But not against her rivals.
"I'm definitely competitive; I can't help that, but it's not against the other dancers; it's against myself," she said in Queenstown yesterday after performing with partner Jonny Williams at the Wakatipu High School gymnasium.
Ms Kendall was in Queenstown for the Oceania Olympic National Committee annual meeting. With dance partner Mr Williams visiting the resort for the first time, they decided to train and perform for hundreds of pupils and some members of the public.
The couple waltzed as an encore then Ms Kendall plucked Cyrus Steedman (11) and Mr Williams chose Jaime Wood (12) from the audience to dance with.
Cyrus said later he did not really want to dance in case it was embarrassing.
"But I was all right. I had danced before but not in front of this many people."
He said he watched the show "now and then" when his mother did, but his impromptu performance had not inspired him to take up dancing.
Ms Kendall said she had not thought about the show's raunchy costumes but noticed they were getting smaller every week.
"I've noticed a big improvement over the past five weeks; the jive was the hardest one because it's so physical," she said.
