Before Kelly Monaco was crowned the first-ever Dancing With the Stars winner, she was warned that joining the hit reality competition series could damage her career.
“I had a letter in my mailbox in my dressing room at General Hospital. We have these little mailboxes outside of our dressing rooms, and there was a letter in there, and it was a request to do Dancing with the Stars,” Monaco, 49, recalled to Entertainment Weekly in a profile published on Saturday, July 5. “I remember bringing it home and getting feedback from family, friends, and so forth, and they were like, ‘You can’t do a reality show. Actors don’t do a reality show.’”
She added, “I had never heard of ballroom dancing before. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But I was just like, ‘F*** it. I’ll try anything once.’ That’s how I’ve always rolled in life. If an opportunity comes, I’ll try it.”
DWTS, based on England’s popular Strictly Come Dancing reality TV competition, premiered in 2005. Monaco, who was paired with pro dancer Alec Mazo, competed against John O’Hurley, Joey McIntyre, Rachel Hunter, Evander Holyfield and Trista Sutter.
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“The first season was only six episodes. It was a test run, and I was like, ‘I’m not going to tell anyone I’m doing it and hopefully I get voted off first and no one will ever see it,’” the soap opera star recalled to EW. “After the first episode, I was horrified by the comments from the judges, and I got the lowest score, I think, ever in the history of Dancing With the Stars. So, I was like, ‘OK, it’s on. We’re going in and we’re doing this.’ Then I took it seriously, and I was all in at that point.”
According to Monaco, she thought she would be eliminated each week.
Kelly Monaco dances during ‘DWTS: All-Stars’ in 2012. Adam Taylor / ABC / Everett Collection“I didn’t think I was a good dancer at all. I improved weekly. I think people related to me in that I went from duck feet to being able to spin,” she said. “I have ruptured eardrums, equilibrium problems, and for me to even be able to do that without falling flat on my face was a journey in itself. I was so proud every week that I made it a week further.”
Monaco’s ballroom journey also included a now-infamous wardrobe malfunction, where her dress broke during her and Mazo’s samba in week four.
“Alec was very strict, and he prepared me for every obstacle. He would have whoever was around throw obstacles at us,” Monaco added. “So, he prepared me for that, but oh my God, it was so scary. I felt like someone had a laser beam from five miles away and shot my costume. It was a countdown to going live, ‘Five, four, three, pop!’ I was like, ‘What am I supposed to do?’”
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She continued, “I know I get at least five counts of a walk over to Alec, walking toward him for our dance. But I remember looking at the judges, looking at whoever like, ‘Is there a stop button? Okay, there’s nothing. I just have to go through it.’ So, I’m like, ‘OK, well, I’ll just hold my dress up while I dance.’ Alec supported me every step of the way. I don’t think I felt more confident in any dance.”
According to Monaco, the wardrobe mishap was “the turnaround of [her] experience with dance and the show.”
“After that, the audience related to me because I was on soap operas for so long, I had only been known as this villain and was only called by my soap name in public,” she said. “This gave the audience a chance to see the real me in a circumstance where you can either fall flat or rise above.”
Monaco’s performance — she later returned to the first and only All-Stars season in 2012, finishing in third place with partner Val Chermovskiy — has set the standard for the competition. A 34th season has been greenlit this fall, starring Alix Earle, Robert Irwin, Jen Affleck, Whitney Leavitt and more.
Dancing With the Stars returns to ABC Mondays in the fall.
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