Alert!: 'dancing' Rematch!
I just added this on the DANCING WITH THE STARS Wikipedia page:
(from
GLOBE Magazine [December 18th, 2006])
After a huge public outcry that the outcome of Dancing with the Stars' third season was "fixed," GLOBE has learned that secret talks are underway for a rematch between winners
Emmitt Smith and professional partner
Cheryl Burke and the runner-ups
Mario Lopez and his partner
Karina Smirnoff! But viewers will likely have to wait until April to see it, sources tell GLOBE. TV honchos are working on getting
Super Bowl star Smith, 37, and former
Saved by the Bell hunk Lopez, 33, back on the dance floor to kick off the next season of the blockbuster
ABC show. "It's an ambitious idea and it won't be easy to achieve, but the ratings a rematch would pull in are a real incentive to make it work," says an insider. After Season Three ended on
November 15th, furious fans deluged
ABC and Internet message boards, protesting the final result. In an exclusive report in GLOBE's
December 4 issue, they claimed:
- Former football star Smith was picked to win by the network in advance.
- Viewers could not get through by phone to vote.
- Phone lines shut down earlier than the announced deadlines.
Many fans felt that Latin heartthrob Lopez who, as GLOBE reported, has proposed to his partner, Smirnoff, 28, was the true champion - and they demanded a dance-off! "Mario was by far the best dancer. Something doesn't add up," blasted one. "Mario was robbed!" charged another. "It's clear it was rigged from the start," added yet another disappointed fan. "Let's do it again and vote for the Best Dancer, not the Most Popular." That's when execs started considering pitting the two top pairs against each other one more time, say sources. The big question is: When? Do they secretly tape the rematch now, put the video in a safe and hold it for the new season? Or do they have the dancers back live? "A lot depends on the celebrities and their schedules, I think," says an insider. Season Four won't air until atleast April because some of the professional dance partners are currently involved in the
Dancing with the Stars Tour, which does not end until
February. "They need at least six weeks of rehearsal and practice with new celebrity partners - which pushes the debut of the new season back to possibly
May," explains an industry insider. In
September 2005, there was a rematch between Season ONe winner
Kelly Monaco with
John O'Hurley and their partners after fans protested the final results. The face-off was decided solely on viewers' votes - and O'Hurley won by a slim one-percent margin. This time, after all of the recent complaints that fans couldn't record their votes, an Emmitt-Mario rematch might be decided by a new, totally different panel of judges, says an insider. "That way they can lay to rest allegations that the three show judges -
Carrie Ann Inaba,
Len Goodman, and
Bruno Tonioli - let favoritism rule their decisions," says the source. The network was at first against a rematch, says insiders. "They want the final results to stand, popular or not," says the source. "They on't want to resort to a dance-off every season. "But the outrage has been so incredible that I think there's no alternative but to have the couples go head to head again if they can work out the details. "It would certainly be a blockbuster show and draw even more than the 27 million fans who watched the recent finale." ~