Unlike many other professional athletes before her, Hope Solo did not enjoy her time on Dancing With the Stars. She may try to sugarcoat it so that she doesn’t sound too bitter, but anyone can see by Hope’s recollections and reflections that it was not exactly a high point in her life. As she explained to Anderson Cooper on his show, Anderson, on Tuesday, most of Solo’s frustrations stem from the way in which the show’s producers portrayed her.
“I was very naive going into it,” she explained. “It is very much reality television I think from day one they casted our characters. And we would be rehearsing for seven hours a day. Maks and I were great friends and we had an endearing relationship. The 45 minutes in the whole seven hours that were the most frustrating where I am curing and kicking walls is what America got to see.”
From the start, Solo was upset with the gossip magazines for creating a problem between her and dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy that she insists never existed. She feels as though the angry and frustrated Hope Solo became good television, and that’s why that’s all the audience was shown. Not only that, but the judges were critical of her from the start.
“I was told I had too much muscle and I was too intense and wasn’t dainty,” Solo said.
Needless to say, appearing on DWTS appears to be a “live and learn” type experience for the U.S. women’s goalie. With the World Cup qualifiers around the corner, it’s safe to say she’s ready to put reality TV behind her and focus on those who appreciate her intensity and muscle. Here is the full interview between Hope and Anderson Cooper, courtesy of Examiner.com:
