Beloved Australian chef turned dancing extraordinaire Julie Goodwin strives to put herself outside her comfort zone.
So when the opportunity for Dancing With The Stars arose, she jumped at it, despite “not being very co-ordinated”.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Julie Goodwin talks Dancing With The Stars elimination.
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Following her eviction on Sunday night after her “sexy” Foxtrot, the contestant is grateful for the “very dear friends” she has made and the lessons she has learned in self-belief.
While the competition is already a major challenge, Goodwin injured herself just before the first performance, leaving her and dance partner Andrey Gorbunov “devastated”.
Once again rising to the challenge, Goodwin “pleaded her case” with doctors and made her return to the show work.
“Some really wonderful things could happen,” she tells 7NEWS.com.au of pushing her comfort zone.
“I don’t say no to things just because I think they’re going to be scary. I kind of lean into that stuff.
“Honestly, it’s where the most interesting things happen, and where you meet the best people.”
Goodwin says that she is not the dancing type, having “never been very co-ordinated”.
“I went into it fully expecting to be, you know, the class clown.”
Then she was partnered with Andrey, who was her “patient” teacher, walking her through all the routines across weeks of rehearsals.
While the dancing itself is a challenge, Goodwin says the biggest struggle for her was “overcoming a lifetime of self-talk that I’m clumsy … uncoordinated, and I can’t dance”.
However, just before the first performance, the chef was forced to withdraw from the competition after she sustained two tears in her calf muscles in rehearsal.
“Sitting out the first round was devastating … devastating,” she recalls.
“It had been a couple of months leading up to that one moment. So we were devastated.”
But Goodwin says that what was worse was the impact it had on future training.
“I could barely be on my feet, and when I could, it was only for a few minutes, and then I would have to ice it.
“I was just in pain, it put a real damper on things moving forward.”
But Goodwin made it work, taking to the stage and stunning audiences and judges.
“It was really lovely and special,” she says of her family watching the performances.
“My husband and my youngest son were in the audience, and they both had tears in their eyes.”
During Sunday night’s performance, Goodwin and her partner performed the foxtrot, which was a challenge because of the acting required.
“It was certainly challenging, and the foxtrot’s got its own particular set of rules you have to abide by.
“They said to me, you know, we want you to play this kind of domineering role.”
Goodwin says that the performance “could have gone better” but believes she “messed up at the beginning”.
“I was a bit broken-hearted about that.
“It could have been a different outcome. But, you know, it is what it is, and you can only sort of deliver what you can on the night.”
While the injury impacted Goodwin throughout the series, she now says she is back to her best.
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