Dancing With The Stars' Mark Ballas And American Idol's Joanna Pacitti Are A Couple

It’s a match made in a reality TV heaven: Dancing with the Stars‘ Mark Ballas and former American Idol contestant Joanna Pacitti are a couple!

“She is the most supportive person in my life and she’s been great,” Ballas, 22, told PEOPLE Tuesday at the Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience world premiere in Hollywood. “We get to spend a lot of time together [and] we do pretty much everything together.”

Although the two have “been friends for a long time,” the Dancing pro says they only recently started dating eight months ago — when Ballas was training with season 6 champ Kristi Yamaguchi in North Carolina, where Pacitti was living at the time — and clicked because of their similarities.

“We both love music, we both love art, we both love dance,” explains Ballas, whose album BHB with best friend and fellow Dancing pro Derek Hough is coming out Mar. 10. “That’s what we’re all about so we are always there for each other.”“I think we have the perfect situation,” Pacitti, 24, told PEOPLE. “We both get each other and understand schedules and even on a musical level, I’ve never met someone that’s so passionate about music…that’s what I live for so it’s amazing to be with someone who gets it.”

Pacitti, who auditioned for this season’s American Idol and made the Top 36, was dropped from the show because producers had “determined [she] is ineligible to continue in the competition,” FOX said in a statement. The Idol hopeful had previous record deals and reportedly knew executives at 19 Entertainment, one of the companies involved with the show.

Still, Pacitti has no hard feelings about leaving Idol. “I actually had an amazing time on the show and I met some amazing friends…Everything happens for a reason and it’s opened up a lot of opportunities.”

Adds Ballas, “I think she is amazingly talented and has the most beautiful voice. I tell her, ‘Keep your head up, keep going strong, never give up’ and I’m just here to hold her hand.”
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