Marie Osmond didn't help her standing with critics of her Dancing with the Stars fifth-season finalist status when she performed a "living doll"-themed freestyle routine with professional partner Jonathan Roberts during last night's performance episode broadcast.
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Chmerkovskiy also openly questioned whether the freestyle routine Osmond performed with Roberts was just a blatant plug for her line of collectable dolls.
"I guess it was a big doll company promotion," Chmerkovskiy told OK!.
Osmond and Roberts found themselves at the bottom of the judges' leader board for the third week in a row, scoring a 46 out of 60 possible points for their two routines. The couple's first dance was a samba, which scored a 24.
Their doll-themed freestyle routine didn't do any better as the judges scored it a 22 -- the competition's lowest score since Jane Seymour and partner Tony Dovolani received a 22 for their jive in Week 6.
"I thought Marie's routine was quite disappointing," Dovolani told OK! about Osmond's freestyle after watching it from the studio audience. "It was a good idea gone bad. If she had snapped out of that doll thing, I think it would have come through. It was kind of like, 'When is she going to start dancing?' The whole idea is the doll comes to life."
All My Children actor Cameron Mathison -- who was eliminated from the competition two weeks ago with partner Edyta Sliwinska -- said watching the routine, he also wished Osmond would have eventually pulled a Pinocchio and come to life.
"I just was kind of waiting for her to drop the doll persona, then dance and have fun," Mathison told OK!. "I think it didn't come together as well as they'd hoped."
Chmerkovskiy also defended his previous comments about Osmond receiving sympathetic support from fans after fainting on-camera following an October 23 samba routine; having her 90-year-old father George pass away during Week 7 of the competition; and then watching her 16-year-old son Michael enter rehab for undisclosed treatment only several days before the semifinal round.
"I just said what everybody else was thinking," Chmerkovskiy told OK!. "To add to that, Marie is one of those people you can't find any flaws with. I have nothing but the utmost respect for her. God knows this woman went through a lot this season. But, having said that, this is a dance show."
Dovolani, who was eliminated from the competition with Seymour during Week 8 of the competition, also voiced support for Chmerkovskiy's comments.
"If Marie wins it, it will be pretty obvious that it's not about dancing," he told OK!.
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Not surprisingly, Roberts supported his partner's place in the finale.
"The person who's won every season has been the one who has improved the most and has gotten the fans behind them," he told OK!. "That is the point of the show."
Osmond told The Associated Press after the performance episode broadcast that "you're supposed to have fun" with the freestyle routine -- and since she's "one of the top designers in the world with dolls" -- she was "having fun."
"I liked it! It was a hard routine. I have a huge doll fan base and I know they're the ones who have been voting for me, so this was a big, 'Thank you,' to them," she told OK!. "It was for all the little kids watching. We could have done something sexy -- but this is a family show -- so we tried to keep it fun that way, and I liked the whole premise of the dance."
As has been the case for the majority of the fifth season, Chmerkovskiy and his celebrity partner -- Spice Girl Melanie Brown -- found themselves atop the judges' leader board following their two routines, scoring a combined 55 out of 60 possible points.
The couple scored a 28 for their first routine -- a cha-cha that judge Len Goodman described as a "great opening" for the show and was awarded a perfect 10 by fellow judge Bruno Tonioli. Their second routine, a freestyle, received a 27 from the judges.
"I don't care [if we win]," Chmerkovskiy told The AP after the broadcast. "We just want to enjoy each other, and we do."
Hot on Brown and Chmerkovskiy's heels were IndyCar racer Helio Castroneves and professional partner Julianne Hough, who scored a 54 out of 60 possible points from the three judges for their two routines. The couples' first performance was a jive that received a 25.
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"I wish we got that one point," Castroneves told The AP. "But I feel we did it all -- all that we could do -- and hopefully the fans are behind us. I still want that mirror ball trophy."
Dancing with the Stars' live two-hour fifth-season finale broadcast will air tonight at 9PM ET on ABC.
In a change from last season's finale format, the couple who received the lowest score based on a combination of the judges' scores from Monday night's two routines and home viewer votes cast immediately following the broadcast will be eliminated at the beginning of Dancing with the Star's fifth-season finale broadcast.
After the third-place finisher's elimination, each of the two remaining couples will then perform one more dance that the judges will score.
Similar to the weekly "share of total points awarded and total votes cast" elimination system that the show has used since the beginning of its third season, the total points awarded by the judges for the two remaining couples three finale routines will then be calculated as a percentage share of the total points awarded to the two remaining couples for those three dances.
The votes that viewers cast for each of the two remaining couples immediately following last night's broadcast will then also be calculated as a percentage share of the total votes cast for the two remaining couples, and the couple with the highest combined judges/viewers percentage number will then be crowned Dancing with the Stars fifth-season champ and claim the mirror ball trophy.
(Photo credit ABC/Carol Kaelson) About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
