Karamo Brown sounds off on DWTS costar Sean Spicer: I 'truly believed I could reach him'
Karamo Brown wasn’t expecting to be headed home on Monday’s Dancing With the Stars.
Going into the Halloween Week episode, “No one thought I was going home,” the Queer Eye star said Tuesday on EW’s DWTS recap podcast, Eye on the Ball.
In undeniably high spirits, Brown and his partner Jenna Johnson called in to Eye on the Ball, which is hosted by Lynette Rice and Patrick Gomez and available on demand every Tuesday on the Sirius XM app. The couple reflected on being in the bottom two next to The Office actress Kate Flannery and Brown’s relationship with former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
Here is just an excerpt of their interview with Gomez and Eye on the Ball producer Kristina Rosa.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We were so sad to see you go!
KARAMO BROWN: We are in a good place! We feel very happy. This was bittersweet, but we went out on such a high, we had good scores. It was a great day. The social response was good. You know, this was one of those things where the judges had to make a decision. And unfortunately [head judge Len Goodman] from, you know, day 1 really wasn’t on our side. So we kind of knew. And plus Kate is also a phenomenal human being and dancer. So you know, it’s all good.
Why do you feel Len wasn’t on your side?
BROWN: I think the judges, from day 1, thought that I had dance experience and I think that they thought that I was supposed to be better than I was. And I think that kind of set us off on the wrong path. I think they saw my stature and they were like, “Oh, look how tall he is. He must be athletic.”
JENNA JOHNSON: He is not athletic…
BROWN: I think that set us up because they were watching, you know, Jenna create this amazing choreography, and push me, and me rising to her challenge, and thinking, like, “Oh, well, you did that on night 1, you should be able to do more.” And I’m, like, “You just didn’t see the struggles!” But, you know, it is what it is.
JOHNSON: I think that Karamo took the process very positively and that’s always the hardest part for anyone new, trying out dancing with the stars. It is very aggressive on your body. It’s emotionally draining and super tough. But he always had a positive outlook on the whole experience and he was always ready to come back, try even harder.
BROWN: I think the judges on Dancing With the Stars are some of the best judges in reality television. And I’m not saying that just because I was on the show, I’m saying it just because being a fan of the show. They actually give real critiques. They give you things that can push you, that can motivate you. ABC has done a really great job of casting people who are going to be fun but also stern. It’s like it’s like your parents. Len was that, you know. I took all of his critiques to heart. I took it as, this is somebody who wants me to be better and I’m going to try to be better, you know?
The elephant in the room is that Sean Spicer has had significantly lower scores than the rest of the stars but has yet to be in the bottom two because of audience votes.
BROWN: I will tell you this from being part of the cast: none of us are ever like, “This person must go home.” We’re always in our own zone of thinking, like, “Okay, you know what? I’ve got to focus,” because at the end of the day, none of us ever knew each week and you saw two surprise eliminations back to back. No one thought Sailor [Brinkley-Cook] was going home. No one thought I was going home. So I wish I could say that everyone was like, “Oh, Sean’s the easy pick.” But none of us were like that. We were in our minds of like, “We just have to do our best.” And Sean has been having a good time and has been working just as hard as everyone else. And yes, I don’t agree with him politically, but when it comes to how he worked hard on Dancing With the Stars, he tries and he gives it his all. And so yes, his scores were lower, but it wasn’t his time. And if his time comes, you know, that will be his time.
You’ve said he got emotional after your elimination.
BROWN: I was very happy that Sean was crying at the end of it because, you know, what I do on Queer Eye is reach out to people who have different points of view and people who are different from me and help them to have emotional breakthroughs, help them to have growth. And the reason I’m good at it on Queer Eye…is because I practice this in my real life. And Sean was a prime example. People said, “Do not associate yourself. Do not talk to him.” And I was, like, just because he has different political views than me and, yes, I don’t agree with the things he said when he was the press secretary, I also truly believed that I could reach him and help him to see, like, when you’re making these comments and when you’re saying these things, you’re not just talking [about] some person in space. You’re talking about me, you’re talking about Jenna, you’re talking about people of color, you’re talking about LGBTQ people. And his emotional reaction was because he realized where he was and how he needed to grow. And he grew. I mean, you don’t cry for somebody if you’re just like, “Oh, I’m glad they’re going.” You cry for somebody because you have an emotional attachment to them.
Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Eye on the Ball is available every Tuesday on demand on the Sirius XM app.
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