Weeks before Julianne Hough and The Bachelorette alum Tanner Courtad met up for dinner, he perhaps got a tease about her dating mindset.
Courtad, 31, was spotted in the Dancing With the Stars ballroom during the November 19 live semifinal show. He sat next to Kelsey Anderson, cheering on eventual winner Joey Graziadei. (Courtad attended many DWTS season 33 episodes in support of the 29-year-old former Bachelor.)
“Couldn’t be more proud of you my man! It’s been a wild ride watching you dance week after week,” Courtad wrote via Instagram last month ahead of the DWTS finale. “Your attention to detail and work ethic is second to none. No wonder you’re doing big things. Thanks for bringing me along for the ride. Now go win the whole damn thing!”
In addition to Graziadei and pro partner Jenna Johnson slaying their two semifinal routines, Hough, 36, got in on the action. Amid her hosting duties, Hough performed a surprise number set to the viral “Looking for a Man in Finance” TikTok sound.
“Well, you know, I am single and I’m looking for a guy anywhere I can find one,” Hough quipped afterward.
Cohost Alfonso Ribeiro then joked that any interested suitors could “text Julianne’s first name” for a date, riffing on the typical way he and Hough called for DWTS votes each week.
“That won’t work, please don’t do that,” Hough added with a smile.
Cut to Thursday, December 5, when Hough and Courtad were spotted enjoying dinner at Sportsman’s Lodge shopping center in Studio City, California.
Courtad was one of Charity Lawson’s suitors on The Bachelorette season 20, which is where he met Graziadei. Courtad didn’t receive her final rose and then appeared on Bachelor in Paradise in summer 2023, but he also left single. He has also been spotted with Brittany Cartwright amid her divorce from Jax Taylor.
Hough, meanwhile, was previously married to Brooks Laich between 2017 and 2020. Ahead of their divorce, she publicly came out as “not straight” but still believes that The One will be a man.
“I feel like I’m going to end up with a man,” she said on “The Jamie Kern Lima Show” in September. “I want to be living and vibrating in the pace of my most authentic self for that to be what attracts whoever it is versus I’m gonna put what I think I want and need out there and then literally force-create it.”
According to Hough, she is seeking “a partner” to “build a life with” and start a family.
“People are like, ‘Well, what are you looking for?’ And I was like, ‘I’m a master manifester. I don’t want to put out exactly what I think I want because I will get that,’” Hough added at the time. “There are certain feelings that I want to feel in a relationship and there are certain qualities and values that are important to me [and] certain non-negotiables.”
