It wasn’t just a victory for Thornton, it was a victory for mental health.
Not sleeping but still smiling, Thornton said the platform has helped raise awareness of depression and suicide by allowing her to share her own story on a mainstream entertainment show.
“Ten years ago that would never have happened. We weren’t talking about mental health, we weren’t talking about mental illness, we wouldn’t touch the word suicide,” Thornton said.
Now his winning work on the show has helped raise what is expected to be hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity, to help others.
Thornton said that TikTok helped her a lot in transforming herself from a mental health advocate to a ballroom star.
And second place didn’t erase the smile from contestant Brodie Kane’s face. But she admits that the dance was as much a mental challenge as it was a physical one.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced and it was tough. Like it was tough, it was really, really tough,” Kane said.
Brown Butterbean Motivation founder Dave Letele battled it out for a well-deserved third place.
“Yeah, I don’t think it was my footwork, I think it was just that we connected with the audience,” he said.
He used the unashamed program to promote the work he does in the community, offering free boot camps and food packages to improve health and wellness.
“It just opens more doors for us, it’s a mainstream show, mainstream people watch it and hopefully support us,” Letele said. “We start our class today, our From the couch, our new show, and the house, it’s full.”
And all money raised through text voting will be divided equally among the nine nominated charities.
Earn money for charity and make friends: Thornton and Kane said they have seen each other every day for the past two weeks and are now going on a trip to Rarotonga together.
A well-deserved rest after a healthy competition.
