Podcast co-host taps a sponsor as partner for Dancing with the Detroit Stars return
Eric Fadie competed in last year’s Dancing with the Detroit Stars gala and finished as the event’s top fundraiser. For his return this year, he chose not to go the usual route of partnering with an instructor from the Arthur Murray Dance Studio, which teams with South Oakland Shelter to train contestants.
Instead, Fadie, a producer and co-host of the popular Detroit Cast podcast, picked one of his show’s sponsors and longtime listeners.
“For some weird reason he came up with me,” said Tara Szott Wasik, a partner at Szott Auto Group. “He asked, and I reluctantly said yes.”
And so, Fadie and Szott will compete jointly as one of five teams at the event on Saturday, Nov. 17 at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham.
In addition to being his second time competing in the ballroom dancing event, Fadie, who also performs standup comedy at open mic nights and clubs across Michigan, said it dovetails with his love of being in front of a crowd. “I thrive in the moment when people are watching,” he says.
By contrast, it will be the first time dancing in front of a crowd for Tara, whose father, Tom, started the family owned group of four dealerships.
“Nope,” she says, “I’m not a dancer. It’s all very scary. But South Oakland Shelter is such a worthy cause, so I decided to do it.”
The two started practicing at Arthur Murray’s studio in Royal Oak around Labor Day and report that things are going well. They plan to do a salsa routine to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll.”
Fadie credits the podcast’s “incredibly rabid fan base” that responded to his Facebook Live sessions urging people to donate to SOS for his “Top Fundraiser” crown at the 2017 event. The podcast team — he’s one of three co-hosts, along with Mike Wolters and Jay — also helped raise $31,500 for SOS in February 2017.
Not that he’s keeping tabs or anything.
“I’d like to get both this year. If I could get both the top dancer and the top fundraiser awards, that’d be great,” Fadie says.
To support Eric and Tara in their fundraising goal, click here to have your ticket purchase or donation count to their page today!
