Rick Fox has a secret weapon helping him get ready for the Season 11 premiere of “Dancing with the Stars” – his girlfriend – Eliza Dushku.
“It’s been amazing — talk about a partner that’s made sure that my body’s on track to be prepared for September 20,” Rick told Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson of how the actress, who attended the Season 11 cast announcement in LA on Monday night, has helped him limber up for the competition. “I’ve been doing exercises that I didn’t know existed – Pilates… [And we’ve been working on] creating flexibility at home.”
The former basketball star, who played for both the Celtics and their arch rivals, the Lakers during his professional career, told Shaun he’s been looking at mistakes of past competitors on “DWTS” and has his game frame on.
“I’ve been working on the hip action… my frame and dancing down to my partner, who is obviously not 6’ 7,” he said, referring to his height.
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In addition to celebrity competition from Florence Henderson, Jennifer Grey and David Hasselhoff, Rick will face off against another professional athlete on the dance floor in search of the mirrorball trophy – recent football retiree – Kurt Warner.
“As soon as I retired, the call came pretty quickly,” the former Arizona Cardinals quarterback told Shaun of his invitation to Season 11. “We thought about it and thought about the different challenges to it and the different things we’ve got going on [and we] thought it ‘d be a great opportunity to reach out to a different audience.”
Kurt said he’s got the phone numbers of former “DWTS” competitors Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin, but has no immediate plans to bend their ear for advice.
“I definitely had their numbers… but early on, I’m gonna try to feel it out on my own,” he said.
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