Tonight is the magic moment for the final three on “Dancing With the Stars,” but according to one of the professional dancers, one contestant doesn’t stand a chance.
“There’s no way Marie can win this show,” Mel B’s partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy told Access Hollywood. “I would stake my reputation on it, so would any other pro dancer on the show.”
But Chmerkovskiy may have gotten it wrong. Access Hollywood has learned the Children’s Miracle Network, a charity co-founded by Marie sends out millions of e-mails asking their supporters to vote for Marie.
“The e-mails are probably around 2 million once you add in corporate sponsors, hospitals, TV stations and all their friends and family — even bigger than that once they send that e-mail out to others,” Roger Cook, VP of Public Relations for Children’s Miracle Network said.
The powerful group has raised over $3.2 billion dollars in 25 years. Osmond also appears on the organization’s Web site, but Roger doesn’t see any foul play.
“Until they change the rules of ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ this is as much of a popularity contest as a dancing contest,” he said.
After learning the news about the e-mails, Chmerkovskiy said people should remember “Dancing” is a competition.
“People are going to vote for their favorite whether the favorite [can] barely move or their favorite is an amazing dancer,” Chmerkovskiy said. “I love what Marie is about, I love what she represents. She is an amazing woman, amazing family, amazing story and she keeps adding to that story but this is a dance show.”
While Chmerkovskiy cried foul, Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough took the news a bit better.
“With the voting, you know it is a dance competition but at the same time it is a popularity competition and if you have a lot of fans that support you it’s great,” Hough said. “What is great about Helio is he has a big fan base in the motor world but he also has gained so many fans from this show.”
“Hey, we made it to the finals,” Castroneves added.
Meanwhile, Osmond defended her support network.
“I don’t think it’s an unfair advantage do you? I mean it’s like Helio is out telling race-car drivers to vote. I mean we have our fans,” Osmond said.
“The nature of the show is winning the fans vote,” Osmond’s partner, Jonathan Roberts, added.
As for Mel B, she had her own fan group on hand for Monday’s show. In coordinating black and white ensembles, the Spice Girls exited Brown’s trailer before the show. Posh gave a good luck hug to Brown’s husband.
Right after the show, Brown joined them to rehearse for their tour, but Chmerkovskiy revealed the gals are more sneaky than Spicey.
“It was a total surprise,” Chmerkovskiy said about the Spice Girls showing up. “Melanie’s husband set it up and he made sure that nobody knew about the surprise.”