Who knew this guy could dance? Unfortunately, we don't yet have a screenshot from Tuesday night's dancestravaganza.
(Credit: Golden State Warriors blog)Nobody was expecting billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban to be a runaway surprise on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars, but he naturally managed to raise a few eyebrows on his Tuesday night dancing debut. For one, the opening credits featured the Dallas Mavericks owner and HDNet guru shouting "I am a lean, mean dancing machine!" And paired with scantily-clad Australian dancer Kym Johnson, the 49-year-old entrepreneur wiggled his hips, snapped his fingers, lip-synched, and (naturally) let his tongue hang out.
Cuban did indeed "churn the butter" as he'd promised his blog readers. He also ended his dance with an odd little hop that led one of the judges to characterize him as a "bouncing bionic billionaire."
He clearly had a lot of fun, and was remarkably good-natured about the whole process despite his reputation for picking fights around the NBA. But it was borderline offensive when Cuban, who is reportedly worth $2.6 billion, showed up in brown coattails covered in faux tatters and danced the foxtrot with Johnson to the tune of hobo anthem "King of the Road."
It's going to sound preachy of me in the midst of an otherwise fluffy blog post, but homelessness and poverty are legitimate problems in the U.S. and it was neither cute nor funny for Cuban to evoke vagrancy in his dance debut. What would happen, for example, if Apple CEO Steve Jobs dressed up as a homeless person for Halloween?
All political correctness aside, Cuban also managed to look adequately ridiculous. As one anonymous observer glued to a TV screen told me, "That jacket is a fashion felony."
Cuban earned a final score of 21 (a seven from each of the three judges), to which he responded with "Blackjack, baby!" Viewers won't know until Wednesday night whether he makes it to the next round. Whether or not more dancing from Cuban will be amusing or simply irritating remains, well, up in the air.
Billionaire tech entrepreneur, sports mogul and future ballroom dance legend Mark Cuban
(Credit: Golden State Warriors blog)Have you set your DVR yet? I sure have. On Tuesday night we'll see the ballroom dancing debut of Dallas Mavericks owner and tech entrepreneur extraordinaire Mark Cuban as he leaps onto the stage of the corny ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars, which pairs celebrities of various calibers with professional dance partners and then pits the couples against one another.
Cuban, always the subtle one, is encouraging his blog readers to dial in and vote for him and his curvy blond dance partner, Kym. "I'm up against all the pretty boys, athletes and entertainers tonight," he acknowledged in his blog entry, "so jump on board and vote for us."
He then gave some hints of what we might see in the eagerly anticipated episode, naming a handful of what he called "traditional guy dances," the sort of comedic frat-boy moves that you're more likely to see at college reunions than ballroom dance competitions. "As far as a hint for tonight, all I can tell you is that I couldn't get the lawnmower or sprinkler in tonight's routine, but I did get 'churn the butter' in," he wrote.
"Hopefully, tonight will lead the way so that future generations of guys can walk into any wedding reception or nightclub knowing that Churn the Butter and in the future, the Sprinkler, Lawnmower and the Motorboat can bring joy and happiness to your wives and girlfriends."
The motorboat? If that's what I think it is, ladies, you might not want to get on a dance floor with this guy anytime soon.
On Monday night, just about everybody involved in online video in New York headed to a remotely located loft space in the post-industrial West Chelsea neighborhood for the of the NewTeeVee Pier Screenings, hosted by Valley blogebrity Om Malik of GigaOm and the rest of his blogger crew. Well, they weren't actually on a pier, but the event space had a great view of the Hudson, so we'll let that count. Spotted were folks from Mogulus, Vimeo, GroundReport, and a handful of well-known broadcast brands, as well as sponsors Metacafe, Next New Networks, and Blip.tv.
Because of a certain little tonight, this reporter couldn't stick around too long. When I left, the most notable bit of party gossip was something that another reporter pointed out to me: the fact that Vimeo founder and official screening judge Jakob Lodwick, whom the entire Internet knows is is , was spending quite a bit of time talking to Wallstrip poster girl Lindsay Campbell. Take that as you will--if you even care.
In other news, won't be fully showcased on the glitzy reality show Dancing with the Stars until Tuesday night because it's a "three-night premiere." The ABC reality show announced that Monday night's episode spotlights on the female contestants alone. But we did learn that Cuban's dance partner is a busty blonde named "Kym," and that when the camera was on the goateed Dallas Mavericks owner, he gave a thumbs-up and wiggled his hips.
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Gazillionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban might hate YouTube, have a feud with Donald Trump, and think that the Internet is dead and boring, but clearly Dancing with the Stars falls into his favor.
According to the Associated Press, the Dallas Mavericks owner and HDNet founder will be on this fall's season of the reality show that pairs celebrities with professional dancers and then pits the couples against each other. This rumor had been floating for a while, but now--barring a sudden change of heart on Cuban's or the network's part--it looks like it's all but confirmed.
Cuban's co-participants will include boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., former Spice Girl Melanie Brown ("Scary"), actress Jane Seymour, and Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves. The next season of Dancing with the Stars will premiere on September 24 on ABC--set those DVRs!
Who's next? Steve Ballmer? Let us know which tech celebrities should also go for a spin.
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