“Dancing With the Stars” season 35 would’ve looked quite different without Guillermo Rodriguez.
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” personality recently revealed the producers invited him to compete for several years in a row. While he still wasn’t totally convinced it was a good idea, a dear friend changed Guillermo’s mind.
Guillermo Rodriguez Turned Down DWTS Multiple Times
“Dancing With the Stars” producers had been trying to get Guillermo Rodriguez on the show for years, to no avail. Though the talk show personality wasn’t interested in the rigorous exercise, a push from loved ones helped change his mind.
“The people’s champ almost never happened. 🪩😭 Guillermo Rodriguez from ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ turned down ‘Dancing With the Stars’ THREE or FOUR times?!” the “Viall Files” podcast captioned a new Instagram post.
“You know what? They asked me like three years ago,” Guillermo remembered on the episode. They’ve been asking me for three or four years, and I always say no. It’s a lot of work.”
This year, Jimmy Kimmel encouraged his friend to give the show a try. After considering Kimmel’s suggestion, he asked for his wife’s opinion.
“‘Listen, you just do it. It might help you to lose weight,'” Guillermo quoted his wife. “And I thought I would be gone on the first week. I said, ‘One week is enough for me.’ It’s a lot of work. You don’t have a life. It’s a commitment, you know?”
Despite his reservations, the talk show personality admitted he had a lot of fun. He also made many close friends, including Connor Wood and Ezra Frech. The trio posted photos of themselves out at lunch after Guillermo’s elimination.
Jimmy Kimmel Would Have Been the Guest for ‘Dedication Night’
Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson were eliminated at the end of “Super Bowl Night.” But if they made it to “Dedication Night,” Guillermo immediately knew who he wanted to honor. Jimmy Kimmel encouraged him to join the show, and he wanted to dedicate his routine to him.
“Yeah, you know what? That was the plan,” he told Entertainment Tonight shortly after his elimination. “If we passed this week, he was gonna come next week. Jimmy is thanking his knees. ‘Thank God they sent them home.’”
“Jimmy is the best,” Guillermo continued on the “Viall Files” podcast. “If I have questions, I ask Jimmy and everything. He’s always told me, you know, like, ‘Stay the way you are, be humble, be nice,’ you know. ‘Respect people’ and everything.'”
The 55-year-old and Witney Carson even had the music picked out for the evening. They wanted to pick one of Kimmel’s favorite bands, Huey Lewis & the News. Guillermo decided “The Power of Love” would have been a perfect choice for a Tango.
Nick Viall suggested that they perform it live on Jimmy Kimmel’s show instead, to which Guillermo readily agreed.
“Disney Night” begins at 8 p.m. on Monday, November 2, on ABC. There won’t be a new episode on Tuesday night due to election coverage. Vote for your favorite couples so they can advance to another week in the competition.
Guillermo Rodriguez Dishes on Who Convinced Him to Join ‘Dancing With the Stars’ After Years of Saying ‘No’