Daniel Durant and Britt Stewart on engagement

Renca Dunn, Daily Moth Reporter: Yay! Firstly, I want to congratulate you on the engagement on Christmas! It’s exciting. How do you feel? Britt, how did you feel when Daniel got on his knee and proposed to you?

Britt Stewart: I was so excited. I knew when we met that we had this chemistry. After DWTS, we started dating and we just knew. We knew quickly that we loved each other. When Daniel proposed, of course it was a surprise because I didn’t know when it would happen. I had no idea he was looking for a ring. No idea. So when he proposed, my whole body shook and I cried. It was emotional and our family was there. Everyone was crying. It was the best moment in my life so far — until our wedding day!

Renca: It’s exciting! Daniel, were you nervous? Was there any suspicion because the ring box must have been bugling from your pocket? Did you hide it well?

Daniel Durant: Yes, for a good while I was looking for the right ring for her. I talked with her family and my family to plan it out. I got the ring and the box was really big. We were on a hike on a beautiful mountain and I pondered how I could carry it with its bulge, you know what I mean?

Renca: That!

Daniel: My strategy was to give the box to my mom to hold in her purse. I was nervous at the time because I wanted everything to go according to plan. I wanted to completely surprise her. I was confident in my heart she would say yes based on our connection. We already talked about our future, marriage, and other things for a while. When I proposed, I was emotional and had a hard time balancing myself. She said yes and it was beautiful and celebratory after that. It’s exciting.

Renca: According to “People,” you did not recognize your feelings for each other until after DWTS. So could you explain how you “knew.” Did you miss him? What made you realize it?

Daniel: It started on DWTS. Both of us are fierce competitors and wanted to go as far as we could. We had that fire. She learned our language and understood our culture. She picked up ASL very fast. It’s not normal.

Renca: Yeah!

Daniel: I’ve never seen anyone like that before. We relied on an interpreter at first but by the second week, we could communicate on our own. That’s where our friendship grew. When DWTS finished, we were sitting in a trailer. We couldn’t imagine not seeing each other anymore. No. It was at that time we realized we were more than friends. We started a relationship after that and lived together in an apartment and the rest is history.

Britt: That! Perfect.

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Renca: I have a question for you, Britt.

Britt: Okay.

Renca: I’m curious about how you, as a hearing woman, how do you handle others who are shocked that you’re with a Deaf person? For us in the Deaf community, it is normal to see Deaf and hearing couples, but it may be new to hearing people. So what is your response, how do you handle that?

Britt: Thank you for asking me that. For me, Daniel is just Daniel. He is an amazing man that I love. That’s it. He’s just a man that I need to learn and educate myself about his culture and his community. He does the same with my Black community and culture. That. I know that I have privileges—

Daniel: Privileges.

Britt: —privileges as a hearing woman. I have hearing privileges so I’m automatically learning sign language. My goal during DWTS was always to teach him how to dance. Me, not his interpreter. Me! Just like Daniel said, I’m very competitive.

Daniel: Very!

Britt: And it grew from there. I’m happy about our relationship because I believe in showing people that, to learn to open your heart. Be open. It doesn’t matter. You can love anyone from anywhere if you’re open and learn about different people. For us, it was quick. We just knew. We had harmony in each other.

Daniel: I just had chills! That’s why I can’t wait to marry you!