Ryan Lochte On How ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Got Him Out of a ‘Dark Place’
On Monday’s Dancing With the Stars, Ryan Lochte and his partner, Cheryl Burke, danced their last dance (in this case, a face-off cha-cha) before saying goodbye to the ballroom for good. In his blog for Yahoo TV, Lochte talks about how competing on Dancing with the Stars got him through his darkest times, which celeb he thinks could win the 23rd mirrorball trophy, and what he plans to do next.
I knew it was going to happen either this week or next week, but after winning the dance-off competition I thought for sure I wasn’t going to get eliminated. But I did. Last week’s scores weren’t that good, and this week I definitely thought I could have done better on the individual dance. But then we went out on a high note, because winning the face-off against Derek and Marilu definitely wasn’t so bad.
When I got the standing ovation after my elimination was announced, that was so cool. It definitely showed how many people out there who are rooting for me and care about me, so it felt really good even though I was sad about leaving.
The best part of my experience on Dancing With the Stars was meeting the people on the show. Everyone really helped me in getting out of the dark place I was in. After Rio, I didn’t want to go out in public, I didn’t want to show my face. I wanted to go in hiding forever. But being on this show has made me realize more things about myself that I didn’t know, and also it made me go back into the public eye and made me feel comfortable and confident in myself. Being surrounded by so many positive people is definitely something that I’m going to remember forever.
Cheryl and I have a good friendship. It’s not like we just danced and that was it. We can joke around and have fun so I think that’s why Cheryl said I was one of her Top 5 dance partners. We will remain really good friends.
I honestly think Laurie Hernandez could win this season, just because she’s a 16-year-old ball of energy. But James Hinchcliffe is the best male dancer they’ve seen on this show, so he could possibly win. And then Calvin Johnson, the improvements that he’s showing every week have been amazing. If I had to choose who will make it to the finals it would be Laurie, James, and Calvin, but you never know. Anything can happen.
Now, I’m finally going to take my break. Right after the Olympics, I went straight into Dancing With the Stars so I didn’t really get to have my vacation. So my fiancée and I are definitely going to go on a vacation. We’re going to go back to Charlotte and we’re just going to relax and finally be a couple. We can sit down and plan our wedding, do all the fun stuff I’ve been looking forward to doing with her, like picking out the cake and all that kind of stuff.
I’ll be back on finale night and I think I will be dancing, because that’s what they usually do every season. If I have to pick a favorite dance that I had the most fun with, it would be the salsa.
Thank you all for supporting me throughout the long journey I was on with Dancing with the Stars. I really appreciate it and I just love all the support and love and caring that you guys have shown me. I’ll never take that for granted. I’m definitely really humbled. (As told to Victoria Leigh Miller)
Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of DWTS for free on Yahoo View.
Ryan Lochte is a competitive swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. He was a competitor on the 23rd season of Dancing With the Stars.
