Dancer Karina Smirnoff Opens Up About Dating Disasters in New Book
Dancer Karina Smirnoff’s first book details her hilarious dating disasters.
— -- Dancer Karina Smirnoff has made a name for herself as a pro on “Dancing With the Stars” for 16 seasons, and now she has written her first book.
In “We’re Just Not That Into You: Dating Disasters From the Trenches,” Smirnoff and her friend chronicle their hilarious dating escapades, and the dancer sat down with “Good Morning America” contributor Melissa Rycroft to talk about the book.
Co-written with her manager, Lindsay Rielly, the book retells hilarious and heartbreaking dating stories, including the time when Smirnoff was in a date’s car and they’d pulled up to their dinner destination.
“And I decided to be, you know, aware of the fact that I didn't want to hit the door on the curb. So I decided to stick my head out of the window to make sure how far from the curb I was,” she said, laughing. “And naturally, he wasn't looking. He was being cool. And he just rolls up the window. So at this point, yes, my head is dangling outside of the car.”
She describes the mishap as “the ice-breaker, because, like, at that point for the rest of the date, we couldn't look at each other without cracking up. So, like, the whole date was pretty much laughing out loud.”
In another story told in the book, Smirnoff, 37, tells the story of a friend whose date went so badly she escaped out of the bathroom window of the restaurant, and another whose date kept asking to wear his date’s dress.
The book includes stories from “Dancing” pro dancer Cheryl Burke, TV personality and former “Dancing” contestant Maria Menounos and pro football player Jacoby Jones, who appeared on “Dancing” With Smirnoff as his partner, among others.
Rycroft asked Smirnoff about the thinking behind the book’s title.
“You know, in the breakup and sometimes you hear, ‘It's not you. It's me.’ And in reality, you know that they mean that it is you. So we decided to say, ‘Well, don't worry. We're not that into you, too,’” she said.
The idea behind the book was to share others’ dating experiences to show that everyone has dating horror stories to tell.
“Well, we all go on dates, right? We all go on dates whether you're in a relationship, whether you are looking for Mr. Right. And a lot of times when you're in the moment and something happens, you kind of sit back and go, like, ‘How did I get myself into it?’” Smirnoff said.
Although dating is hard, people need to be able to laugh at themselves and keep going, Smirnoff said.
“You have to look at everything from a positive side, and kind of learn from it, and move forward. So after a while, after talking on the phone and coming up with all these, you know, funny dates, we decided to put everything into the book,” she said.
The book also includes some advice, including that women should trust their intuition.
“A lot of times women go against their intuition. Like, we feel something. We see the red flags. But we are always so hopeful, you know, that we can be the ones,” she said.
The book even includes a section with the worst pickup lines ever, such as these gems that Smirnoff shared: “Can I get a picture of you? Because I want to show it to Santa and tell him what I want for Christmas”; "Do you know what my T-shirt is made of? -Of boyfriend material,” and "Do you live in a cornfield? Because I am stalking you."