The Dancing Six Flags Old Man Was Only 29. See What He Really Looks Like.
He's a successful dancer and choreographer who's worked with top pop stars.
Remember the old Six Flags commercials featuring an "old man" dancing wildly to techno music? Now that we've reminded you, the song—"We Like to Party!" by Vengaboys—is probably stuck in your head (sorry!). The iconic commercials featuring Mr. Six, as Six Flags dubbed him, ran on constant rotation in the early 2000s. But you may not have realized that the man playing Mr. Six was only 29 when the commercials were filmed. What's more, he's a celebrated choreographer, who's worked with some of the biggest pop stars on the planet. Read on to learn more about the mystery man behind one of the most famous commercial mascots of all time.
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The guy behind the Mr. Six old man makeup is dancer Danny Teeson.
When Six Flags first launched its Mr. Six campaign in 2004, the company took great pains to conceal the identity of the man behind the old man costume. "He is the spirit of Six Flags," a Six Flags executive told USA Today in 2004. "He comes to take people away from their boredom."
But in 2006, rumors began flying that the elderly dancer was then-29-year-old dancer Danny Teeson. At that point, Teeson was best known as a cast member of Queer Eye for the Straight Girl, a spin-off of the hit Bravo TV show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
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Teeson is a classically trained dancer.
Teeson, now 46, grew up in the U.K. and attended Laine Theater Arts, a dance school in Surrey, according to his LinkedIn profile. Soon after graduating from Laine, Teeson appeared in the original London cast of the musical Fame.
Not long after, he scored his iconic mascot role. In a 2018 interview with Bustle, Teeson revealed that he was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement when he signed up to be Mr. Six. "People speculated whether it was really an old man. One publication said it was Paris Hilton," Teeson told Bustle. "It was fun when friends around me found out that I had a completely secret alter ego as Mr. Six. It's still fun and surprising when they do all these years later. I actually did one job at the Dallas Park as Mr. Six dancing next to a friend I had known for 20 years, and she had no idea it was me until I told her years later."
He built a career as a successful choreographer after his stint as Mr. Six.
In 2009, Teeson was a judge on a short-lived dance competition show. He then landed a gig as a director and choreographer with the Disney Channel, according to his IMDb profile. There, he choreographed routines for a slew of Disney productions, including KC Undercover, Austin & Ally, and Girl Meets World.
Recently, Teeson designed theatrical shows for Princess Cruises, he told Bustle. He also choreographed shows for pop stars, including Carrie Underwood, Paula Abdul, and Kelly Clarkson, he revealed to the outlet.
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Despite his impressive resume, Teeson says the Mr. Six role still stands out as one of his proudest moments.
Teeson told Bustle that the feeling of getting the role was "unbelievable." "I actually cried because it was such a big deal at the time, and the contract was for three years, which is amazing in my industry. I never thought I was going to get it," he said.
Unfortunately for Teeson, Mr. Six was, well, eighty-sixed in 2005 when entrepreneur Dan Snyder took over Six Flags and decided the amusement park needed a revamp, The New York Post reported.
Six Flags eventually realized its mistake and brought Mr. Six back in 2009. By that point, Teeson had already moved on. But he told Bustle he still remembers the role fondly. Playing Mr. Six was "a really special time for me," he said, "and I got to have amazing experiences being a rock star in disguise."
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