Buzz Aldrin may have lost his space on ‘Dancing,’ but that bow tie is out of this world

08 Apr Buzz Aldrin may have lost his space on ‘Dancing,’ but that bow tie is out of this world

Although we were sorry to see Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin become the season’s second casualty on Tuesday’s elimination episode of “Dancing With the Stars,” it did finally allow us the opportunity to get some wardrobe questions answered.

First of all, we couldn’t help but notice that during practice sessions, certain parts of Aldrin’s astronaut-themed T-shirts were blurred out. Since he hardly seemed like the kind of guy who would wear anything bearing an offensive slogan — much less on national TV — we assumed it was the sort of rogue product placement disallowed by the show. (We noticed the same thing happening on “Jon & Kate Plus 8” when Jon Gosselin started turning up onscreen in blurred-out items from the Christian Audigier clothing empire.)

Sure enough, Aldrin told All The Rage on Wednesday morning — as he was about to rocket off to New York to appear on “Live With Regis and Kelly” — that the T-shirts were from the Rocket Hero apparel line he sells through his website, where he also sells limited-edition Acme pens, Grundig radios and, most recently, his own iPhone app. The obscured parts were the identifying name and small moon man logo. (And, for the record, we brought up the subject.)

But the real reason we wanted to chat with Aldrin was to get the skinny on a bow tie we’d seen him wear on the show. Some accounts of his wardrobe referred to a “silver metallic bow tie,” but to us that thing looked like solid metal. We thought it might have been a futuristic flourish courtesy of the “DWTS” wardrobe department, but that too was Aldrin’s doing.

Or, actually it was the doing of his wife, Lois.

“Yes, it’s sterling silver. Lois got it for me ages ago from a jeweler up in Carmel,” he told us. “Probably nine years ago. She got me another one about four years ago that’s a little more plain. This one’s got some gold on it too.”

Lois chimed in over the speakerphone: “I’d originally spotted one on someone at the Frank Sinatra golf tournament in Palm Springs years ago, and the person who was wearing it gave me the name of the jeweler, which I don’t remember now. I think they’ve moved from Carmel.

“I married such an exciting, different and fabulous man, I wanted him to have the most fabulous things,” she said. “So I got it as a present for him.”

Heck, when you’ve been to the moon — and you’ve got an adoring wife with those kinds of moves — in my book there’s nothing left to prove lumbering around the dance floors of reality TV.

— Adam Tschorn

You can read the original article at the Los Angeles Times