July 7, 2024 • 10 mins
Ben Cousins made his debut on Dancing With The Stars last night and it didn’t go very well, he spoke to Clairsy & Lisa about his foxtrot failure, just how tough it was during training for the show and his new admiration for ballroom dancers.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ben Cousins is on Dancing with the Stars and he's
joining us now.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good morning, ben mate.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
How are we good? Good? We got Baron here still,
so I'm good, great man.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
They couldn't get rid of me, mate, straight off the
top of it, all right, least old Australian Ben Ben.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm so proud of you, my friend. One.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Exposing yourself like that is super uncomfortable. But I know
the two years of hard work you've done, and I
can tell you I've just seen the ratings and it rated.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Through the roof in Western Australia. Dancing with the Stars. Mate,
for all the.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Wrong reasons, I do appreciate that. I'll be hitting you
up for a heart when I see a long one,
A long one.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I was just going to mention the lease. You seemed
a bit uncomfortable in that suit and tye and dancing.
What about coming out next week in your footy gear
or something?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Oh, this is my problems. Didn't start and finish with wardrobe.
But I do think they hitched me up with the fruit.
I don't think it was doing any.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Favorite Hi was yeah, the colors strange?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well anyway, it was it was hard to watch.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I must have and what possessed you to say yes
to do dancing with the stars.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I'm not one hundred percent, so I still I still
am surprised when I think about it. It was probably
an invitation of just a different space that I've been in.
I probably wouldn't seriously, you know, thought about going on
one of the reality shows in the past, although I
probably have been approached at different times. But yeah, just
(01:44):
in a happy, sort of ambitious space where looking to
take on a bit of a different challenge. I have
never been exposed to doing any dance ever, really, and
I guess maybe I'd entertain the idea that if I
had a partner or was married with someone that was
keen to learn how to dance, that I might go
(02:07):
and learn how to do some dancing. But that hadn't
happened up until now. So I thought that if something
like this didn't come along and I took on the opportunity,
that it may never have and that sort of you know,
I wasn't happy with that thought.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So, yeah, point of view, interested of just stepping outside
the old comfort zone was you know, a good thing
to take a lot of guts, keep your on your toes.
If your pardon the pun.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah it was. It was a big stretch, it really was,
and it was really hard. There was so much time
and commitment that was required. But that being said, I
couldn't have enjoyed it anymore. I did. I did love it,
which which really surprised me.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Matead You've got this incredible partner dancing with you, Chevon Power.
Well done, Mae.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But she she was.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
She pretty tough with you as well.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well she was. But you know, I think that the
great thing about my training and the show for me
was that it was ninety five percent of it was
done either in Melbourne or Sydney, so I wasn't I
wasn't in Perth where work and the kids and all
(03:26):
these other commitments to get to me. So I really
when I was doing the show and training, I was
just dancing or eating and sleeping really and that was great.
She was an incredible she is she is an incredible dancer.
I fell in love with the way she and the
other pro dances moved. But so patient as well. You know,
(03:48):
we would spend eight hours on the dance floor on
any given day and never once, you know, did she
did it all get too or too hard? Or did
she want to finish early, which was amazing her.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Patient, unlike me, Benny, who was saying, mate, can you
get out of the makeup room?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Stop dancing around the makeup room? Work at Channel.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Seven the other thing it was like, I think it
was a toss up between says Australia and dancing with
the Star.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So I reckon, you've gone down the right path, my friend. Now, yeah, now,
how's this? I reckon?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I reckon a little bit of Timmy that Ben is
still dancing and he loves he actually loves it.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Is that true, my friend? Is that guilty in the studio?
Speaker 5 (04:36):
A little bit?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
It might there might be a little bit of truth
in that. I would like to think that my best
dancing is still ahead of.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
You know, I really enjoyed the fitness component and using
different muscles and parts of my body that I hadn't
done for a long time or ever really, And you know,
I was in the time of my life where I
was I was going to be looking to throw myself
into a bit of a fitness campaign anyway, And if
(05:11):
it wasn't dancing, it probably just would have been the
mundane training that I've been doing for years so this
was something different and it got me really fit and
I love that about it.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Ben, Now that you've done it, can you understand why
they've been trying to get ballroom dancing into the Olympics
for years.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I'd love to see. You know, I'm somebody that you know,
hadn't been exposed to this dance world at all, let
alone the ballroom and Latin dancing and it. I'm just
I'm just a big fan now and I have so
much appreciation for it and respect for them as.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
It was physical.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
They are incredible, and you know, I wish I'd been
exposed to it earlier. It's been one of the It
really has been one of the times of my life.
And I'd love to see more ballroom dancing. I think
if more people that hadn't been exposed to it like
I have do, I think that so many people would
fall in love with.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
It as I have. I agree.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
You did the fox Trot last night, which is always
it always makes me kind.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Of laugh a little bit, such a funny little dab.
