Out in Reality TV: November 2008 Archives

Lance Bass was at last night's Environmental Media Awards but breezed by me on the green carpet. He was one of the first presenters and it was near showtime. But I still shouted a question to him: "Lance! Are you gonna do any Prop. 8 marches?" He stopped for a half-second and said: "As much as I have time for." Then he was off.

Fortunately, "Dancing With the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba (Lance is still in contention for the title!) had more time to gab when I saw her at the People's Choice Award nominations Monday morning. I asked her about Lance's chances to win.

"Lance is great but he's got Lacey (as a partner) and she's sometimes a trouble-maker out there," Carrie said. "And there's nothing wrong with that, I think rebels are good. She's brought a new energy that challenges some of the beliefs of our show which sometimes works for her, and sometimes doesn't. I don't always agree with her choices, but I love the fact that she's making them and she's doing what she needs to do and that's not easy."

In other words, Lance is toast unless the viewers vote for him in a big way!

Carrie Ann Inaba also handicapped the rest of the field and reflected on the amazing run of Cloris Leachman who was finally eliminated a few weeks back.

"Cloris is a phenomenon, truly," she said. "The woman is 82 years old. If you really get realistic about what that is, you look at your grandma who's having trouble walking. And (Cloris) is out there throwing herself into the death drops and everything and having a great time. I think she was so inspirational for older people and younger people."

But Cloris is now gone. So who's gonna win?

"I think it's gonna be real interesting," she said. " Cody Lynley may not be one of the front-runners but he's got this real great energy. I'm real excited to see where he's gonna go. Brooke Burke and Derek Hough are just phenomenal. They are, I think, the best dancers we've ever had on the show. But that doesn't necessarily equate to them winning."

Lynley, Burke, Warren Sapp and Bass are the final four competing for a spot in the finals.

It's been a tough season physically for some dancers and celebs alike. Among the mishaps Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor was seriously injured during a rehearsal and forced to drop out, sprinter Maurice Greene hyper-extended his leg before being eliminated last week, dancer Julianne Hough missed some shows in order to have surgery and her brother Derek and dancer Kym Johnson also have had injuries.

"I don't think it's a cursed season, I think this was the most ambitious season we've ever had," Inaba said. "The producers really put the challenge in front of all these people because as America's been watching our show, they want to see more too. I think this season, more than ever, has shown America that dancing is a physical sport and maybe people have more respect for it now which is great."