The Bachelorette alum Charity Lawson rolled her eyes when recalling the repetitive criticism she had received from the judges on Dancing with the Stars.
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Charity and her professional partner Artem Chigvintsev made it to the Dancing with the Stars finale and finished in fourth place, but the process wasn't exactly easy for Charity, who had been told over and over again that she needed to let loose onstage and perform with passion.
"[The] judges were critical, of not your technique but you showing the emotion and the confidence," The Bachelorette alum Jason Tartick told Charity on the Monday, July 8 episode of his "Trading Secrets" podcast.
Charity, 28, responded with a laugh and said, "Yeah. Sorry, my eyes are rolling."
Charity admitted while Dancing with the Stars judges Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli were "not wrong" with their observations, hearing the same complaint repeatedly bothered her.
"Dancing is a very vulnerable thing, first of all, and I don't think people realize that. But if you have ever taken dance, you understand how it's not just about technique, which for me, I had a cheerleading background, so my whole life, I was trained based off of technique and technique alone," Charity explained.
"When we were performing, we're performing with the same [moves] and facial expressions for two minutes and 30 seconds. Dance is different; it's coming literally from within."
Charity therefore shared, "Obviously, the first few weeks, they wanted to see more and they were pushing me to [show] more. But then when it got to the point where I was getting the consistent comment the whole season, I was [like], 'Literally, what am I doing wrong?'"
Charity confessed that when she returned home to Dotun from dance rehearsals, there would be "so many nights" when she was "just frustrated" and overwhelmed.
"I was like, 'I'm not doing something right.' It was hard because it did take me back to moments when I was going through cheerleading training," Charity said, adding how she didn't think people were seeing who she is as a person.
"They see me as this person who's always put together and is perfectly poised, and I'm like, 'But that's not me.' Obviously you've seen the sides of me, and my best friends have seen the crazy sides of me, and my family."
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Charity said while many people truly "knew" her, she also had to "let the world in," which was difficult for her.
"Obviously The Bachelorette, it's an emotional journey and it's an emotional experience. Y'all saw that. But you're not seeing it in the way where it's translated through dance," Charity vented.
"It was really hard. It was really challenging for me. I think I was afraid, 'I'm not doing it right,' and no one was really leading me."
Charity acknowledged she'll "never talk bad about" Artem because he's a "phenomenal" dancer and partner; however, she believes she may have benefited from trying to connect to the dances emotionally rather than just focusing on the steps.
"I do think there were times where I was like, 'Okay, maybe we should not focus on technique. This is the area that I really need help on. Let's just take one whole rehearsal doing this and this alone, not just a minute and 30 seconds working on it,'" Charity recalled.
"That's where I was getting frustrated, and it was really tiring to kind of go through that. It became a lot on me throughout the experience."
Charity laughed about how "a lot" happened behind the scenes before actress Xochitl Gomez and her pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy were finally crowned champions.
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Charity and Dotun, however, survived the chaos and left Dancing with the Stars stronger than ever before, and Jason pointed out how a Bachelor couple's foundation better be "solid" if one person chooses to appear on Dancing with the Stars or go on its tour.
Charity, who participated in the Dancing with the Stars tour for about a month, totally agreed. She and Dotun are currently planning two weddings, one in California and one in Nigeria, in 2025.
Since the next Dancing with the Stars season will be coming up, Charity shared how she thinks both The Bachelor alums Joey Graziadei and Maria Georgas would "do really good" on the show.
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She also considered -- prior to his divorce making headlines with Theresa Nist -- that The Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner would be "really engaging."
And Charity noted of the current The Bachelorette star Jenn Tran, "I don't know if Jenn wants to do it. She probably does. Would she be good at it? Probably."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
