Celebrity Chef Giada De Laurentiis thinks her age played a role in why she was eliminated so quickly on Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars.
Giada was a guest on Danielle Fishel‘s podcast to discuss her two weeks on ABC’s Emmy-nominated competition show.
Danielle, who appeared on Season 34 of DWTS, knows how it feels to be middle-aged on an intense, physical competition show. “If you are over 40 on [DWTS], people treat you like you might as well be on your deathbed,” quipped the Boy Meets World actress.
The Everyday Italian host feels it made her a target. Giada revealed, “It didn’t dawn on me until it dawned on me because everybody was like, ‘You’re the oldest one of everybody.’”
According to Giada, people rallied to “get rid of her” quickly, then dropped another 50+ competitors’ names into the mix. “I know Elaine [Hendrix] had a lot of those same issues,” De Laurentiis said before adding, “And they did get rid of me eventually. I mean, pretty soon, pretty quickly.”
*FYI, Elaine Hendrix made it to the Season 34 finale, finishing in 5th place.
The Giada at Home star continued, “I think it’s awesome to do no matter what age you are. “And I think that you learn so many valuable lessons and things that you learn about yourself. You also gain a lot of self-confidence in it once you see yourself actually doing it.”
Giada believes that people “should do scary things every decade.”
“It keeps you alive, and it keeps you moving forward. It gives you the self-confidence that you need, because I think society kind of bangs you in the head with like, ‘You’re too old for this, you’re too old for that.’ But, like, you’re not.”
