Tori Spelling Hopes ‘DWTS’ Will Be ‘Transformative’ for Her Self-Confidence

Kelli Boyle September 5, 2024, 12:53 pm

Tori Spelling for 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 33 — Disney / Andrew Eccles

“I’m ready to find myself. Why not do it in front of millions of people?” So says Tori Spelling about her upcoming appearance on Dancing With the Stars Season 33, premiering September 18 on ABC. The 90210 alum is paired with Pasha Pashkov this season, and she’s ready to make herself and her family proud through the competition that she’s hoping will be a “transformative” journey that leaves her feeling more self-actualized and confident.

TV Insider connected with Spelling, 51, and Pashkov, 38, at the Dancing With the Stars press event following the Season 33 cast announcement on Good Morning America on September 4. It was there that she told us what terrifies her most about this new TV experience. She’s no stranger to the small screen and what production entails, but live shows are a behemoth she’s never tackled in this context.

The live element is “one of the scariest things to me,” Spelling says. “I’ve had a fear my whole life. I’ve been an actor my whole life. I’ve even done theater. But performing something that’s so out of my comfort zone, which is dance moves and steps, in front of a live audience? It’s not even the millions of people watching at home. The live studio audience somehow freaks me out.”

Disney / Andrew Eccles

She’s going to fake it ’til she makes it through that fear. “I’m just going to go for it. I want to have fun. I want us [herself and Pashkov] to enjoy this experience, every single second together,” Spelling shares. “And I want my kids to be proud of me, but I really want to make myself proud and show myself that I can do this.”

Spelling’s been told by friends who have competed on the show that it can be a life-changing experience if you let it. She says bring it on.

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“I would love for it to be a transformative experience. Everyone that does the show has told me it’s so amazing. It’s such a journey. I feel like I’m ready for a journey,” she reveals. “I’m ready to find myself. Why not do it in front of millions of people? That’s how I’ve lived my whole life. Why should now be different?”

The actor is a newcomer to dancing, but Pashkov says she’s been a great student in their two rehearsals so far.

“We started our first dance” in those two rehearsals, Pashkov reveals. “I’m getting to know Tori, what kind of learner she is, what are her natural tendencies to do. So definitely learned a lot about each other in the first rehearsals. But Tori, the fascinating thing is that while she has so much on her plate, five kids and everything, once she steps into that ballroom, those four hours, she’s there entirely, completely with her mind, soul, and heart. She puts in one hundred percent. I’m super lucky to have a partner like that. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

“Even though I can’t count?” Spelling jokes in response, as Pashkov teases back, “That’s learnable.”

Spelling is elated to have a partner she trusts so easily.

“I feel so blessed that he’s my partner. Instantly, I just felt safe. And for me, feeling safe with another person and a man, it’s hard,” she explains. “I have a lot of trust issues and a lot of self-doubt. And I feel like Pasha has really calmed me down and been a great teacher. My brain sometimes works differently on things that might seem like easy steps. My brain flips them and I’m like, is it right, is it left? Which way am I going? And I never feel that he’s judging me or doubts me. He just talks me through it, and we have fun.”

See the TV legend hit the dance floor as she competes against Bachelor Nation’s Joey Graziadei and Jenn Tran, legendary TV dad Reginald VelJohnson of Family Matters, 2024 Paris Olympic medalists Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher, and more.

Dancing With the Stars, Season 33 Premiere, Tuesday, September 18, 8/7c, ABC, Streaming Live on Disney+