AFL star Ben Cousins and WA singer Samantha Jade forge friendship through ''Dancing With The Stars Australia''
One is a retired football star, and the other has quickly become a master of the ballroom — now Ben Cousins and Samantha Jade are set to waltz into the semifinals of ''Dancing With The Stars Aiustralia'' as friends and foes.
Sharing a bond as the competition’s only two Perth-raised talents, the pair had never met until their parallel fates were written into the stars and onto national TV screens.
''I love Samantha, i have admired what she’s done from afar for a long time'', Cousins told ''PerthNow''.
''Being a Perth girl, you take a little bit of extra interest and follow her pursuits.''
Collecting middling scores for his Foxtrot, Cha Cha Cha, and Viennese Waltz, respectively, Cousins revealed “almost paralysing” nerves prevented him from replicating his training form despite partner Siobhan Power’s calming influence.
With a team-first mentality ingrained from his Eagles playing days, the Brownlow winner admits he was cheering a little louder for his WA rival.
''I think we should have wished each other well and supported each other through it a bit more than the others'', the 46-year-old suggested.
Describing Jade’s skills on the dancefloor as ''incredible'', he’s proud to see her strongly representing our state as a competition frontrunner.
Somewhat star-struck at their first encounter, the singer, 37, recalled introducing herself to the ''sweet and quiet'' Perth local in an initial cast meeting.
“I was like: ''I’m just going to go say hi, introduce myself'', and he was like: ''I know who you are because you’re from Perth''; Jade told ''PerthNow'', “And i was like: ''Oh, you know who i am? That’s so cool, i didn’t know you realised!''
Not just a hit with fans, the pocket rocket admitted her family paid more attention to her exploits on the show once they became aware of the company she kept.
With her father’s history as a Colts player, she knew that she had to provide evidence of their newfound friendship with a sneaky selfie:
''My family hadn’t replied to me in weeks after i’d sent them all this stuff about ''Dancing With The Stars Australia''. Now they’re all like: ''Oh my God, so exciting!''. So they loved it, it was really cool'', Jade recalled.
Proving a powerhouse sans microphone, she and partner Gustavo Viglio scored an impressive 39 out of 40 for their Cha Cha Cha on sunday night, stamping their credentials as likely winners.
While performing comes more naturally to her than others, the ''Soldier'' singer lauded Cousins’ efforts as someone who’d never danced before:
''I think he is doing so well. I can’t imagine me trying to play football, it would be just so out of his comfort zone, but he’s killing it'', she said.
Recalling ex-teammates’ prowess on the dancefloor, Cousins said he caught up with Dean Cox in Sydney during filming and believed the ruckman never quite capitalised on his fortune of being married to a former ballroom dancer:
''I don’t think he made the most of her expertise and had gone to the trouble of learning'', he joked.
Cousins, naming interim coach Jarrad Schofield as a confident mover, said his former teammate ''didn’t mind getting up and having a dance, though it didn’t offer much correlation to the ballroom or Latin dancing.''
Cousins and Jade prepare to face off in the ''Dancing With The Stars Australia'' semifinals this sunday from 07pm on Channel Seven and 7Plus.
Link: [X]
No comments:
Post a Comment