Artem Chigvintsev Says He Fell in Love with Nikki Bella the First Time They Met
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Dancing With the Stars professional Artem Chigvintsev was a guest on “The Bella’s Podcast” this week hosted by his fiancée, Nikki Bella, and her sister Brie. The WWE veterans started out the episode by talking about their recent Thanksgiving holiday. Eventually, they moved on to Chigvintsev and Dancing With the Stars, where the couple first met.
Now that the DWTS season is over, Chigvintsev has returned to living with his family. Their son, Matteo, is definitely happy to have his father home and out of the DWTS quarantine bubble. The couple shared that although Bella was able to visit him on set, Matteo was too young to understand his dad being away from them.
The couple told the story of how their son walked Chigvintsev around the house excited to show him everything once he was finally home. Although the professional dancer was unable to be with his family during the show, Nikki brought Matteo to the AGT: Extreme set where she is a judge.
Artem and Nikki: Love at First Body Slam?
After touching up on the DWTS season, the Bellas asked Chigvintsev questions from fans. Nikki asked what Chigvintsev’s favorite memory of them together was. Let me just say, I think this was the cutest response I’ve ever heard. He brought us back to the beginning of DWTS Season 25 where he was first partnered with Nikki.
“Favorite memory of us, well obviously I know I mean Nicole might feel a little different, but to me, just the meeting, I think that was the one thing that tripped me out. I know it’s very controversial, but I think meeting Nicole for the first time,” said Chigvintsev. “I called the executive producer [of DWTS] right after our first meet. I said that I think I’m like in love. When you meet the certain person that you don’t really understand how you feel yet, you have this overwhelming a lot of feelings. That was the time when it hit me.”
Nikki then shared that her favorite memory was body slamming her soon-to-be hubby. For her Dancing With the Stars entrance, the two wanted the WWE star to do her normal walk-on routine. The producers loved it and even asked her to throw him around. The original entrance was never aired on DWTS. WWE wanted something bigger and better for the show, so they filmed the package at WWE’s Monday Night RAW.
When Will the Two Tie the Knot?
Nikki and Chigvintsev planned to marry over the recent Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Unfortunately, there’s been a slight change in plans due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s so funny because I always picked Thanksgiving because we’re in the entertainment industry,” Nikki said. “I’m like, ‘OK, Dancing With the Stars is done, in Hollywood, no one ever works Thanksgiving weekend.’ And for Artem, he’s just mainly like, ‘I just want my parents there.'”
Chigvintsev was born in Russia and moved to the United States in 2003 to pursue his love of dance. Since his family is in Russia, travel to the U.S. while Covid-19 variants continue to increase would be difficult. A wedding date will be set once the Chigvintsev family is once again able to travel.
