‘Dancing With the Stars’: Carole Baskin Reflects on Weight Loss Transformation Ahead of Season 29 Premiere

Fans will see a different side of Tiger King subject Carole Baskin when she hits the dance floor of Dancing with the Stars. Not only did she drop jaws when the ABC competition announced her name on the list of celebrities, but her weight loss is turning heads. However, she is here to remind people that her weight loss transformation was not solely from rehearsals — although it has made her aware of muscles she never knew she had — but she’s been on a health journey for the last two years.

“The stuff that people saw in Tiger King was filmed in 2018,” she said according to Us Weekly. “This has been a two-year process, it wasn’t just from this.” She added, “[Rehearsals] made me aware of muscles that I didn’t have. There’s an awful lot of things that ache!”

When Baskin posed next to fellow DWTS competitor Chrishell Stause, fans were floored to see how slim she looked. Also, Stause seemed to fangirl a bit at the fact that she was standing next to the Tiger King star. While she may be on the list of famous faces, Baskin admitted that she wasn’t super familiar with the show until she was asked to take part. She also confessed that she’s use to working a lot of days and a lot of hours in those days, so while some people may find three and four hours of rehearsals to be a lot, she says she’s struggling with only working that little each day.

“I’ve always been really determined and extremely competitive within myself,” she said. “I think the most challenging aspect is that I’m a workaholic — I work seven days, 70 hours a week. To be limited to three to four hours of rehearsals has been so difficult for me. I want to rehearse all day, every day until I get it right.”

Naturally, fans want to see Baskin live up to her big cat ways and either dance in a cat costume or dance to any song that has to do with cats. While her partner has not yet been revealed, she did mention what song she’ll be starting off with dancing the paso doble, as well as, what special instructions she gave the designers when it comes to her costumes. “I will be dancing to ‘Eye of the Tiger’. It’s the paso doble. For costumes, I gave instructions for no fur, no feathers — but just have a blast.”

Dancing with the Stars will air on ABC on Monday September 14 at 8 p.m. ET.