haire for four years – admits she and Savchenko had instant chemistry.
“We had a great connection right away and I think that spark was there from day one, which was amazing because I looked forward to going to work every day because he was there and it was an exciting thing,” she recalls. “And then, of course, you get so close to that person throughout the season, no matter how long you’re in the season, because you’re so intimate with them, you practice six to seven hours a day, seven days a week.”
“You’re really with them all the time, so they get to know everything about you. You learn all about them, and it’s such an intimate experience regardless,” she continues. “And so there was construction, but immediately there was a spark.”
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As for what’s to come, Nader says he’s noncommittal. She plans to go between her places in New York and Los Angeles while working on some projects by herself or with her sisters, and along the way she’ll see where dating fits into that.
“I hope I won’t be alone forever,” she jokes. “So I’m 27 years old, I’m newly single, I was supposed to work with Gleb all day for seven hours. If I want to hang out with him outside of that, I will. I just started this new thing, I’m just going to do what I want to do.”
He later adds, “There’s a lot of fun stuff being worked on right now.”
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Source: HIS Education