Renée Bargh’s exit from Dancing With The Stars left fans across Australia shocked, to say the least.
The talented dancer, 35, was selected as a wildcard contestant in the all-new All Stars season for 2021, and quickly proved her prowess on the dancefloor.
Yet somehow, baffling everyone and even herself, Renée was eliminated just before the grand finale.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” Renée told TV WEEK the morning after her elimination aired.
“Watching it again is definitely hard… You put in so much work, and the injuries and everything that you fight through and push through, it’s a lot to go through. But the standard was so high. I felt really lucky to be invited and be part of the series.”
And while Renée is sad because her Dancing journey is over, she’s certainly still smiling because it happened.
So much so that she’s even calling for a reunion already – of the touring kind.
“We’re all a family,” she tells us before adding, “Can we make a tour happen?!”
Keep scrolling as we get all the details from Renée after her whirlwind journey on the show.
TV WEEK: Renée! You were so amazing on the show, so sad to see you go last night, how did you find the experience?
Renée: I’ve had so much fun, I really wanted to be in the final, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. We had such a great dance planned for it.
But the support and the messages I’ve received have been amazing. I didn’t expect that sort of reaction and it means so much that people saw all the hard work we all put in. I’m bummed I didn’t get to do one more dance, but so glad to have done the show.
You’re such an amazing dancer, did you have lessons growing up or was it all natural skill?
I did a bit of dance dance growing up, I started pretty young with jazz and tap probably up until my 20s.
The last time I danced was probably about 16 years ago though. And never in my life have I done a Latin or ballroom class.
Now I can safely say Latin and ballroom is by far the hardest. I know that’s a big call saying it’s more challenging than ballet. But I could not believe how difficult it was.
Every style is so different and it’s like the opposite to what you learn as a dancer in other formats.
I would love to keep doing [ballroom and Latin] but it’s still a long road to recovery at the moment, I’m just trying to heal my body.
But as soon as I’m healed and ready I’ll be looking for a Latin teacher for sure!
The physical work must be gruelling! Any diet and exercise tips to maintain tip top shape?
I’m really obsessed with reforma pilates – it keeps my muscles feeling long and flexible.
I also love being outside, nature walks and hikes are great. That’s the thing, you want to feel like its fun when you’re exercising.
And that’s why dance is so incredible, it is so much fun. Oh and yoga for me has always been super grounding. It’s really healing to do that.
And health wise, I’m all about living a life of balance and giving my body what it wants and what it needs. I usually stay away from refined sugars, but I’m all about balance. I’ll have chocolate still!
Your friendship with Delta Goodrem is so sweet, did you watch back any of the episodes with her or any other friends?
Well Delta came to the first show, she came to watch and support me which was such a big deal for her. That was so amazing.
And I’ve watched the show with my friends every night, we cook dinner and drink wine together. It’s really nice to have that support.
I’ve also got a group chat with [the cast]. We’re always cheering each other on.
That’s so nice! Tell us more about your friendships with the cast of DWTS.
Well Erin [McNaught] and I had been friends for a while, so reuniting with her was great and so nice to have girlfriends there already.
I also had a really good bond with Lincoln [Lewis], he was everybody’s biggest cheerleader and so so supportive.
And Luke [Jacobz] and I became really good friends through it too, he’s been so supportive. I just love them all!
We’re actually all just a big family – can we make a tour happen?!
That would be amazing, could you actually?
I would love to! In the US version [of DWTS] they do a big tour after the show! I want to do that!
Potential tour aside, what’s next for you Renée?
I have a couple of things in the pipeline but I can’t say anything about them yet. But it’s very exciting, I’ll be travelling and shooting fun segments and just doing things I love which is travelling and meeting people.
But the next six to eight weeks are predominantly focused on healing my body.