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Dancing With the Stars

Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas's DWTS Fight 'Swept Under the Rug'

By Dahvi Shira

UPDATED 10/09/2012 at 10:15 AM EDT • Originally published 10/09/2012 at 08:45 AM EDT

There are apparently no hard feelings between Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas.

The pair, who appeared all smiles and landed their highest score of the season on Monday night's Dancing with the Stars, have patched up their differences, following a recent rehearsal fight that left Palin, 21, in tears.

"We're fine," Ballas, 26, told reporters backstage after the show. "We've danced together before. This isn't our first season together. The last season we did together, we didn't argue once – nothing, we were just chill. So the fact that we've made it through a season and a quarter and this is now our first fight is amazing."

RELATED: Bristol Palin Brought to Tears at DWTS Rehearsal

Palin – who accused the ballroom pro of wishing he had Shawn Johnson or Sabrina Bryan as partners instead of her – is like "family" to Ballas.

"We love each other," he said. "Sometimes people piss each other off. We've swept it under the rug and carried on. We had a rough day out of many, many, many days that we've spent together."

Ballas, who still has "love" for his two former partners competing this season, says he will "continue to support them, but Bristol is my number one and I'll always be here 100 percent."

Adds Palin, "Mark is reassuring. We got that fight out of the way."

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