Vernon Davis Reveals His Biggest Challenge Competing on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ (Exclusive)

Vernon Davis is one of the many athletes to compete in Dancing with the Stars. The former NFL tight end took part in the 29th season of the show and had Peta Murgatroyd as his dance partner. PopCulture.com recently caught up with Davis, who talked about competing in the show last year.

“Dancing with the Stars was a great opportunity,” Davis told PopCulture. “It was a surprising task, and I say that because when I got down and expected, be on my feet for seven hours a day, that was a challenge for me because you’re working these different muscles that you’re not used to working. And then just the whole routine, and just the craft in general, of dancing. I’m not a dancer, I’ve never been a dancer. So to be able to just take that on and have to really own this routine within the first three to four days, it’s a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure for sure.”

Davis’ season of Dancing with the Stars aired from September to November in 2020. The former San Francisco 49ers star and Murgatroyd were the fifth duo eliminated, and when the season was all said and done, Kaitlyn Bristowe of The Bachelorette and Artem Chigvintsev were the winners. Davis was one of two athletes on the show as NBA legend Charles Oakley was the first celebrity eliminated. The 29th season also featured hip-hop artist Nelly, Monica Aldama from the Netflix series Cheer, Carole Baskin from the Netflix series Tiger King and Backstreet Boys member AJ McClean.

Being featured on Dancing with the Stars is one of the many projects Davis has done since retiring from the NFL in 2019. Along with starring in a handful of upcoming movies, the Super Bowl champion was also the host of the two-part reunion of the MTV competition show The Challenge: Double Agents.

“I love all those guys, those guys are great,” Davis said when talking about the cast members of the show. “And to be able to sit there and just talk about the show and some of the experiences that they’ve been through, I think is awesome. And those guys, they take on a lot. It’s a lot of pressure, a lot of.. there’s a lot riding on them. So everything that they have to go through, I respect it. I truly respect it.”