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DAVID KEEPS ON DANCING
by John Burfitt Sydney Star Observer Published 12/04/2007
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DAVID GRAHAM IS OUT OF DANCING WITH THE STARS, BUT HAS NO PLANS TO HANG UP HIS DANCING SHOES. He may be finished on Dancing With The Stars, but David Graham is now certain of a few things in life. One is that he needs a break and is about to embark on a holiday to South America. The other is that he wants to keep dancing and, when he returns from his South American sojourn, he will be looking for a new dance partner to do same-sex dancing with him. |
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"One hundred percent, I think my next dance partner will be a male," Graham says, the day after his elimination from Dancing With The Stars. "I just need to find a dance partner out there who will be willing to take me on and go into dance competitions."
"I will definitely continue classes and compete - dancing is such a beautiful art form and to use your body as an expression is just tremendous."
While Graham admits he is tired from the months of dance training and competing, he calls Dancing With The Stars ?the best experience of my life, without question?. He also adds that reports that he felt he was being victimised on the TV show were taken out of context.
Despite what a Sydney newspaper said, I am not a victim - I said as a joke they were victimising me, but that was in jest. I am not a victim at all, and I am far from that.
And the judges did not pick on me, they just identified I was a very, very talentless dancer.?
Apart from learning to dance, Graham says he is glad his weekly appearance on DWTS has brought some focus onto the plight of farmers battling the drought. His appointed charity is Bush Connection through Ozcare.
This gave me a chance every week to talk about the real effect the drought is having on this country, he says. My farm is now a dustbowl, and I have had to de-stock and I have not had crops for two years.
So I have no income from the farm, and I was lucky to go on Dancing With The Stars, as that has given me a bit of a reprieve, but also highlighted what is really happening to people on the land.
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David takes a dive
TV WEEK's Pete Timbs spoke to controversial dancing contestant David Graham, the sixth contestant to leave the dance floor... TV Week
So, did you guys have a party after you were kicked out of the show? Did everyone hang around?
No, apparently the other guys had some dance or something to worry about, so they had to go and train. It was just the crew, Eliza (David's dance partner) and me.
Did any judges hang around?
Nah! They walk straight away. Well, not all of them. Helen, Mark and Paul stick around a little bit but Todd just takes off within seconds. The show's not even over, the credits aren't even up and he's gone.
Where does he go?
I don't know, to hide and cry. I don't know, be a sook.
What about Todd's comments last night? How did that make you feel?
They were just unnecessary and he knew it. He knew that they were completely unjustified but I don't know - maybe he was trying to make some good TV. I was doing a heck of a lot of training, so they were just silly comments that had no basis. He didn't give me an opportunity to answer and even if he did, I wouldn't have replied. His comments were so far removed from reality that they didn't justify a response.
So you haven't spoken to him at all?
No, I haven't but I really wanted to shake his hand to say, 'Hey look, I think most of your comments were justified and I appreciate a lot of the criticism'. I'd also like to let him know that I was spending more than 10 hours a day, I was committed to dancing, be that training in the gym, training in studios or just getting in with the tracks of music that we had to try to get in time with. Hopefully, I'll be able to see him on the last show and just shake his hand then.
Why do you think he had it in for you?
No idea, and you know, it's not really my concern. It's his.
Do you think he may have had a crush on you?
Well. It's unreciprocated, so...
Maybe that's why he's so angry ? because you don't like him and he has the hots for you.
Yes, well, he's never going to go anywhere with that one!
So you tried to be a gentleman when it was just you and Kate left and you thought Kate might get booted off. What was all that about?
It could have been taken a lot of different ways. It could have been taken that now I'm doing dance sports and getting medals and places, that I'm totally up myself and I thought I was too good to stay ? but that's not how it was. It was just a simple case of me staying probably three weeks longer than I should have, because two extremely capable dancers and two of our best athletes went before me. I wasn't going to let that happen again. I didn't want to stay just on my public support, which I was really grateful for. But it's a dancing show and I wanted the best dancer to stay and Kate Ceberano is an absolute hero of mine and there was no way I was going to entertain the possibility of staying and have her go. Luckily, it turned out that she was definitely going to stay.
Now that it's over, what's next for you?
