Coming into Dancing With The Stars: All Stars is intimidating enough as a wild card.
Surrounded by celebrities who know the steps, the stage and have even won the mirror-ball trophy, Cameron Daddo knew he was in for a challenge.
What he didn’t know was that he was already weeks behind his rivals’ training schedule.
“From the outset, it was intense,” Cameron, 56, tells TV WEEK.
“They [the producers] had asked me a few times over the years [to take part], but this time, I’d been leading a rather sedentary life with COVID and thought it was a great opportunity to get moving again.
“We got started straight away, but I didn’t realise we came in late and everyone had already been dancing for three weeks.”
With Cameron having not danced before, aside from with his wife Alison over the years, his talented pro partner Megan Wragg got to work.
“We did six days a week, six or seven hours a day, learning up to four dances at one time,” he explains. “She was fabulous and had incredible patience with me.”
Away from the dance floor, one of Cameron’s favourite recent endeavours has been the podcast he started with Alison called Separate Bathrooms.
The couple reflect on their 30-year marriage and also interview others about how they maintain the spark in their relationship.
“When we posted photos together, people would always say things like, ‘You guys are amazing’ or ‘It looks so easy for you,'” Cameron says.
“But it wasn’t as if we’d been touched by this magic wand that gave us this brilliant relationship that doesn’t have the trials and tribulations that everybody else’s does.
“And that’s why we started it [the podcast] – to say you’re not alone and it does work, but that you’ve got to put in the work.”
Cameron hopes he has plenty of wisdom to pass on to his kids. But his biggest relationship takeaway?
“Kindness,” he says. “You can’t unsay a cruel word. Ali and I, when we do fight, we fight fair. I hope that watching us, they’ve learnt to fight above the belt.”
Cameron the family man with wife Alison and children (from left) Bodhi, River and Lotus.
(Image: Instagram)