Heavy/ABC Dancing With the Stars.
A ”Dancing with the Stars” contestant opened up about the stage fright he suffered while on the dance floor.
Speaking on Cheryl Burke’s podcast “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” in February 2024, DWTS alum Vinny Guadagnino revealed that he suffered from “debilitating” stage fright while competing on the celebrity ballroom show.
Guadagnino competed with partner Koko Iwasaki on the 31st season of “Dancing With the Stars” in 2022. They became the 9th couple eliminated in the competition.
Here’s what you need to know:
Vinny Guadagnino Said He Froze on Stage on DWTS
Guadagnino became known for his outspoken personality on the MTV reality show “Jersey Shore.” He didn’t appear at all shy when he performed in multiple Chippendales residencies in Las Vegas, per People magazine. But “Dancing With the Stars” was a different animal.
“What people aren’t seeing, which is invisible, is like I developed a sense of stage fright from that show,” Guadagnino told Burke of his time on DWTS. “I never had stage fright [before]. …I was doing those dances at around like thirty percent of who I am. Because when you have debilitating stage fright, you’re literally moving in slow motion. It’s you feel like you have ankle weights on. …It’s pretty much like doing the doing the dance in the beginning, while you’re having an anxiety attack. And so all those dances you’re seeing me do, I was doing frozen.”
Guadagnino explained that despite his fear factor, he was able to adapt and pull off his dances simply through “all of the repetition and the muscle memory.”
“The only time I felt somewhat calm up there was that week where I messed up during the cha cha because the mess up was in the first five seconds,” he continued. “So then after that… you got it out of your system. And then I felt completely calm.”
“I never had stage fright,” Guadagnino reiterated. “No, I’ve been on stages my entire life. ”
He did admit that when something is “really important” to him it makes him “desperate” to do a good job. “That is what is what gives you the biggest nerves,” he said. “I mean, it makes sense, you know, and sends you into fight or flight.”
The reality star added that he had a little more fun doing the group dances when eyes weren’t all on him. “Because now your brain is not as desperate to pull it off because you know you have support around you and stuff like that,” he said.
Guadagnino added that he enjoyed “all of the process in between show time.” “I loved the rehearsals, I loved, you know, learning with Koko,” he said. ” It was really once it became showtime.”
Vinny Guadagnino Previously Said His Anxiety Got the Best of Him
Guadagnino previously addressed his stage fright in one of his pre-dance packages with Iwasaki. “The show is exposing some anxiety that I have, I grew up with anxiety, and it manifests itself in different places,” he said, per Gold Derby. “I don’t get stage fright in any other aspect of my life. It’s the stage mixed with dancing. Bring them together and it’s causing the challenge.”
He also shared that his desire to do well on the show caused him anxiety. “It gets the best of me up until I hit the stage,” he told People magazine in 2022.
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