Steve-O on Dancing With the Stars
Everybody know Dancing With the Stars? It's the show where one famous person is paired up with one professional dancer and they have a dance off.
This year, Steve-O from the MTV series Jackass is competing. Jackass was a show all about, well, being a jackass; it was crazy stunts, public urination, insane drug use, and the vulgarest of humor. That's not really my thing, so I never watched it, and never heard of Steve-O until he got on the show four weeks ago.
As it turns out, Steve-O is a recovering everything: drugs, drunk, suicide attempts. He's out of rehab and off suicide watch, and, in his words, doing DWtS this year is his attempt to show that "This Jackass can be a gentleman."
I can't even tell you how much I'm rooting for this guy. Backstage, the effort he's putting into his dances has been truly Herculean, but he's been derailed by his own anxiety and self-recrimination. As that's probably the biggest part of what's been hurting my own life, I've been on edge since day one, relating to every panic attack he's had and screaming my head off with glee when he's been chosen to stay on the show, because his scores have been terrible.
This week, we had a breakthrough. Mind you, his score was still terrible, but the anxiety was gone. His wonderful dance partner, Lacey, thought to get him a clown suit because he first went through clown college before becoming a Jackass star. Watching him backstage, connecting to what he loved and was good at, was marvelous. In front of the stage he was still technically bad and got a low score. I totally didn't care, and apparently neither did he; he was so obviously having a good time for the first time since the competition began I was clapping the whole time.
If Steve-O is voted off this week, and it's a definite possibility, that'll be a shame. But it looks like he got what he came for. He worked his ass off, proved that he can indeed be a gentleman, and seems to have remembered, at least for a little while, what's important. I'm so proud of him I was honestly weeping. Loved it when he saw his scores--and laughed instead of crumbling again.
Love you, Steve-O. In simply being aware of the mistakes you've made in the past and working to make a new future for yourself, you've inspired people more than you know. Congratulations.
This year, Steve-O from the MTV series Jackass is competing. Jackass was a show all about, well, being a jackass; it was crazy stunts, public urination, insane drug use, and the vulgarest of humor. That's not really my thing, so I never watched it, and never heard of Steve-O until he got on the show four weeks ago.
As it turns out, Steve-O is a recovering everything: drugs, drunk, suicide attempts. He's out of rehab and off suicide watch, and, in his words, doing DWtS this year is his attempt to show that "This Jackass can be a gentleman."
I can't even tell you how much I'm rooting for this guy. Backstage, the effort he's putting into his dances has been truly Herculean, but he's been derailed by his own anxiety and self-recrimination. As that's probably the biggest part of what's been hurting my own life, I've been on edge since day one, relating to every panic attack he's had and screaming my head off with glee when he's been chosen to stay on the show, because his scores have been terrible.
This week, we had a breakthrough. Mind you, his score was still terrible, but the anxiety was gone. His wonderful dance partner, Lacey, thought to get him a clown suit because he first went through clown college before becoming a Jackass star. Watching him backstage, connecting to what he loved and was good at, was marvelous. In front of the stage he was still technically bad and got a low score. I totally didn't care, and apparently neither did he; he was so obviously having a good time for the first time since the competition began I was clapping the whole time.
If Steve-O is voted off this week, and it's a definite possibility, that'll be a shame. But it looks like he got what he came for. He worked his ass off, proved that he can indeed be a gentleman, and seems to have remembered, at least for a little while, what's important. I'm so proud of him I was honestly weeping. Loved it when he saw his scores--and laughed instead of crumbling again.
Love you, Steve-O. In simply being aware of the mistakes you've made in the past and working to make a new future for yourself, you've inspired people more than you know. Congratulations.