Guillermo Rodriguez made it through week one of Dancing With the Stars season 35 by the skin of his teeth — but he almost didn’t dance at all.
“At the beginning, I wanted to go home,” Rodriguez, 55, confessed on the Friday, September 18, episode of the “Dancing With the Stars Official Podcast.”
Podcast host Andy Richter, who competed on season 34 of the ABC series, revealed that he heard Rodriguez ask to go home when they ran into each other at the airport on the way to Good Morning America prior to the season 35 cast announcement.
“You must have said five times, ‘I want to go home. Send me home. Don’t vote for me,’” Richter, 59, recalled.
Rodriguez admitted that although he was hesitant to compete with his partner, Witney Carson, who is the reigning mirrorball champion, he has changed his tune heading into week two.
“Now, it’s like, I gotta learn. I gotta learn how to dance. I gotta practice. I want to do good in the second week,” he explained. “It sucks to be in the bottom.”
Andy Richter, Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson. Disney/Eric McCandless
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! sidekick revealed that he is “very excited” to have made it past the first elimination after receiving a score of only 10 out of 30 from the judges for his cha-cha.
However, when the names were read during the Tuesday, September 15, episode, Rodriguez panicked.
“I feel good. I feel great, but when they announced who was going home, I was like, ‘Yeah!’ And then I go, ‘Wow, wait, I have five days to prepare for a second one,’” he remembered. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I’m already stressed.”
Carson, 32, meanwhile, said that Rodriguez has already shown improvement and a bigger desire to compete since his initial weariness.
Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson. Disney/Eric McCandless
“I feel like he’s a lot of talk, too. I feel like he’s kinda like, ‘I know, I’m tired, I want to go home.’ But he actually does want to do well,” Carson shared on the podcast. “Now he’s like, ‘I want to rehearse as much as I possibly can.’”
The professional dancer, who is pregnant with her third baby, pointed out that Rodriguez is a “busy guy” since he is still filming Jimmy Kimmel Live! in addition to rehearsing for DWTS.
“The fact that he’s putting in the work and putting in the time means a lot to me,” Carson added. “That means he really wants to try hard and do well.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
