If it wasn’t a certifiable fact before, after the season 25 premiere it should be clear that Keo Motsepe has the worst “luck” of any Dancing with the Stars pro. After being saddled with the likes of Charo, Chaka Khan and Charlotte McKinney, season 25 sees Keo partnered with Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran. As bad Keo’s past partners have been Barbara is, by far, the worst. She’s not only terribly stiff on the dance floor, she’s embarrassingly randy off of it.

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It’s very easy to forgive a technically bad dancer on Dancing with the Stars if their personality on the show makes up for it. It doesn’t really matter if you can’t dance, especially in the first part of the competition, if you’re entertaining. Barbara is obviously aiming to be a bit of a goof but her efforts completely backfired in the season premiere. Barbara’s increasingly desperate attempts to hit on her partner Keo weren’t cute. They were just sad and gross. 

Evidently Barbara has been misinformed what the point of Dancing with the Stars is from her Shark Tank co-star, Robert Herjavec. While Robert did get married to his professional partner after appearing on the show, Dancing with the Stars is not a dating experience. It especially isn’t a dating show when you treat your partner like Barbara is acting with Keo. 

Robert and his partner and eventual wife, Kym Johnson, had a cute sort of bashful love story on the show and they’re also around the same age. It was easy to root for them. Barbara and Keo are stomach-churning. Barbara isn’t only 68 years old to Keo’s 27, she’s treated him as little more than a sexualized piece of meat despite joking (hopefully) that she wants to marry him. 

If the genders were reversed and Barbara was a nearly 70-year-old man leering at one of Dancing with the Stars‘ young female dancers it wouldn’t be portrayed nearly as cute as it was the season premiere. It’s not funny or even admirable that Barbara is so open about being sexually attracted to Keo, it’s just uncomfortable. The way that Barbara’s hand slowly, but obviously, slunk up Keo’s thigh while the judges were giving their scores was just wrong. 


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As mentioned, it’s not like Barbara’s dancing skills allowed her to save face. She definitely has energy but that’s about all that can be praised. Barbara was stiff and stilted the entire routine. It’s no surprise she earned the only four of the night, it’s just a shocker that she only received one of them. 

It certainly doesn’t help that whether it was because of the choreography or Barbara’s instantiable horniness the dance was very “sexy.” It is a salsa and there is a definite romantic or sexual energy to that dance but it just further underlined Barbara’s completely inappropriate behavoir. 

There wasn’t a single moment of Barbara’s debut on Dancing with the Stars that wasn’t cringeworthy or uncomfortable in some form. As much as it sucks for Keo to go out again on the first elimination, it should (and probably will) happen again with Barbara. She needs to go or tone the sexual predator behavior down to a firm zero. 

What did you think of Barbara on DWTS? How did you feel about her behavior towards Keo? Was it all in good fun or just wrong? Do you think she will be eliminated? 

Dancing with the Stars season 25 airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC, with a special episode airing on Tuesday, September 26. Want more news? Like our DWTS Facebook page!

(Image and video courtesy of ABC)


Derek Stauffer

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV

Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.