Getting over the hump. Though Lauren Alaina is no stranger to the reality TV world due to her American Idol past, she admitted that her Dancing With the Stars journey has been no cakewalk as she deemed the experience “the hardest thing I have ever done.”
“Dance is all about the chemistry between you and the partner and making people feel something by the way that you move your bodies together. So if you didn’t get along with that person [you’re partnering with], that would be very difficult. But I do really like [my partner],” Alaina, 24, told Us Weekly of working with her pro, who had yet to be revealed. “I mean, it’s going great. It’s just so hard and my feet hurt and I have like blisters, and my back [is in pain]. I feel like someone strung me up by my hands and hit me with a baseball bat a few times.”
The Georgia native continued to address the challenges she has encountered along the way. “I feel like I’m in an airplane with a blindfold on and I’m trying to fly the plane, and I’ve never been on an airplane before,” she explained. “That’s what I feel like, maybe not with a blindfold. I feel like I’ve walked onto an airplane. I’ve never boarded an airplane ever before and now I’m having to be the pilot. I’ve got a copilot who’s really, really, really, really good. But he’s counting on me to learn overnight. I have zero dance experience. Zero. So the way I even have to hold my body is new to me. It’s all new to me. I do love it. I am enjoying it. It’s just incredibly difficult.”
Alaina rose to fame as a contestant on season 10 of American Idol in 2011. Though she ended the show as the runner-up, she has gone on to find success as a country music artist.
Alaina has released hits such as “Ladies in the ‘90s” and “Road Less Traveled.” She unveiled her debut album, Wildflower, in 2011 and her second record, Road Less Traveled, in 2017.
ABC announced the Season 28 cast of Dancing With the Stars on August 21 during Good Morning America. Alaina was confirmed for the show with celebrities such as fellow reality TV veteran Hannah Brown, Lamar Odom, James Van Der Beek and Ally Brooke.
“Coming from my American Idol background, a lot of the people who bought into my brand, if you want, whatever you want to call, did that from television,” she explained to Us. “So I want to re-engage some of those people, get some new people on board and I just mostly want to prove to myself that I can do it. It’s the most challenging thing I’ve ever.”
Alaina continued, “A lot of things that I’ve done that I focus on have come easily to me. Singing, performing, you know, being on camera, acting. I’ve had to work at it, but not like this. This is like a whole new skill set for me.”
Season 28 of Dancing With the Stars premieres on ABC Monday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Kayley Stumpe