But do you have a favorite?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I mean, do you like one of those sexy ones,
you know, the tango or something.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
What was your favorite? Well, you know, they were all
so different in their own in their own way. I
guess the hard thing about the show was that after
doing all this training for ten or twelve days for
a particular dance, then to let go of that dance
and then start with a new one. It was heartbreaking
(06:49):
to realize that anything that you've learned, or any sort
of progress that you've made over the last fortnight counts
for absolutely nothing. Coordinated, hopeless, you know, I can't put
one foot in front of the other.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
That was hard.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So each one was you went through that experience and
it was emotionally quite a fair bit to get through.
But the one that I didn't like the most was
the Venes was like last time, on the first day,
we broke for lunch and I sort of was green.
I walked down to get some lunch in at the
(07:29):
cafe and I couldn't even order lunch, and I sort
of came back. But eventually I found some very strong
motion sickness tablets over that, and then that that became
the one that I loved the most.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
What about the bit about releasing your hips?
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Was she what was she saying, release your hips or
something you in and.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
They're still my Dad's teachers are still saying that, Yeah,
I lot the hips.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
It can be dangerous if you unlucky hips easy, I
said saw James Stewart. I thought Jim shirt was going
to dissolve because he was sweating so much. When you
got the suit on, you'd try to remember the steps
in your counting and the right lights. How bloody hot
is it on set?
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Well, it's someone my dance partner sent me some with
eage last night of backstage, after my performance from that
from that night, and I take my jacket off and
I remember that, I remember it vividly, but the shirt
is as wet. I'm sweating as much, if not more,
than I ever sweated on a football. Yeah, and it's
(08:37):
quite remarkable. And you know that was a dance takes
I think roughly about a minute and a half. And
one of the things that I didn't know about the
ballroom dances that compete at a high level is that
when they when they get on the floor to dance,
they do five dances where everyone's on the floor at once,
(08:57):
and they danced the five back to back a minute
and a half, thirty seconds off a minute and a half.
And this goes through for five dances, So the fitness
camponent component at that level, I've just got so much amazement.
Really is they're able to do it? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (09:15):
Right, running in footy, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, I reckon anything else. I think they're selling you
sweat this week as well. I believe that. I believe
I'll finish on some bad news for you.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
I just heard from the boss Tellothon, I want you
to do the the Fox Shop Mate one this year,
maybe the Tang. Lisa's volunteer to do the Tang. Yeah,
you know, you know something, it out donating un fortunate.
If Lisa's dancing with you.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Dropping this, I'll bring the rose. I'll bring the rose
for you.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
See.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Well, then we can't wait to see how you go
with the rest of it. Sundays I having clock on
seven and seven plus Dancing with the Stars, having a
crack
Ben Cousins is on Dancing with the Stars and he's
joining us now.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good morning, ben mate.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
How are we good? Good? We got Baron here still,
so I'm good, great man.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
They couldn't get rid of me, mate, straight off the
top of it, all right, least old Australian Ben Ben.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm so proud of you, my friend. One.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Exposing yourself like that is super uncomfortable. But I know
the two years of hard work you've done, and I
can tell you I've just seen the ratings and it rated.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Through the roof in Western Australia. Dancing with the Stars. Mate,
for all the.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Wrong reasons, I do appreciate that. I'll be hitting you
up for a heart when I see a long one,
A long one.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I was just going to mention the lease. You seemed
a bit uncomfortable in that suit and tye and dancing.
What about coming out next week in your footy gear
or something?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Oh, this is my problems. Didn't start and finish with wardrobe.
But I do think they hitched me up with the fruit.
I don't think it was doing any.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Favorite Hi was yeah, the colors strange?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well anyway, it was it was hard to watch.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I must have and what possessed you to say yes
to do dancing with the stars.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I'm not one hundred percent, so I still I still
am surprised when I think about it. It was probably
an invitation of just a different space that I've been in.
I probably wouldn't seriously, you know, thought about going on
one of the reality shows in the past, although I
probably have been approached at different times. But yeah, just
(01:44):
in a happy, sort of ambitious space where looking to
take on a bit of a different challenge. I have
never been exposed to doing any dance ever, really, and
I guess maybe I'd entertain the idea that if I
had a partner or was married with someone that was
keen to learn how to dance, that I might go
(02:07):
and learn how to do some dancing. But that hadn't
happened up until now. So I thought that if something
like this didn't come along and I took on the opportunity,
that it may never have and that sort of you know,
I wasn't happy with that thought.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So, yeah, point of view, interested of just stepping outside
the old comfort zone was you know, a good thing
to take a lot of guts, keep your on your toes.
If your pardon the pun.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah it was. It was a big stretch, it really was,
and it was really hard. There was so much time
and commitment that was required. But that being said, I
couldn't have enjoyed it anymore. I did. I did love it,
which which really surprised me.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Matead You've got this incredible partner dancing with you, Chevon Power.
