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'Dancing With the Stars' was nearly canceled until a boxing champion agreed to appear in the first season

"Without him, we would never have been able to cast athletes. I thought it was very brave of him to come out and dance," Carrie Ann Inaba said.

'Dancing With the Stars' debuted on June 1, 2005, and the six-episode format was inspired by Britain’s 'Strictly Come Dancing.' The first season featured just six celebrities competing for the Mirrorball trophy. Model Kelly Monaco was crowned the winner along with dance pro Alec Mazo. The other famous faces included TV personality Trista Sutter, former boxing pro Evander Holyfield, New Zealand-based actress Rachel Hunter, singer Joey McIntyre, and 'Family Feud' game show host John O’Hurley. In a recent exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Deena Katz, co-executive producer, and Conrad Green, executive producer, revealed that the ballroom show was almost shelved until a heavyweight boxing champion stepped in to participate. 

Katz explained that media tycoon Andrea Wong first pushed the idea of bringing celebrities into a ballroom dance competition. "It was like, 'Oh my gosh, live ballroom dance with celebrities," the co-executive producer reacted to the news. She and Green didn't see much of a scope for dance on television back then, since shows like 'Fear Factor' and 'The Bachelor' were leading the ratings.

"I wasn't even sure the thing would ever go. They didn't have these kinds of shows. It was so much Fear Factor and things that were mean-spirited." She added, "The idea of celebrity ballroom dancing seemed so wacky and offbeat at the time." Nonetheless, the producers were tasked with hunting for celebrities and locking in the judges. After carefully scrutinizing, they contacted Holyfield but didn't expect much from him since he wasn't aware of or trained for dancing. 

However, Holyfield, who had earned the moniker 'The Real Deal' because of his illustrious achievements in boxing, promptly agreed to join. "I will tell you the day that I knew it was going to be something. This was back in the day when we sent offers via fax machines, and I walked into the office, and there was a message on the answering machine from Evander Holyfield’s rep saying that he wanted to do the show. I knew that that was all it was going to take," casting director John Papsidera told the publication. Katz further explained that this was major news since most of the celebrities were hesitant to do a live, unscripted show. 

"When Evander Holyfield said yes that he would do the show, we were like, “Wow, we might have something here.” If we're so excited to want to watch Holyfield dance, then so is America. It legitimized it for a lot of people," Katz recalled. "Without him, we would never have been able to cast all of those football players. I thought it was very brave of him to come out and dance," judge Carrie Ann Inaba also agreed. Holyfield was partnered with dance pro Edyta Śliwińska despite him being labeled as a weak dancer, as per Collider. Holyfield received low scores from the judges but remained a fan favorite. He became the second contestant to be eliminated from the show due to "poor footwork," yet Holyfield later posted that he enjoyed being on the show.