I'm going to take one of my Big Brother holidays, just to get away. I've got three trips to South-East Asia and South America. Mum and dad have got my sheep over at their place. My farm is just a dust bowl, there's nothing there at all, so even if I did go home I'd just be twiddling my thumbs.
It's been a year of absolute, insane craziness. It just hasn't stopped. If it's not being trapped inside a house on the Gold Coast, it's trapping Australia into watching really bad dancing or it's being trapped in a really bad drought. I just want to break out and get on the backpackers' trail and not have to worry about anything.
Who are you going to go with?
I'll just see whichever one of my mates can get time off work.
So, there's no boyfriend you want to take away with you?
You, and your bloody probing questions about me and my love-life. No, no.
What about taking Todd?
Well no, definitely not Todd. I devoted all of my time to dancing and I had no personal life while I was on the show. There is no one at all that I'm seeing. So hopefully I might meet someone.
Who is your tip to win Dancing With The Stars?
Hopefully Kate. I absolutely love her ? she's my favourite, if you're allowed to have favourites. Also Tim. He is an incredibly talented person who deserves that trophy.
So, you would like to see Kate win, but you think it will be Tim?
Yeah, I think so.
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Graham out of Dancing With The Stars
10th April 2007, 20:20 WST The West
Former Big Brother housemate David Graham will be remembered on Dancing With The Stars for his firsts.
He became the first celebrity dancer on the top-rating show to offer his withdrawal.
That followed the dubious distinction of being the only contestant in six series of the show to score only four points for a dance - the lowest possible number from the show's four judges.
It was unfortunate for the gay farmer, who says he went on the show to raise awareness about Australian farmers battling drought, after the judges described his quick step with professional dance partner Eliza Campagna as his best performance of the season.
Graham maintained a brave face despite low scores and ridicule as the show's worst ever dancer.
But he was visibly upset when he received a paltry four points for his paso doble in the episode before last week's Easter break, although loyal viewer support saw him through to the next round.
As he stood in the final two - the dancers with the lowest combined judges' score and viewer votes - with singer Kate Ceberano, Graham cracked: "There's no way I can let Kate go, she's a much better dancer than me, so I have to withdraw."
Holding the card which would seal the fate of one of the dancers, veteran presenter Daryl Somers brushed aside Graham's request, knowing that seconds later he would be the dancer to leave the show.
"In six series we've never had someone so happy to leave," Somers said after putting Graham out of his misery.
The competition is now taking shape with early favourite Jamie Durie finally winning favour with the judges and finishing for the first time with the most judges' points in an episode.
Left to fight out the final rounds of the series with Ceberano and Durie are radio presenter Fifi Box and bookmaker Sportingbet's short-odds favourite, actor Tim Campbell.
AAP
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Dancing farmer David Graham on holidays
13/04/2007 06:25:22 AM 2 Day Fm
Dancing With The Stars' ousted gay farmer David Graham will take a break after the series finale by using the three international holidays he has left over from his Big Brother prize haul.
"I've had an intense 12 months either on TV or on the farm so I need a break," he told AAP.
Graham said throughout the series that his sole reason for performing on the show was to raise awareness of the plight of farmers in rural Australia.
He said he had made his parents proud, despite being described by the judges as the worst dancer in the show's six seasons on the Seven Network.
He labelled claims that he was kept in the show due to the "gay vote" as "rubbish" and believes viewers were more impressed that he was having a go despite an obvious lack of talent.
"If there was a gay vote there would have been equal rights for homosexuals a long time ago," he said.
Before he began on the celebrity dance-off, Graham said he spent each day putting down sheep which were sick, stuck in muddy dams or had been attacked by dingoes and foxes which had been forced to invade his Queensland farm where the precious little water that existed could be found.
"I'd go back to the farm but I'd just be twiddling my thumbs, it's a dustbowl and the 700 sheep that are left have been trucked over to my parent's farm," he said.
For Graham, who said he has travelled to 46 countries, his next destinations will be South America and South East Asia courtesy of holidays he won during last year's season of Big Brother.
During his time on Dancing With The Stars he set a record for the lowest ever score, four points, and he was the first contestant to offer his withdrawal before being eliminated