Why Lamar Odom Decided to Finally Do 'DWTS' After Turning It Down for Years (Exclusive)
Lamar Odom is reflecting on his time on Dancing With the Stars.
Just hours after he and his pro partner, Peta Murgatroyd, were eliminated from the dance competition show Monday night, the two stopped by ET Live on Tuesday to discuss the former NBA star's memorable time in the ballroom.
"I learned that I can do just about anything if I put my mind and my heart and soul into it, which I did with this competition. This was a humbling experience for me," said Lamar, joking that he's "never been on a team and been cut before."
Recalling the moment he first got the call from producers to compete on season 28 of the show, Lamar remembered feeling excited. "It was cool, it was a compliment," he said. "It's something that I, like, turned down for the last couple years."
This revelation was also news to Peta, who shockingly asked, "You turned it down? Did you?"
"Yeah, maybe, like, twice," added Lamar, who has three children, Destiny, Jayden and Lamar Odom Jr., from a former relationship. "And then my kids really wanted me to do it. So, that's why I did it this time."
A post shared by Peta Murgatroyd (@petamurgatroyd) on Oct 8, 2019 at 12:08pm PDT
Even though Lamar was only on the show for four weeks, he believes producers did a great job of telling his personal story, which included highlights from his career as a professional basketball player to his near-fatal overdose in October 2015. Unlike some of his fellow competitors, Lamar had zero dance experience before he began training with Peta.
"He brought the heart and soul of the competition," Peta raved. "You can definitely have the people on the show that have performance experience, dance experience, acting experience, all of that, which obviously goes a long way, but the show, Dancing With the Stars, is about the journey of someone starting from scratch and ending up becoming a dancer."
Still, we think it's safe to say that fans would have loved to have seen Lamar make it to Most Memorable Year Night, so the athlete could share just one more, deeply personal story through dance. Peta said, however, that even if they stayed in the competition, this fan-favorite theme night would have never happened for #Team2xChamp.
"They usually have a week, like Disney Night, Movie Night and then a Most Memorable Year. But this season, they don't have that," Peta revealed to ET. "I don't know why. I think maybe that week was becoming too sad, as a whole, to have on the show. I don't know, but they axed it."
"He told his story, I think week two, we did the package on what had happened to him and why he was in a coma and all that," she added. "Yeah, that was sort of released early, because there was no week for that."
A post shared by Lamar Odom (@lamarodom) on Sep 16, 2019 at 8:47pm PDT
With Lamar standing at 6'10" and Peta at 5'7," one of the biggest challenges the two had to overcome each week was learning to dance and perfect their framework with a massive height difference.
"Well, Peta's won championships before. So to me, it was like playing with the Kobe Bryant of ballroom," Lamar explained.
"I love him for saying that ... that's like the best compliment I've ever gotten," Peta replied. "It was crazy, though. I mean, I've never danced with somebody this tall. I think the tallest partner I had was maybe 6'2. So, this was a huge jump, a huge sort of learning experience as a teacher. I had to change my ways of teaching and sort of adapt to him."
Interestingly enough, Lamar is one of only a few athletes who have represented the NBA in the ballroom, following in the footsteps of former basketball players like Derek Fisher (season 25) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (season 26).
"It does feel good to do something I never thought I would do before and excel at it a little bit," Lamar, who has played for teams like the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers, said of being chosen to represent the NBA this season. "That makes me feel good about myself."
As for who he'd like to nominate next? He agreed with Peta that someone like Kobe or Michael Jordan would be great, but he could honestly see "anybody that's just up for it."
"Because it's the most difficult thing I've ever done, physically," he continued. "Just the practice time that we have to put in; it's a lot, and it's draining. These last couple weeks, after every time we danced, it felt like I had played a 48-minute game versus the Boston Celtics and it went into overtime. It was emotionally draining as well."
Peta chimed in, adding, "People don't realize how difficult this show really is."
"It takes time. I think people, when they sign this contract, they come in and think it's three hours a day and then you can go home and go about your day. But it really begins at four or five hours and then you have fittings, interviews, and you're physically, mentally drained every day," she explained. "It's so taxing on people. And if you're still doing another job of some sort, like if you're an actor, you're still on set and have to figure out the scheduling with that."
"It's insane," she continued. "But it changes people's lives. This show, people come on here and it just changes people ... [to] relive their careers and get this new start on life again. It's really helped a lot of people."
And despite Lamar and Peta having to say goodbye Monday night, it's an experience they'll never forget.
"I feel OK. All good things come to an end," Lamar exclaimed. "It was a great journey. I never had a sister before, and now I've got one."
Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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