Just after the live finale broadcast on M-Net (DStv 101) TVwithThinus caught up with Eden Classens who spoke about his disappointment about not winning, but how much he enjoyed being part of the show and learning to be a dancer.
Eden Classens shared what he thought about the judges, his professional dancing partner Ash-Leigh Hunter, what he learnt and discovered about himself, how his body changed, and what he didn't expect would happen when he signed up to become part of the show.
Is there anything that you would have done differently during the course of the show?
No. We did everything we could. We had a great night, we had a great season; great support. We did everything we could.
What was the experience like for you being part of this show?
I grew as a person. It was actually life-changing and I learnt a few things about myself that I didn't know and I became a dancer, so it was an absolutely amazing experience. It's something I will treasure for the rest of my life.
How was the experience of getting a body harness strapped around your body and straps through your legs and around your thighs - in addition to wearing ballroom dancing clothes in the finale, and then being hoisted up with wires and dropped down for the one dance number?
Oh, it was a lot of fun.
Uhm, I mean, for a guy the strapping isn't very comfortable I would say, but it was a lot of fun and it was very cool to be able to make such an entrance.
Can you talk to me a bit about the trust relationship between you and your dance partner and how that grew over the course of the show for someone that you met and didn't know at all when you started?
Ash-Leigh Hunter and I are very similar people.
We have the same work ethic, we had the same goals, and we're very similar in the way that we approach things and we just clicked from the start and it was very easy to work with her.
What did you think of the judges?
The judges were great, they were very informative and their critique were always on point about what we could work on and it was great to get feedback from professionals like that.
What was the hardest for you?
The whole experience was difficult but it's something that you got addicted to. It was fun.
I think the hardest for the whole season was not winning tonight.
How did your body change?
I lost 12 kg and I became super fit; much more supple, much more able to do specific movements you can't do when you've got a lot of muscle on.
What did you not expect about this journey?
I didn't expect to fall in love with dancing.
I thought it was just going to be doing routine after routine, and I think tonight in the finale it became full-circle, especially with my freestyle dance. It was just amazing to have that emotional journey in such a song and I didn't expect that at all.
When will you be back at Atlantic Studios in Cape Town and resume your role on the set of kykNET's Suidooster?
I'm not allowed to comment.
[Suidooster tells me Eden Classens will definitely be back in his role as Justin Potgieter and confirms that he will be back on set on 1 May and will be seen on TV again from the end of June.]
What did you learn about yourself?
Well, I've learnt that I'm a very hard worker.
I've learnt that if I set my mind to something and I want to achieve something, that I can achieve it.
And I've learnt that you're going to get knock down a lot in your life, and you just have to stand up and keep on working hard and if you work hard enough, you'll get there.
