Sonia says she’s found “the male version of myself” in Dr Chris.

Dr Chris and Sonia are the dream team on Dancing With The Stars. Channel Seven

It’s a big, shiny-floor show, packed with celebrities, professional dancers, judges and a studio audience. With all that going on, viewers might be surprised to find out just how much effort the co-hosts of Dancing With The Stars, Sonia Kruger and Dr Chris Brown, put into throwing each other off balance when the cameras are on.

“That’s often terrifying for a co-host, to have someone who likes to surprise you and see how you think on your feet in the moment,” Chris, 46, tells TV WEEK. “That’s something we both enjoy. And we’ve both given each other free rein to do that.”
Dr Chris is the third co-host Sonia has had on the show. (Credit: Channel Seven)
“He’s completely unflappable,” Sonia, 59, adds. “It doesn’t matter what I do – I’ve tried to sneak up behind him, I’ve burst balloons in his ears, I’ve done all sorts of things to Chris – and nothing seems to rattle him, ever.

“And in between that we host a show!”

In Sonia’s 16 seasons on Dancing With The Stars, she’s co-hosted with Daryl Somers and Daniel MacPherson. But her working relationship with vet-turned-TV star Chris – who joined the show just last year – is something unique.

“This is going to sound completely woo-woo, but we’re both Virgos,” she laughs, “and I kind of feel like I’ve found the male version of myself in him. He’s attractive, he’s clever… she said tongue-in-cheek. Just add that to the end of that sentence!”

Chris agrees that he and Sonia, who shot to fame in the 1992 movie Strictly Ballroom, are a “good combo”.

“Having Tina Sparkle next to you is never a bad thing in a dancing show either,” he points out.
Dr Chris and Sonia also hosted the TV WEEK Logies red carpet last year. (Credit: Channel Seven)
This is the 22nd season of Dancing With The Stars, and Sonia believes this season’s cast is “probably one of the best we’ve had”. Chris says there are some “absolute fish out of water”, like news presenter Michael Usher, boxer Harry Garside and radio host Brittany Hockley, but none more so than comedian Shaun Micallef.

“We couldn’t believe when he agreed to do the show, and we were so excited,” Chris reveals. “What he does, I’ve never seen it done before – the way he is able to encapsulate so much of his persona into the dances.”

Another celebrity to watch this season is actress Rebecca Gibney. Sonia says the joy on Bec’s face in her first routine is “just brilliant”.

“She’s amazing. And she’s a real girls’ girl too, Bec. She and I have been friends for a long time but we got a lot closer through Dancing With The Stars. I really love her.”
Sonia and her dance-loving daughter Maggie. (Credit: Instagram)
One loyal fan who turned up to watch all the episodes being recorded this season was Sonia’s 10-year-old daughter Maggie. Sonia says Maggie is doing dance at school – jazz and contemporary hiphop – and loves being in the audience for the show.

“In the commercial breaks we get the kids up to dance, and Maggie’s always the first one on the floor. She has her favourite [dancing couple], she has her favourite judge… I see Dancing With The Stars through very different eyes since having Maggie.”

Sonia loves that her daughter shares her passion for dance.

“But I can’t tell her anything because she will not take any kind of feedback from me. It’s like, ‘What would you know?’ and I’m like, ‘Well, your mother was a professional dancer for quite a few years,’ and she’s just like, ‘No, you can’t tell me, you’re not my teacher.’ Typical!”

Chris, meanwhile, doesn’t quite share Sonia and Maggie’s passion. He currently dances for “about 2.3 seconds” each episode, when he and Sonia first walk out onto the dance floor, and he says the idea of doing a full dance routine is “terrifying”.

“And there is mounting pressure to do said terrifying activity,” he adds. “So we’ll see.”
Dr Chris on holidays with his dog Buzz. (Credit: Instagram)
Of course, when Chris isn’t on the dance floor, he’s doing things that other people might find terrifying – like chasing polar bears in the Arctic earlier this year.

“That was quite possibly the most extreme day of my life, for little actual reward of seeing a polar bear,” he admits. “You know, 14 hours and 200 kilometres on a snowmobile, you’d hope to see something off the back of that. But that was the coldest I’ve ever been to. It was minus 35. I got frostbite.”

As well as the latest season of Dancing With The Stars, Chris is looking forward to viewers being able to see his new show, Once In A Lifetime, in just a few months’ time. The series involves Chris helping out some of the world’s most dangerous animals, with Amanda Keller and other celebrities working as his vet assistants.

“I think when people see it they will go, ‘Oh yep, this is why he was so keen to come across from 10 to Seven,’” he says.
Sonia also hosts The Voice. (Credit: Channel Seven )
Meanwhile, Sonia will be seen in a few months’ time hosting the latest season of The Voice, which she recorded at the same time as Dancing With The Stars. She says working on two shows at once was “the most difficult thing” for her this year.

“There was one show just towards the end – I think I’d done something like 70 hours over the space of four days – and I was a little bit punchdrunk by the end of this fourth day, which was a Dancing With The Stars day, and I started making mistakes. Even our executive producer said to me, ‘Oh Sonia, you’re really tired.’ And I was at that point.”

She the production schedule for Dancing With The Stars can be a “little bit more brutal” than the audience might expect.

“But I’m not complaining because I love it,” she adds. “It’s one of those shows that I just really enjoy so much, as long as they’ll have me, I’ll keep turning up.”