The Moment

Alix Earle would like the internet to calm down.

After the Season 34 finale of Dancing With the Stars taped in Los Angeles on Nov. 25, fans noticed one very empty seat: boyfriend Braxton Berrios, the Houston Texans wide receiver who has been hyping her up all season.

Because this is 2025 and we live in the era of instant panic, that empty chair quickly turned into breakup rumors. Comment sections were basically a group chat on fire.

Over the weekend, Earle hopped on TikTok with a classic “Get Ready With Me” video and a little DWTS finale debrief. When one fan commented, “Ugh I hope u and Braxton are still together,” Earle, 24, answered directly: “He couldn’t come bc of football :(.”

And she’s not wrong about the schedule. Berrios, 30, has been busy: according to the original report, the Texans had a home game against the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 20 and then an away game against the Indianapolis Colts the Sunday after. Not exactly light travel.

Even though he wasn’t physically in the ballroom, Berrios did appear via a pre-recorded video that aired during the finale, telling Earle, “I’ve watched you pour everything into this since the moment it has started, and I think it shows… Good luck. Have fun, babe.” Not exactly the words of a man who just peaced out of a relationship.

Earle ultimately lost the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy to Robert Irwin and his pro partner, Witney Carson, but walked away gushing to E! News about how “fulfilling and therapeutic” the experience was and how close she became with her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy.

The Take

I’ll say it: we’ve hit a point where if a boyfriend misses one televised event, the internet writes a breakup fanfic in real time.

Alix and Braxton are basically a modern mash-up of two worlds a lot of 40+ readers know well: old-school NFL star plus new-school It Girl. Think if a mid-2000s Reggie Bush had started dating a YouTube-era Paris Hilton who also hosts a podcast and documents every mascara swipe.

So, yes, fans feel invested. But here’s where it gets tricky: a lot of people now treat couples like this as public property. If he shows up on camera, their love is “real.” If he doesn’t, we go straight to breakup, cheating, or PR strategy.

What we actually have is far less dramatic: an NFL player with a brutal schedule, a TikTok megastar doing a live show on the opposite coast, and a relationship that had to split the difference with a video message instead of a red-carpet moment.

Is it a little funny that Alix had to explain, like a high schooler whose boyfriend missed prom, that he “couldn’t come bc of football”? Absolutely. But it also highlights how young they are and how hyper-online this relationship has been from day one.

To me, the more interesting story isn’t “Are they secretly broken up?” It’s how fast we now demand proof of life from couples we don’t actually know. One missed finale and we’re drafting custody agreements for the dog they don’t even have yet.

Receipts

Confirmed:

  • Alix Earle addressed a fan comment on TikTok, saying Braxton Berrios “couldn’t come bc of football,” in reference to the Dancing With the Stars Season 34 finale (as described in the original report).
  • Berrios plays wide receiver for the Houston Texans and had games against the Buffalo Bills (home) and Indianapolis Colts (away) around the time of the Nov. 25 finale.
  • During the live finale, a pre-recorded video of Berrios aired, where he praised Earle’s work on the show and wished her luck.
  • Earle did not win the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy; it went to Robert Irwin and pro dancer Witney Carson.
  • In a post-finale interview with E! News, Earle described daily dancing as “fulfilling and therapeutic” and credited partner Val Chmerkovskiy as a major source of support.
  • Earle and Berrios have been publicly linked since mid-2023 and made their relationship Instagram-official in October 2023 with a PDA-heavy beach post for his birthday.

Unverified / Fan Chatter:

  • Any claims that Earle and Berrios have secretly broken up or are “on the rocks” based solely on his absence from the DWTS finale. Neither has said they’ve split.
  • Speculation that his missing the taping reflects relationship drama rather than a work conflict. There is no public evidence of that, just fan theories.

Sources (human-readable): Alix Earle’s TikTok “Get Ready With Me” video and comment replies posted after the DWTS Season 34 finale; televised Dancing With the Stars Season 34 finale (Nov. 25, 2025) including Berrios’ pre-recorded message; Earle’s post-show interview with E! News referenced in the original coverage.

Backstory (For Casual Readers)

If you’re not chronically online, here’s the cheat sheet. Alix Earle is a 20-something influencer and podcaster who blew up on TikTok with her unfiltered “Get Ready With Me” videos – essentially chatting about her life while doing makeup. She’s also a construction company heiress, which adds a dash of old money to the new-media fame.

Braxton Berrios is an NFL wide receiver currently with the Houston Texans, previously with the Miami Dolphins. The two were first linked in May 2023, not long after his split from influencer Sophia Culpo. By October 2023, they went full public with an Instagram post: Earle in a bikini, Berrios shirtless on a beach, limbs wrapped around each other like a swimsuit ad that forgot it wasn’t a romance novel cover.

Since then, they’ve become a known “sports x influencer” couple: she shows up at games, he pops into vlogs and TikToks, and fans track every cross-country flight as if they’re running air traffic control for their relationship.

What’s Next

As of now, Earle and Berrios are presenting a united front – or at least a “we’re fine, stop spiraling” one. She’s still talking about him publicly, he’s showing supportive messages on national TV, and nobody is scrubbing couple photos from Instagram. In 2025 terms, that counts as relatively stable.

What to watch for next:

  • Off-season energy: Once Berrios is out of the most intense part of the NFL schedule, do we see more in-person appearances together again – games, red carpets, or another matching-swimsuit beach moment?
  • Her post-DWTS glow-up: Earle now has ballroom experience and prime-time exposure. Expect more TV, bigger brand deals, and probably more podcasts and vlogs where Berrios is either a recurring character… or conspicuously not.
  • Social media temperature: If they address the rumors together – a joint TikTok, a podcast chat, or even just a low-key story post – that will go a long way toward shutting down the “are they or aren’t they” chorus.

For now, this looks less like a breakup and more like what it actually is: the reality of dating someone whose job involves getting hit by 250-pound men for a living while yours involves sequins, spray tans, and live Monday-night TV.

So where do you land on this? Is the internet just being overprotective of a favorite couple, or do you think fans are crossing a line when they treat every missed appearance as proof a relationship is falling apart?