Success...It's All in the Letter P By now we are familiar with Nigel Lythgoe, the British television director and producer, who created such smash hits as Ameri...

Are You in It to Win It?

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Original Publication Date:
July 2007

He's gone from champion on the ice rink to champion on the dance floor. Five-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno can now add a trophy of a different sort to his impressive collection. The Mirror Ball, which more closely esembles a disco accessory from Studio 54 than a prize for achieving excellence, is no less rewarding, according to Ohno, compared with all his other victories.

The truth is, whether or not he came out on top, he still considered himself a winner. That he was able to put himself out there in a very foreign arena and not only flourish but master the skills required to succeed was one incredible feat. It just so happens he DID win the whole enchilada, but finishing in first for Apolo was merely the icing on the cake—which, harmoniously, happened to coincide with his 25th birthday.

For this athlete, dancing wasn't his thing. He was used to the pressures of competing on the world's biggest stage—The Olympic Games—but that never involved standing upright and graceful doing a Tango or a Waltz or a Cha Cha Cha. Swapping skates for shoes of another variety Apolo was in for a quite an experience. He was so far out of his comfort zone until it took weeks before he finally felt like he knew what he was doing.

But he made a commitment to give it his all. He was determined to take it to the limit. He was in it to win it.

Like Soap Operas and Sit-coms, it looks like Reality Shows are here to stay and have become part of the regular television programming landscape. What started out as a passing fancy is now an accepted part of pop culture. Not since, what I consider to be the original reality show—MTV's, 'The Real World,' have I paid much attention to the genre-like crop that have followed. As a writer and journalist, I mostly keep plugged into entertainment, news, and trends through reading and the internet. I can probably recite the who's who of Survivor and American Idol and the cast of quirky characters who have paraded their wares on Heidi Klum's Project Runway, or sang up to Tommy Lee on Rock Star: Supernova, but could never actually qualify for inclusion in the Nielsen Ratings. Unlike millions of rabid fans, I've not watched an entire episode of Simon and company. I have seen small snippets by mere accident or because I wanted to catch a performance by a visiting guest, like Bon Jovi or Gwen Stefani.

When it came, however, to this new concept of celebrity-types dancing in competition with professional ballroom dancers, it was something I found intriguing. Having never been a ballroom dancer myself, a friend of mine was, and I know how extremely difficult learning the steps to the dances can be. This is demanding stuff. In addition, the fact these celebs must train in a relatively short period of time to some complex and complicated choreography and present it to a national audience was worth a look. What appeared to be a hokey and totally ludicrous idea turned out to anything but. Now in its fourth season, 'Dancing With the Stars' is a ratings hit and surprisingly has produced some fascinating moments of fun and enjoyment. Not all the participants are Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers, but they sure give it a whirl and often at their own expense.

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