Lily Cornish finds her groove on the set of DWTS with her dance partner Jett Kenny
Lily Cornish has revealed the truth behind her sizzling on-screen chemistry with dance partner Jett Kenny.
Entertainment
Don't miss out on the headlines from Entertainment. Followed categories will be added to My News.
TASMANIA’S Lily Cornish spent her Christmas break preparing to move to Melbourne and study at university. Passionate about global issues such as climate change and animal welfare, Cornish had already spent her gap year travelling the world and was excited about starting her Bachelor of Advanced Sciences degree. But then the talented dancer received a phone call that changed everything.
She had been offered a coveted job as a dance instructor and performer on hit Network Ten TV show Dancing With The Stars. Within days she was on a plane, heading to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast to meet celebrity dance partner Jett Kenny — the 24-year-old model, lifesaver and son of Olympic swimming gold medallist Lisa Curry and ironman Grant Kenny — with her university plans firmly on hold.
“It all happened so fast,’’ admits the 20-year old daughter of Tasmania’s Channel 7 Nightly News presenter Jo Palmer. And while Cornish is still wrapping her head around the fact that she’s now following a different career trajectory to most of her friends as she performs alongside Kenny in glittering costumes on national TV every week, she admits she’s loving the limelight.
“It has been the most crazy experience,” Cornish reveals, during a short break between rehearsals. The stress levels are so high at the moment. Dancing With The Stars literally consumes my life — but I wouldn’t have it any other way.’’
She says arriving on the Sunshine Coast in January to meet her mystery dance partner was a nerve-racking moment.
“Obviously I didn’t know who my partner was going to be,’’ she says. “Would it be someone who couldn’t lift me? Someone uncoordinated? Someone unfit? I had no idea what challenges were in store for me.’’
She was relieved to see Kenny walk through the door as she figured regardless of how little dance experience he’d had, at least he looked strong enough to execute the impressive lift sequences required in each dance routine.
The pair’s sizzling on-screen chemistry has not gone unnoticed by viewers, with rumours of a real-life romance rife.
“It’s all new to me, having my life out there [in the public eye],’’ Cornish says. “All of a sudden someone will send me an article where I’ve had my photo taken with Jett while we’ve been grocery shopping or getting in a taxi.
“It is a bit like a fake relationship in some ways which is pretty funny. It’s so important to have good chemistry with your dance partner. And you do grow so close to this person so fast. We’ve really made friends for life.’’
A self-confessed “tomboy” growing up, Cornish began dancing competitively at age nine and fondly remembers watching Dancing With The Stars on TV. She is following in the footsteps of her stepdad Andrew Palmer, who rocketed into the national spotlight in 2005 when he partnered Sale of the Century presenter Nicky Buckley on the third season of the show. He actually met Cornish’s mum Jo through his involvement on the show and they married in 2007.
“I’m so lucky because he’s been able to help me out so much,’’ Cornish says of her stepfather, who runs a dance school in Launceston. “I’m the youngest person on the show. I’ve never done any TV before, so having someone there to support me who has been through it all has been great.’’
Despite his guidance, Cornish says nothing could prepare her for just how busy and stressful being on the show would be, with long days rehearsing and choreographing new routines, teaching complicated dance moves to someone who has never danced before, media commitments and constant travel between the Sunshine Coast and the show’s Sydney recording studio among the many challenges to grapple with.
“It’s definitely tougher than I expected,’’ Cornish admits. “But I’m also loving it a lot more than I thought I would.’’ Having a mum with TV experience has also been helpful.
And Palmer says she is overwhelmingly proud of how far her daughter has come with her dancing and as a person.
“Lily has been dancing competitively since she was nine and she’s such a fierce competitor that she missed her school formal, missed parties, missed going camping — all for her dancing, because she was always training six days a week and had international success as ballroom dancer,” Palmer says.
“She took a gap year after Year 12 and that was the first time in her life that she started dancing for fun rather than competition. She was all set to move to Melbourne for uni this year and then this opportunity came up. We said to her, uni will always be there but opportunities like this won’t be, so grab it!”
Palmer has been to Sydney to watch an episode of Dancing With the Stars being filmed live and says she was so emotional that she cried from start to finish.
“It was just incredible to watch it live and to see my daughter holding her own and handling all that intense pressure and doing it so magnificently,” Palmer says. “Looking at her as a woman and thinking ‘wow, she’s outstanding’.”
With her husband being a professional dancer and dance teacher, Palmer says her daughter always had a “dance stepdad” — but she has only recently become a “dance mum”.
“I’ve always been just the mum,” she laughs. “But now I’ve turned into this crazy PR mother and I’m constantly rallying all our friends and family to vote for her to keep her and Jett in the show. We know she is an exceptional dancer, we know how good she is, but seeing her handle that spotlight, being so articulate, handling the online criticism, I keep thinking ‘wow, how did we raise this amazing kid?’ “Mind you, she still can’t make her bed or pick her clothes up off the floor but she’s nailing it everywhere else!”
Palmer bristles slightly at the mention of the romance rumours that are filling gossip magazines. “Lily has been employed as a professional dancer to teach Jett to dance and that is a job that she takes very seriously,’’ she says. “But she opens a magazine and sees these stories and says to me ‘oh Mum, it’s not true, how can they be allowed to say this?’
“They have a fantastic professional relationship, they work hard, they fight sometimes, and they work together seven days a week. Lily and Jett are so young but they handle themselves so well despite all this.
“They can be taking a much-needed break after a full day of working hard in the studio and a photographer literally jumps out of a bush while they’re having a smoothie in a park, and then there’s a photo the next day saying they were on a date.”
Cornish says being away from her family has been tough at times but she has been overwhelmed by the Tasmanian support for her on the show.
“So many people fly up to Sydney or the Sunshine Coast to come and see me,” she says. “And every single week people fly up from Tassie to come and watch me on the show, so it really doesn’t feel like I’m that far away from home.’’
But she admits she does miss her bed at home and her family. “But I’ve been so busy and it’s so lovely to have so much support,” she says. “I feel like I’m even closer to everyone at home. I love Tassie so much. I feel so proud to go out and represent my state in something like this.’’
She remains open-minded about the doors her appearance on the show may open for her, but is hopeful she may be able to juggle dancing and university next year.
“I’m torn because in one way I feel like I’m so lucky and so blessed to be doing this at such a young age,’’ she says of the show. “Then I look at my friends, they’re all at uni together, they’re all on the same journey, and sometimes I feel like I’m missing out. But then university will always be there.
“Being a dancer, I’ll have to stop performing eventually so I need to make the most of these opportunities while my body is at its peak. Although I’m not following what my friends are doing, hopefully I’ll get there eventually.’’
See Lily and Jett continue their journey on Dancing With The Stars on WIN at 7.30pm on Mondays
Kanye, Bianca ‘headed for divorce’
The marriage of controversial rapper Kanye West and his Australian wife Bianca Censori is believed to be over after just two years.
‘Didn’t have a pulse’: Pacino reveals he nearly died
The Godfather icon has revealed six paramedics and two doctors tried to keep him alive after his pulse stopped as he battled Covid.