Viewers saw how uncomfortable married dad-of-three Trent Cotchin was when he started training for Dancing With The Stars with his partner Jess Raffa. The couple have gone on to perform impressively and make it through to the grand final, but former AFL star Trent, 35, still struggles with the idea of being so physically close to a woman who’s not his wife.
“Even to this day, if I watch it, I’m like, ‘Oh, yuk!’” he tells TV WEEK.
Trent, who married his high-school sweetheart Brooke when he was 23 and became a dad less than a year later, says his wife had one thing to say when she dropped in on his training sessions with Jess.
“She’s like, ‘Can you stop being so f—ing awkward?’” he laughs. “I’m like, ‘I can’t help it – that’s just how I am!’ And I think deep down she probably appreciates it.”
As father to daughters Harper, 11, and Mackenzie, nine, and son Parker, six, Trent has always tried to show his kids that it’s okay to do “something you may not be good at or scares the crap out of you”. The three kids enjoy a range of activities, with Harper and Mackenzie both playing football and dancing, and Parker loving Auskick.
“We just try to encourage them to keep finding things they love doing,” Trent says. “Last week I took my daughter down to the driving range for golf and now all of a sudden she wants to be a professional golfer!”
Something else that Trent has found challenging on Dancing With The Stars is playing a character. But now that he seems to have mastered it, could viewers see him popping up on a show like Home And Away?
“Just a little sideshow to Kyle Shilling, maybe?” Trent jokes. “Surfboard in hand and a couple of tattoos? No, I don’t think that’s me. I might be the barista in Summer Bay, maybe!”
Trent, who captained Richmond to three AFL premierships, says dancing requires a “very different fitness” from anything he’s had before.
“I felt strong by the end of it,” he adds.
But the question is, will he ever dance again, after Dancing With The Stars?
“Apart from a father-daughter dance, probably not. At least I know I sort of can now!”
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