Osher Günsberg’s first performance on Dancing With The Stars saw him receive a total score of nine, including a one from judge Craig Revel Horwood. But Osher didn’t go on the show to impress the judges. He went on there as a way of connecting with his 21-year-old stepdaughter Georgia, who has been dancing for most of her life.
“I was so grateful that she was able to come and watch me dance,” Osher tells TV WEEK.
“She even said, ‘You were better than I thought you would be.’ And anyone that’s got a stepchild knows that’s up there with an Oscar!”
For Osher, who’s spent more than two decades hosting shows like Australian Idol and The Masked Singer, being a contestant on Dancing With The Stars was fascinating. He admits it was also “really confronting”.
“I think I need more external validation than I believed I did,” he says. “That was odd.”
The 51-year-old has had three hip replacements and has lived with chronic pain, something he explored last year in the documentary Osher Günsberg: A World Of Pain. Learning the dances from his partner Sriani Argaet wasn’t easy.
“I’ve run marathons – heaps of them,” he says. “This was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, because I had to think so consciously about those little movements of my body the whole time.”
But he says rehearsing for the show – getting up every day, being physical and listening to music – was “gorgeous”. Even suffering an injury as he rode his bike to the dance studio didn’t ruin his mood.
“I got cleaned up by a delivery rider who was riding without a front brake and he slammed straight into my hand,” he explains. “He cleaved me right open. They ended up supergluing me back together.
“It didn’t matter because I was having a great day and I was having a great time!”
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