Interview
Matt Evers is an American pair skater, model and actor. He is the 1998 U.S. Junior Pairs Figure Skating Champion, and has competed in every series of the UK hit ITV’s Dancing On Ice.
I started skating when my grandfather got me a pair of ice skates when I was 8 as my cousin and I used to sneak over to the neighbor’s pond and try and skate with our aunts and uncles skates in the winter… that Christmas we woke up to our own pair of skates and he had flooded one of the back pastures and made us our own ice rink. HOW’D YOU GET INTO ICE SKATING? 8 years old I started skating however I didn’t really start taking lessons till I was 9 and made my first national competition when I was 14 and then was 5th in the world by 18. AT WHAT AGE AND WHERE?
HOW DID YOU FIND YOURSELF ON DANCING ON ICE IN THE UK?
To be honest I don’t know how I got the job. I was working as an actor on General Hospital at the time and SAG went on strike the summer of 2005. Randomly I got a call from a producer in England asking me if I’d like to come to London and teach a celebrity how to skate and then perform with them on a new type of tv show. I had never been to the UK before and as I was out of work, I thought it would be something cool to do…. little did we know that show would be a smash hit and 15 series later I still love what I do.
WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE SKATING PARTNER ON THE SHOW?
Apples to Oranges really… they are all unique in their own way however teaching Heather Mills-McCartney (Pauls ex-wife) who is an amputee how to skate was pretty incredible. Getting to teach Pamela Anderson and perform with her albeit a short stint on the show due to a trip and a wardrobe malfunction was pretty awesome. Living in Malibu and rubbing elbows with her über famous friends was definitely a highlight. Getting asked to be the first same sex partnership, I knew was going to be a huge responsibility not only personally, but for the LGBTQ+ community. I was so honored that the network asked me to take on a partnership like this. For the first time in decades I was actually quite nervous for how it was going to be perceived. I didn’t want anyone to feel like “gay” was being shoved in their face…. however, through my research I found that its very common in the ballroom world that same sex partners compete with each other. Training another man was just like training a woman and the performance side was exactly the same. Physically I didn’t find it di cult at all and I can say it’s one of my proudest moments of my career and life. We received messages from people all over the world saying thank you…. (Even got a beautiful DM from Michelle Visage) . ALONG WITH IAN “H” WATKINS, YOU WERE THE FIRST SAME-SEX COUPLE TO SKATE ON THE SHOW, WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?
18
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker