Big Cha-Cha-Change! Kristie Dances Away The Kilos

She didn’t win with Zac, but the dance star’s lost 20kg

- Amy Nelmes Bissett

With a baby bouncing happily on her knee, Kristie Williams says she still feels like a winner despite being voted off Dancing with the Stars NZ last week and having to sashay away from the competition with partner Zac Franich.

And that’s all down to taking on the biggest challenge of her life – transforming from a mum nursing a newborn and carrying 20kg of baby weight to a slinky dancer slipping into a skin-tight leotard to dance on live TV. And she did it all in three months.

“There was no question that I wasn’t going to do the show,” Kristie tells us. “I had three months to lose the weight and get performance fit, and I was determined to do it. But there was a lot of sweat and a lot of tears. Oh, and a lot of running too!”

In August 2017, Kristie, 29, welcomed son Ayden, her second child with husband and fellow dance professional Jonny, who is also on this year’s show as Jess Quinn’s dance partner. The couple, who have been together for 10 years and married for five, also have six-year-old Ayvah.

The hard yards