Amanda Kloots has claimed her 'Dancing with the Stars' dance partner Alan Bersten was "very mean" to her

Amanda - who had suffered the devastating loss of her Broadway actor husband Nick Cordero the year before - suggested Alan's Russian upbringing and the harsh nature of his job is likely why he was so strict with her.

Appearing on the 'Boyfriend Material with Harry Jowsey' podcast, she said: "He was very mean to me.

"Growing up Russian, growing up in that dance atmosphere. And he did see a lot of potential in me, and he saw that we could possibly win this thing."

Although she could see Alan saw her potential, whenever he "yelled" at her, she would be left "raging".

She added: "I would just keep it bottled up and we would just be dancing, and I would just be raging inside."

The television personality believes her time with Alan taught him to be a "nicer" teacher.

She noted: "I think Alan has grown up a lot in the last couple of years.

"I'm saying this, and I know that he'll agree with me: I helped him become a nicer person in teaching."

Amanda previously confessed the show was "exhausting both mentally and physically".

Speaking to Katie Couric at the time, she said: "The hardest part about Dancing with the Stars, I think, for me, was definitely the stress of learning a brand new dance each week and needing it to be show-ready, perfect for performance in six days.

"Every dance is different because the technique is different, the style is different, what makes the dance unique is different.

So, to learn it and then to feel good about it and then feel ready enough to perform it, it was exhausting both mentally and physically."

Amanda opening up about the way Alan treated her on 'DWTS' comes after 'Strictly' was hit by a bullying scandal this year.

The show was rocked by alleged misconduct claims, with professional dancer Graziano Di Prima dropped from the show after allegedly being violent towards Zara McDermott, while Amanda Abbington and others complained about axed star Giovanni Pernice's teaching methods. Broadcast BBC launched an investigation and apologised.