Well done, Mae.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But she she was.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
She pretty tough with you as well.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well she was. But you know, I think that the
great thing about my training and the show for me
was that it was ninety five percent of it was
done either in Melbourne or Sydney, so I wasn't I
wasn't in Perth where work and the kids and all
(03:26):
these other commitments to get to me. So I really
when I was doing the show and training, I was
just dancing or eating and sleeping really and that was great.
She was an incredible she is she is an incredible dancer.
I fell in love with the way she and the
other pro dances moved. But so patient as well. You know,
(03:48):
we would spend eight hours on the dance floor on
any given day and never once, you know, did she
did it all get too or too hard? Or did
she want to finish early, which was amazing her.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Patient, unlike me, Benny, who was saying, mate, can you
get out of the makeup room?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Stop dancing around the makeup room? Work at Channel.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Seven the other thing it was like, I think it
was a toss up between says Australia and dancing with
the Star.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So I reckon, you've gone down the right path, my friend. Now, yeah, now,
how's this? I reckon?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I reckon a little bit of Timmy that Ben is
still dancing and he loves he actually loves it.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Is that true, my friend? Is that guilty in the studio?
Speaker 5 (04:36):
A little bit?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
It might there might be a little bit of truth
in that. I would like to think that my best
dancing is still ahead of.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
You know, I really enjoyed the fitness component and using
different muscles and parts of my body that I hadn't
done for a long time or ever really, And you know,
I was in the time of my life where I
was I was going to be looking to throw myself
into a bit of a fitness campaign anyway, And if
(05:11):
it wasn't dancing, it probably just would have been the
mundane training that I've been doing for years so this
was something different and it got me really fit and
I love that about it.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Ben, Now that you've done it, can you understand why
they've been trying to get ballroom dancing into the Olympics
for years.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I'd love to see. You know, I'm somebody that you know,
hadn't been exposed to this dance world at all, let
alone the ballroom and Latin dancing and it. I'm just
I'm just a big fan now and I have so
much appreciation for it and respect for them as.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
It was physical.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
They are incredible, and you know, I wish I'd been
exposed to it earlier. It's been one of the It
really has been one of the times of my life.
And I'd love to see more ballroom dancing. I think
if more people that hadn't been exposed to it like
I have do, I think that so many people would
fall in love with.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
It as I have. I agree.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
You did the fox Trot last night, which is always
it always makes me kind.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Of laugh a little bit, such a funny little dab.
But do you have a favorite?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I mean, do you like one of those sexy ones,
you know, the tango or something.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
What was your favorite? Well, you know, they were all
so different in their own in their own way. I
guess the hard thing about the show was that after
doing all this training for ten or twelve days for
a particular dance, then to let go of that dance
and then start with a new one. It was heartbreaking
(06:49):
to realize that anything that you've learned, or any sort
of progress that you've made over the last fortnight counts
for absolutely nothing. Coordinated, hopeless, you know, I can't put
one foot in front of the other.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
That was hard.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So each one was you went through that experience and
it was emotionally quite a fair bit to get through.
But the one that I didn't like the most was
the Venes was like last time, on the first day,
we broke for lunch and I sort of was green.
I walked down to get some lunch in at the
(07:29):
cafe and I couldn't even order lunch, and I sort
of came back. But eventually I found some very strong
motion sickness tablets over that, and then that that became
the one that I loved the most.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
What about the bit about releasing your hips?
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Was she what was she saying, release your hips or
something you in and.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
They're still my Dad's teachers are still saying that, Yeah,
I lot the hips.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
It can be dangerous if you unlucky hips easy, I
said saw James Stewart. I thought Jim shirt was going
to dissolve because he was sweating so much. When you
got the suit on, you'd try to remember the steps
in your counting and the right lights. How bloody hot
is it on set?
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Well, it's someone my dance partner sent me some with
eage last night of backstage, after my performance from that
from that night, and I take my jacket off and
I remember that, I remember it vividly, but the shirt
is as wet. I'm sweating as much, if not more,
than I ever sweated on a football. Yeah, and it's
(08:37):
quite remarkable. And you know that was a dance takes
I think roughly about a minute and a half. And
one of the things that I didn't know about the
ballroom dances that compete at a high level is that
when they when they get on the floor to dance,
they do five dances where everyone's on the floor at once,
(08:57):
and they danced the five back to back a minute
and a half, thirty seconds off a minute and a half.
And this goes through for five dances, So the fitness
camponent component at that level, I've just got so much amazement.
Really is they're able to do it? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (09:15):
Right, running in footy, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, I reckon anything else. I think they're selling you
sweat this week as well. I believe that. I believe
I'll finish on some bad news for you.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
I just heard from the boss Tellothon, I want you
to do the the Fox Shop Mate one this year,
maybe the Tang. Lisa's volunteer to do the Tang. Yeah,
you know, you know something, it out donating un fortunate.
If Lisa's dancing with you.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Dropping this, I'll bring the rose. I'll bring the rose
for you.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
See.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Well, then we can't wait to see how you go
with the rest of it. Sundays I having clock on
seven and seven plus Dancing with the Stars, having a
crack
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