Ben Cousins is making a career comeback with his appearance on the reality show as a contestant on Dancing With The Stars.
The former AFL player made his debut on the show on Sunday night but viewers had mixed feelings about seeing the fallen star back on TV screens.
Several shared their thoughts on X, with some feeling uncomfortable that Ben, 46, is being given another chance given his difficult past.
“Oh great, now it’s time for your forced Ben Cousins redemption,” one person complained on the social media platform.
“How many second chances does Ben Cousins get? He must know dirt on a lot of people,” said another.
Someone else chimed in: “Seeing Ben Cousins on the platform doesn’t sit well with me.”
“I just want to make it clear that I feel very uncomfortable with Ben and Ant (Middleton) in this cast. I’m not here for their redemption arc,” wrote another.
“Ben Cousins looks like he’s going to ruin the whole routine,” another joked.
Ben Cousins is making a career comeback with his appearance on a reality show as a contestant on Dancing With The Stars. Pictured here with his dance partner Siobhan Power.
Others were delighted to see the former footballer give it a go, with one person posting: “At least Ben made some decent moves. Cute.”
“Loved the Foxtrot. Well done Ben and Siobhan,” wrote another person tuning in from home.
Ben has been rebuilding his life over the past few years after a fall from grace.
He won the Brownlow Medal in 2005 and captained the West Coast Eagles from 2001 to 2005, collecting the club’s best and fairest awards in four of those seasons.
He played 238 games and scored 205 goals for the West Coast Eagles, where he won a championship with the club in 2006.
His dramatic fall from grace was well documented beginning in 2007, when he publicly battled drug addiction and confronted his failed relationship with Maylea Tinecheff.
He was later sacked and given a one-year suspension by the AFL for repeated offences.
Several shared their thoughts on X, with some feeling uncomfortable that Ben, 46, is being given another chance given his difficult past.
In 2021, Susan Backshell, who has acted as a mentor to Cousins since his last stint in prison, told Daily Mail Australia that he remains solely focused on his children.
Sitting in a cold, cramped cell for the sixth time in 13 years, Cousins decided enough was enough after seven months behind bars in 2020.
He told her he wanted to make up for his mistake and clean up his life, and Backshell gave him an ultimatum: “Give it all or forget it completely.”
Since Cousins was released from custody in December 2020, Backshell said he has never questioned his commitment to sobriety and bettering his community.
It comes after Ben revealed that his time filming Dancing With The Stars has rekindled his passion for the sport.
Others were delighted to see the former footballer give it a go, with one person posting: “At least Ben made some decent moves. Cute.”
The star says she missed the thrill of competition and couldn’t get enough of it.
“I love the lifestyle of a professional athlete and I miss it,” he said. Herald Sun.
“I thought I was going to have the experience for six to eight or ten weeks and just hang on for dear life and wait for the days to end. But it was the complete opposite.”
Ben went on to say that he didn’t want the experience to end.
“I remember there was a week left until the show was over and I was starting to get sad, I didn’t want to go home,” she said.
“When I think about it, I’m still amazed that it happened like that. I fell in love with it, it was amazing.”