It was a bad week for Bristol Palin on Dancing With the Stars. The 21-year old posted the lowest scores of the night and had a bit of a tantrum. Mark Ballas, who was on the receiving end of Palin’s childish outburst, explained the situation to the press after the show, reports Entertainment Weekly.

“Here’s the thing with these packages they show before our dance … they’re a minute and a half,” Ballas explained. “We did just that. We’re fine. We’ve danced together before. This isn’t our first season together. The last season we did together, back in season 11, we didn’t argue once. Not even… nothing. Just chill. So the fact that we’ve made it through a season and a quarter and now it’s our first fight? It’s amazing because at some point you fight with your partner.” Palin had accused Ballas of “being bummed” that he isn’t dancing with former partners Shawn Johnson and Sabrina Bryan, and that he’s emotionally, and sometimes physically, absent during their rehearsal time, so it was mighty big of Mark to stand up for her like that.

“We’re like family,” Ballas continued. ”We love each other. Sometimes people p*** each other off. You guys know if you’re in a personal relationship, working relationship, things happen and we carried on.” Palin, slightly tenderly, admitted: “Mark is reassuring and we got through this week and I’m thankful for it. I’m thankful that we got that fight out of the way and we’re just moving along.”