Apple founder's dancing odyssey

Steve Wozniak has swapped the mouse for dancing shoes

As the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak may well be one of the most influential figures in the history of computers.

Yet this self-confessed geek's latest venture has nothing to do with technological advancement; instead he has been on a mission to prove that "nerds can dance".

Wozniak has been starring in the US show, Dancing with the Stars, which is the stateside spin-off of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.

Despite being called a Teletubby and initially thinking it was the worst decision he ever made, Wozniak says he came to love the experience.

The engineer and technologist, who left Apple in 1987 but remains a nominal employee, is hardly the kind of individual who normally appears in reality TV land and doesn't even watch television, as he explained to BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme.

He said: "Dancing with the Stars is one of the top shows in the United States but I don't watch television so I didn't know that.

FROM BBC WORLD SERVICE People might have thought designing a computer was hard...they haven't tried ballroom dancing Steve Wozniak More from Digital Planet Download the Digital Planet Podcast

"I was getting a lot of pressure from friends. 'Oh Steve they need somebody with a good personality and good wholesome values like yourself...they need you on the show'.

Wozniak went on: "I barely barely barely got persuaded to do it and first I said this is the worst decision I have ever made in my life. I work and work and I can't learn this stuff and I told my wife I would never ever dance when this show is over.

Ignominy

"And then somehow I learned the basics and I started loving it and it just became like one of the favourite things I had ever done in my life."

This despite the fact that he had to suffer the ignominy of having his dance skills likened to children's TV stars, the Teletubbies. Wozniak said: "I loved that comment [being called a teletubby] so much. So I told Bruno the judge, 'that sounds like a compliment'. It was very funny I loved it.

"If I want to be portrayed as anything in life , it's a little bit unusual, different, weird and that sure sounded like it fit the characteristic."

Furthermore, 'the Woz', as he likes to be known, is also hoping his spell in the maelstrom of US prime time television may even be an inspiration to geeks and others.

Wozniak said he hoped that those who are treated as outsiders because of their body, hair or clothes may have seen the show and realise that they can actually enjoy this position.

Wozniak was likened to a teletubby by a judge in the show

However, he admitted that his mathematical background was a hindrance when coming to learning the dances, even though he managed to survive four episodes before being voted off.

He said: "Well I don't think that a computer background or a logical, digital, mathematical background particularly helped me in dance.

"I think always loving music to tap my feet even though I couldn't dance, that helped me get the rhythm. By about the second or third dance, I actually found myself counting all the beats.

"People might have thought designing a computer was hard...they haven't tried ballroom dancing."