Danica McKellar has vivid memories, both satisfying and painful, of competing on Dancing With the Stars a decade ago.
“It’s much harder than they show in the packages, because it would bum people out to see how stressful it is,” the former The Wonder Years actress explained Sunday on the podcast Sex, Lies and Spray Tans with Cheryl Burke. “It just wouldn’t be as fun anymore for people.”
McKellar was paired with dancing pro Val Chmerkovskiy on the 18th season of the ABC series, on which they were the sixth pair to be eliminated. But she almost had a different partner, which she revealed when asked if she had requested Chmerkovskiy.
“[Producer] Deena Katz had texted me, and she said, ‘What’s your height? And I said, ‘Derek Hough height.’ But, anyway, then I got Val. It’s fine. It’s fine. I didn’t request him.”
So what was her first impression?
“That he was, like, this cool guy. You know?” McKellar said. “I got mister cool.”
McKellar found Chmerkovskiy to be tough on her, but she appreciated that.
“I knew that I was getting better,” McKellar said, confirming that she and her partner got along.
The hardworking star of movies for Great American Family ended up driving herself a little too hard.
She broke a rib during rehearsals, but managed to perform anyway.
“I’ve always loved dance,” McKellar said on the podcast. “But…I remember telling somebody it was like, if you love chocolate, right, and somebody puts you in a vat of chocolate and then holds your head under it — that’s what Dancing with the Stars is like. And every now and then, you get a breath.”
McKellar isn’t the only one to speak of the difficulty of the series.
Last month, Zendaya, who competed on the series in 2013, explained on EW’s The Awardist podcast that she also found it difficult. She was also paired with Chmerkovskiy.
“I have not watched Dancing With the Stars since I was on,” she said. “I didn’t really watch Dancing With the Stars before I was on Dancing With the Stars. I don’t think I was the target demographic. My grandma loves Dancing with the Stars, that’s her bag. But yeah, I also think it was a very stressful experience. I was like, I don’t think I’m gonna be watching this anymore.”
Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.