‘Dancing’s’ William Levy: The ‘Brad Pitt’ Nickname Is Hard To Live Up To

With his dirty blond hair and chiseled jaw — and his massive success in Latin America — William Levy has been nicknamed “the Cuban Brad Pitt,” but the star still thinks the Oscar-nominee’s reputation is hard to live up to.

“He’s putting me in a really hard position here, you know? I mean, being compared to that guy is not good,” William told Access Hollywood Live’s Kit Hoover on Monday after he competed to a third place finish on the opening night of “Dancing with the Stars,” alongside partner, Cheryl Burke.

“But can Brad Pitt dance like you can? I don’t know about that,” Cheryl chimed in.

The model-turned-actor created quite a stir in the ballroom on the Season 14 opener, and he wasn’t prepared for the crowd’s reaction – screams during their dance, and a boisterous standing ovation at the end that even show co-host Tom Bergeron couldn’t quiet down.

“That was great. I mean that was really, really great,” he said of feeling the rush of taking the stage for the very enthusiastic fans. “I loved it, I mean, that gave me the punch to do it, you know, ‘cause I was very nervous.”

Cheryl has spent a couple of weeks now rehearsing with William, but even she was surprised by the response.

“I didn’t expect anything,” she said. “I just wanted to go out there. I just told him, ’Let’s just focus and let’s just get through this,’ But I couldn’t even hear the music at one point ‘cause all the ladies were just loving him so much.”

“The ladies?” Kit asked. “What about Bruno [Tonioli]? Bruno wants the shirt off.”

“He was great… I don’t know what he wanted me to [do], get naked or something but I have very little clothes on me,” William said.

William did bare his toned, well-built arms on Monday’s show, and he showed off some headline-grabbing hip action.

“You have to stay straight, so it’s a little hard for me, you know, [to] dance with so many rules, ‘cause we don’t like rules when we dance, us Cubans,” he laughed. “We like to do everything!”

William and Cheryl return next Monday night on “Dancing with the Stars” at 8/7c on ABC.

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