Billy Dee Williams Cha-Chas Alongside R2-D2 On Dancing With The Stars

By Nick Venable | Published

This article is more than 2 years old


This is the third time we’ve had the (dis)pleasure of talking about ABC’s reality competition Dancing With the Stars here on GFR, following Bill Nye’s short-lived run on the series. I can’t tell if I’m bothered by this, due to my lack of interest in the show or if I’m satisfied with more science and sci-fi personalities making their way into reality television. (It’s probably the former.) In any case, the show’s 18th season started with a bang — or at least a pyoo-pyoo sound — when 76-year-old Billy Dee Williams strutted out on stage and Lando-bombed the crowd with a Star Wars-themed version of the cha-cha. To say it was magnificent would be a major understatement.

Dancing with professional Emma Slater, who was decked out like Princess Leia, Williams actually did little beyond shuffling his feet in time with the music. But it was Star Wars music! It’s not as if people are dancing to that kind of stuff on a daily basis anyway. Plus, he was surrounded by two Stormtroopers and R2-D2, so it’s not like he was going to upstage them. Williams has had two hip replacements, and it’s kind of obvious, as I couldn’t always tell whether he was just trying not to get hurt, or if he was already swimming down a river of pain medication.

And what did the judges think? They each gave him a dull and average score of 5, which seemed to piss off the geek-friendly crowd who went nuts during the entire performance. Bruno Tonioli told Williams he was still mad at him for giving up Han Solo, and each of them called out the lack of enthusiasm during the dance. But that smile though! You know who really liked the dance? The two Ewok spectators in the front row. I’m thinking Bruno, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Len Goodman should watch their backs, and probably shouldn’t visit Endor in the near future.

One of the commenters on the Jezebel story was kind enough to post the video below, which almost serves as a foreshadowing of the DWTS events.

And because one cha-cha deserves another (and also a free carbonite bath), here’s Nye’s take on the classic dance. Too bad they cut out the part of the performance where he debated and shamed his partner out of existence.

You know who else is on DWTS this season? Full House‘s Candace Cameron Bure and The Wonder Years‘ Danica McKellar. Which means that creaking sound you hear is my 12-year-old libido breaking free from the depths of time.