Peta Murgatroyd may have won Dancing With the Stars with her celebrity partner Nyle DiMarco, but she did have some struggles figuring out to excel with him in the competition in the beginning.

Last week, DiMarco and Murgatroyd became the latest dancing couple to win the coveted Mirrorball trophy. Their journey through the competition was one of inspiration and hard work, with DiMarco being completely deaf. Murgatroyd admitted to Australia's Today that it wasn't easy in the beginning.

"It was pretty challenging," Murgatroyd said. "You know, when I first met him, I had to sit down and really strategize as to how I was going to get through the competition. I definitely had my doubts."

As the weeks went on, DiMarco turned into a real frontrunner, solidifying his status as the one to beat after his performance in Week 8. That week, DiMarco and Murgatroyd danced to the song "Victorious" by Panic! at the Disco, but chose to have the music dip out for an extended period of time, allowing the audience to experience what DiMarco goes through.

"We did do the silent dance, it was the paso doble. We cut the music for about four counts of eight," she said. You know, I did that because I wanted to show America - and the world - what it's like being in his position every Monday night. It was scary, it was haunting, and people actually understood after that what he was going through and how crazy it is. He has this [built-in] rhythm in his body. And I still, to this day, don't know how he did it."

DiMarco and Murgatroyd sailed through the competition with the combined totals of the judges' scores and America's vote, never in danger of going home. In the final week, DiMarco and Murgatroyd beat their fellow finalists Paige VanZant and Mark Ballas and Ginger Zee and Val Chmerkovskiy, who came in second and third place, respectively.

Dancing With the Stars season 23 airs this fall in the regular Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT timeslot on ABC.

Tags: Dancing with the Stars Reality TV ABC