YES, former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins did take dance classes for several years, but she doesn't want you to hold it against her.
Having seen Nikki Webster publicly chastised while appearing on Dancing With The Stars last year, Hawkins is anxious to avoid a similar fate. 
In pictures: Hawko's brilliant career »
"I did ballet, jazz and tap when I was younger but it wasn't anything too full on," she says.
"You went there after school, it was a social thing. I started when I was five and finished when I was about 14 and then I went into cheerleading."
Fear of being criticised for her dance history was one reason Hawkins declined an offer to sign on for the last series of the celebrity dance-off.
"This time they said, 'You've had a little bit of experience, but so did Chris Bath and Bec (Cartwright), a fair few people have had experience and it's fine'."
Having caught up with the previous three seasons of the high-rating series on DVD, Hawkins is also aware beautiful female contestants have not traditionally fared well with voters.
"People are telling me, 'You could win' and then some people say, 'You're going to get voted off'.
I just tell them, 'I don't want to think about this – you're making my head hurt'," Hawkins laughs.
"If you think about it too much you're just going to drive yourself insane. It's a dancing show, it's not life and death," she adds in her down-to-earth manner.
Now in the midst of three hours of rehearsals each day, Hawkins is relieved to have hit it off with her dance partner Sergey Bolgarskiy, who only moved to Australia from eastern Europe last October.
"I didn't know what to expect but he's got a great sense of humour and he's a really nice, sweet guy," she says.
"And very patient in teaching me. He's not just someone you go to training with, we also go out and have drinks. It's so intense, I'm seeing him more than I'm seeing my family."
Between rehearsals, Hawkins is squeezing in the occasional voiceover and postproduction commitment for The Great Outdoors.
"I love it and they're a really good crew to work with," she says of her first year on the travel program. The former Newcastle Knights cheerleader admits she is still coming to terms with how much life has changed since being crowned Miss Universe in 2004.
"There is a transition," she says. "You go from being overseas to being based in Sydney – which I love but I have to get used to sitting still. Usually when I go back to Newcastle, Mum's like, 'Calm down'."
Despite her new fame and globe-trotting career, Hawkins is still together with long-time boyfriend Jake Wall.
"It's good because he's so calm," she says. "I come back and it's like, 'I can just be normal'. It's hard to explain but we sort of level each other out."
Dancing With The Stars, Tuesday, Seven, 7.30pm
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