Mia Fevola had a lot to prove when she joined this year’s season of Dancing With The Stars. Not only is she the youngest in the cast at 25, but she is also the daughter of two previous contestants: Alex Fevola, who finished third in 2010, and Brendan Fevola, who came fourth in 2012.
Ahead of her debut performance in Sunday night’s episode, the social media personality tells Yahoo Lifestyle that she felt enormous pressure following in her parents’ footsteps. While some of her concerns were self-inflicted due to “overall nerves and anxiety”, she reveals her dad gave her a brutal ultimatum before filming began.
“Dad told me I wasn’t going to be allowed back in the house if I couldn’t make the grand finale, so he put a little bit of pressure upon me,” she laughs. “I definitely felt like I had a bit of a family legacy to uphold because both of my parents did the show.”
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Mia, who was 10 when her mum took part in the show and 12 when her dad participated, admits it was always a dream of hers to compete on Dancing With The Stars.
“I went to most episodes [when my parents filmed the show] and I just remember sitting there watching it, being enthralled by the glitz and the glamour of it all, and I was so excited to hopefully one day do it,” she remarks.
“When you’re a little girl and you’re watching your parents, and particularly your mum, you always want to follow in their footsteps. You’re always so inspired by your parents. And that was one thing, as I got older, I was like, if that opportunity ever came my way, I don’t know how, but I’d have to do it.”
Alex and Brendan’s advice for Mia
Mia shares that the biggest piece of advice she received from her parents was to completely throw herself into the experience, which was especially tough, as she’s a self-described introvert.
“It was a lot more challenging physically and mentally than I thought it was going to be, and my parents really wanted me to just try and take in everything I could in this experience, because it really is just a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” she details.
“My dad obviously doesn’t have any issues with confidence, whereas my mum was very similar to me. She was quite young when she did it, and she was very nervous and quite shy, and so she really helped me, and her advice was to just leave Mia at the door and step into your character when you get on that dance floor. And I really tried to take that on board – whether it came across, I don’t know.”
How the experience changed her life
Despite never having danced before, performed in front of a crowd, or appeared on TV, Mia says her experience on Dancing With The Stars exceeded all expectations and completely changed her life.
“It was honestly the best thing I’ve ever done. Obviously, it was a physical challenge, but I walked away with so much more confidence coming out of the show than I had going into it,” she remarks.
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“Having such a good group of people to do it with really made the experience what it was, because it never felt like a competition. No one was really trying to be the best; everyone wanted their friends to be the best, and there were so many tears and moments where we’d all just have group hugs, and everyone was uplifting each other. It was just such a special experience.”
Dancing With The Stars continues at 7pm Sundays on Seven and 7plus
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