Larry Bass: Julian Benson was bright, brilliant and used his illness to ease plight of others
‘Dancing with the Stars’ was enriched by presence of the man they called Captain Sparkle
He kept it very private. Even from us, and I would have thought I was quite close to him. But it really was only his family and closest friends that knew, until he decided to go public with it.
I first met Julian over 20 years ago, when he was choreographing a UCD fashion show in the RDS. In typical Julian style, it wasn’t just a normal fashion show, it was huge. He was just this larger than life character.
When we got the rights and eventually got RTÉ to do an Irish version of Dancing with the Stars, I always had Julian in the back of my mind.
Not only was it for his choreography skills, but his sheer dynamism, and just his character. I knew he would be a really good person to have on our panel.
We tested a number of people and through all of those screen tests, Julian just popped. He was Captain Sparkle. He was made for that show.
Shortly after, Dancing with the Stars took off. The Irish…
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