We were very surprised after the interview with Dan. I am not sure what we expected but we definitely did not expect someone as diverse and committed as he is. From all of our research, we expected this blue-eyed adonis to be very one-dimensional. But to our surprise, he was just the opposite.
So let me tell you a little about Dan. This was originally going to be a totally different interview but after our 3 hours of talking, I wanted to do him justice. We reached out to a couple of his schools to see if anyone remembered him from the old days. He grew up in a small town in Thousand Oaks which is in Southern California. He had older parents and was an only child. We spoke to a retired teacher who remembers Dan fondly. She said he was hard to forget. He was very smart but had issues following the rules. She laughed. It was hard to keep his attention and always thought we were doing our job too slowly. He seemed to have a gift in math and moved way ahead by high school. His high school coach said he was very good in multiple sports as well but seemed to gravitate towards the water with swimming and water polo. He remembers Dan being suspended for 2 days because he wouldn’t wear shoes. He moved on to college at UCSB where he started in water polo and soon moved to the crew team.
This was when he found Chippendales or I should say Chippendales found him. Dan tells us he went to Chippendales with his best friend Bill Cecil after some girls in his dorm told him he had to go there. He was in line when Shubo Banerjee, Steve’s brother, went and removed him from the line and brought him over to Steve Banerjee who was leaning against his Mercedes. Steve smiled, shook his hand and that was it. Steve became good friends with Dan. Steve was quoted that Dan had something special. Women loved him, men loved him, he was perfect for Chippendales. Steve named him Mr Chippendales. At the time of the interview, Dan played that way down. He said that he was definitely part of it and did well because of timing. He said Tom Selleck and Magnum PI was big at that time and he had a similar look. Because of that, he says he became more popular. Just so you all know, that is not all true. He did look like Tom Selleck but it was more than that. He was sincere and had time for everyone. Steve and Dan met regularly for dinner and talked about everything from business to personal life. Dan was at dinner when the famous napkin contract was signed with Nick Denoia. This seemed to be a pivotal storyline in the tragic events that ensued. Dan said he was transitioning out of Chippendales with his own calendar Company skin deep calendars that he started with business partner Wolf Larson. They had a competing calendar with Chippendales. (We saw it and it was as good if not better than the Chippendales calendar). That got Dan into photography which he still does to this day. Dan is a Master’s track and field competitor and has been ranking #1 in the world in his age group (shot put). We asked Dan what was the most important part of his life .. without a beat he said his Family. He was so thankful for his life and the friends he has made. He does attribute Chippendales with the biggest impact of his growing life. Things I learned then, I use to this day. Patiens, understanding and thankfulness. If you can involve those 3 things into your life I think it will help in the enjoyment of life.
We want to thank Dan Peterson, His teachers and Coaches and brother Chippendale men who told us some interesting facts about Dan.