Why Did Alix Earle & Braxton Berrios Break Up? Some Fans Blame The ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Curse
@alix_earle | Instagram A few weeks ago, social media influencer Alix Earle came up just short of winning the Mirrorball Trophy on season 34 of “Dancing With the Stars” (“DWTS”) after finishing as runner-up with her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy. It turns out that she has been coming up short in her love life, too. Just days ago, sources exclusively confirmed to Us Weekly that Earle and her boyfriend of two years, Braxton Berrios, an NFL player, had broken up.
While any celebrity breakup is bound to make headlines and cause some social media chatter, people seem particularly fixated on Earle and Berrios’ split, especially since she had just finished competing on “DWTS.” Some fans are blaming the show’s supposed “curse” that seems to separate happy couples, while others think that the breakup had been a long time coming.
Earle, who gained fame on TikTok, and Berrios, who plays for the Houston Texans, first confirmed their relationship in November 2023, per Us Weekly. By all accounts, they were still going strong when season 34 of “DWTS” premiered. After the first episode, Earle told Us Weekly that while Berrios couldn’t be there to support her in person because of his NFL schedule, she still felt his love from afar. Several weeks later, before the finale, Berrios sent Earle a sweet video message to show his support.
Now, fans are reflecting, and they think the breakup may have happened long before that video was filmed. On a Reddit thread discussing the couple’s split, one user said, “Seemed pretty obvious they were broken up during the season and chose not to announce to not overshadow her experience.”
Some fans are blaming the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ curse for Earle and Berrios’ breakup.
“DWTS” contestants work very closely with their professional dance partners, and there are often rumors of relationships blossoming among the pairs. In some cases, those relationships have even been confirmed and made public.
Cheryl Burke, a professional dancer who worked as a pro on “DWTS” for 26 seasons, addressed the “curse” when talking to Fox News.
“We call this the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ curse,” she explained. “I think it started because of the ‘Bachelor’ or 'Bachelorette’ franchise, where they would have these bachelorettes or bachelors come on after being newly engaged, and most of them didn’t make it through. And so … fans labeled it the ‘DWTS’ curse, which is hysterical but not funny, obviously.”
A TikToker named SarahRose tried to add fuel to the fire, saying, “I would never let my partner on ‘DWTS’ for this reason.” Fans weren’t having it in the comments, though.
The most likely scenario is that Earle and Berrios just grew apart during her time on ‘DWTS.’
In a tearful video shared before the “DWTS” finale, Earle thanked her fans for their support. “It felt scary, felt like a little bit of a risk, ‘cause I would be stopping everything else work-wise for a few months, and I’d be moving out to LA,” she said of her decision to be on the show. “I would be apart from my friends, my boyfriend, and basically just changing my everyday life.”
She went on to say, “And I just can’t imagine if I didn’t do this, ‘cause I feel like I just learned a lot about myself, [and got] a new drive and motivation in life.” Clearly, the experience was transformative for Earle.
As for Berrios, he recently left a comment on a social media post that read, “No need for this to become a big thing.” A TikToker named MYANO insisted this was in relation to his split from Earle, but no further context was provided as to what the comment was about.
Ultimately, it doesn’t seem like Earle and Berrios succumbed to any kind of “curse” that “DWTS” might put on its contestants. The relationship simply ran its course, and this would have happened with or without the show.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
