Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Bold and the Beautiful’s Katherine Kelly Lang is putting away all the romantic and familial drama of Brooke Logan Forrester for a few months, and putting on her ballroom dance shoes! That’s right! Katherine is set to be one of the contestants on the new season of Ballando con le stelle Italy, or as we say here in the U.S. – Dancing with the Stars Italy!

In this exclusive conversation with On-Air On-Soaps, Katherine telsl us that she is taking a break from the CBS soap opera to try her luck on DWTS Italy, where international soap fans know, Katherine and B&B are number one!  Will the judges and Katherine’s fan keep her in the competition week in and week out?  Will Katherine come back to the States with a Mirror Ball Trophy in hand?  If Katherine’s determination and athletic prowess are any indication, she just might be one of the celebrity contestants to beat!

So, is the soap superstar nervous?  What did B&B executive producer Brad Bell have to say when she decided to take part in the series for a few months in Europe?  What might happen to Brooke in the meantime?  Here’s some Intel from Katherine on her upcoming DWTS experience and more!

Katherine, this isn’t your first foray on Ballando con le stelle (Dancing with the Stars Italy).  You had been on previously for a guest stint, but now you are a full on contestant for the new season!  How did it all come about?

Courtesy/Ballandoconlestrelle

KATHERINE:  I did do one episode of Dancing with the Stars Italy about six years ago, or so.  I didn’t want to do it longer at that time, because I didn’t want to take time out from The Bold and the Beautiful.  But this did work out this time where I could take off the time in between contracts, so I said, “O.K”!  Dancing with the Stars Italy has been calling me to do the full show, and I didn’t want to do what Ronn Moss (Ex-Ridge, B&B) did, and go back and forth from Italy each week, and all that craziness. I am going to go and stay in Italy for the duration, instead.

Do you know who you’re paired with as your pro dance partner yet?

KATHERINE:  I don’t know what pro dancer I will be paired with yet, but the first airdate is October 4th live.  So every episode is live on Saturday night until I come back to Los Angeles in December!

What happens if you get booted off the show?

KATHERINE:  They don’t like do to that! (Laughs)  But of course, someone is going to get booted off.  And you don’t want to get booted off, but even if you do, you get another chance to get back on.  So the contestants still stay, and they still have to rehearse two more dances, and then perform those dances the next week to try to get voted back in the running.  So no matter what happens, the show kind of keeps you going.

Photo Credit: Hutchins Photo

Are you nervous about learning all the different dances in the competition … or are you excited?

KATHERINE:  I am really nervous, because I haven’t really done anything like that in awhile.  I feel my body is different, because I have been training for the “Iron Man”!  So I have this sort of heavy clumsy body right now! (Laughs) And that is just for the “Iron Man” style competition.  So I need to get more elegant and graceful, and stretch more, and get more in shape that way.  It’s totally different muscles, the dance muscles.  I love dancing and it will be fun, but stressful for me when it’s live!

Do you know Italian well to handle the language barrier on the live show?

KATHERINE:  I know it from being in Italy for awhile, and when I come back, I pick it up again.  I have studied the language through the years.  But honestly, I understand the language better than I speak it!

You will probably exit The Bold and the Beautiful on-air in four weeks or so.  How do you think the series will exit Brooke from the story to facilitate your time away to dance on Ballando con le stelle?

KATHERINE:  I think Brooke might go to Forrester International to help run the business and to clean up the office over there! (Laughs)  And the international company is based in Milan, and so maybe there might even be a remote in Italy … we don’t know yet.

How was B&B’s executive producer and head writer, Brad Bell about you exiting the series for three months to go to Italy to appear on Dancing with the Stars there?

Photo Credit: Hutchins Photo

KATHERINE:  Great!  Brad was super about.  He was saying, “I would go over there and do that if I were you!” (Laughs)   This is a perfect tie-in for the show, too.  And you know half way through Dancing with the Stars I will get homesick, and I will miss playing Brooke!  And that happens!  Sometimes I will be like, “I need to have my time off,” and a week later I am like, “Hmmm.  I kind of miss Brooke!”  I have been doing her so long that it has become a part of me.  So it’s weird when I am not playing her, and having that to do on the soap.  I mean, I will be competing on camera, but it will be different.  I am so looking forward to the experience though!

So, what do you think about Katherine heading to Europe to compete in Dancing with the Stars Italy?  Excited to root her on from afar?  Let us know your thoughts! And here’s the link to the Ballando con le stelle website!