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Kimberleys Love / Hate relationship with TV
While she mostly enjoyed the hoopla of appearing on Nine's Celebrity Circus, the same could not be said of her humbling tumble in the jungle on the British show I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!
Davies was forced to quit the 2005 show after she was injured during a so-called bushtucker trial, when she broke a rib jumping from a helicopter.
"I got a grade two concussion and broke a rib," she recalls.
The blonde former Neighbours starlet had just moved back to Australia from a stint chasing fame in the US and within two days of being home was asked to be on the British show, which is filmed in Queensland.
"It certainly wasn't a pleasant experience and not one I'd do again," she reveals.
Now she's hoping her latest foray into reality TV, in the sixth series of Dancing With The Stars, will not leave her nursing broken bones.
Davies is a familiar face on Australian screens thanks largely to her role as Annalise Hartman on Neighbours. She quit the show to work in the US, but after a regular, although short-lived turn in doomed soap Pacific Palisades, a spot on popular sitcom Friends and the birth of her two children with Jason Harvey, she decided to move back to Australia.
"I met some great people in the US and had some really fun times, but it did get to the point where I just wanted to be back around my family. That becomes a priority, after a while. Well, it did for me."
Having briefly reprised her role as Annalise in 2005, it would be tempting to think Davies might one day head back to soapsville.
"I never say never," the actress, who has just moved to Melbourne from Sydney says. "There's just not that much going on in Australia for drama. If an opportunity comes along and it's something I feel like doing, I'll do it.
"I'm not gonna die if people say, 'She's doing another soapie'. It's really a matter of doing things which make me happy'."
DWTS continues to be a ratings winner for Seven, even though the previous series performed slightly below expectations. Criticism was levelled at the choice of contestants, which included a number of relative unknowns, such as chess player Arianne Caoili and eventual winner, AFL player Anthony Koutoufides, whose appeal barely extended beyond Victoria.
This season is crucial to the show's longevity. Accordingly Seven has ramped up the star factor, with a cavalcade of well-known contestants including radio host Fifi Box, obligatory Home And Away star Tim Campbell, singer Kate Ceberano, Nine defector Jamie Durie, Big Brother's David Graham, Olympic pole vaulter Tatiana Grigorieva, former Today Tonight presenter Naomi Robson, disgrace drugby player Wendell Sailor and tennis champ Todd Woodbridge.
Already the contestants have had a chance to check out the competition. Even if Davies's mind was on other things.
"For me, it was a matter of me looking at my feet and staring at my partner's eyes wondering what he wanted to do."
Davies is looking forward to spending quality time off the floor with her fellow contestants.
"I was excited to meet Naomi. She is great. Everyone is quite similar in age, which is quite fun. You can hang out and get to know them a little better."
Although betting agency Centrebet currently has the diminutive Durie, who was a dancer in a previous life, as the top-priced favourite, Davies is more than happy with her "middle of the road" standing in the gambling stakes.
Especially given her dancing experience is limited to some ballet lessons at five and "a few turns on the dance floor after a couple of drinks when I was 18".
Putting her through her paces is partner Paul Zaidman, who Davies says has been insistent she get her moves right.
"It can be quite frustrating trying to take on board all this information, so it's mentally probably more difficult than I thought. It's like cramming for an exam, but you have to be able to execute these moves, it's not just memorising them."
* Dancing With The Stars, Tuesday, Seven, 7.30pm
Article from news.com.au by Stephen Downie |
