DANCING’S ULTIMATE WINNER
Congratulations to race driver Helio Castroneves and his Vegas Dance Academy partner Julianne Hough on winning the final Dancing with the Stars TV-show last night.
Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who recently married here in Vegas, and Maksim Chmerkovskiy wound up in the number two spot while Vegas headliner Marie Osmond and Jonathan Roberts landed in the third spot.
My predictions were completely correct—and exactly as I said 10-weeks ago from the first show of Season 5! After meeting both Helio and Julianne at the Andre Agassi charity fundraiser at MGM earlier this fall I reiterated my prediction again.
It was the second consecutive win for Julianne who captured Season 4 victory partnering with speed skater Apollo Ohno.
Our Caesars Palace headliner, super-songbird Celine Dion performed two songs on the telecast with former Vegas contestants Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton also appearing—but not dancing, as did all the other previously eliminated contestants. Wayne’s doctors wouldn’t let him sing or dance because of his current heart-infection, and Floyd admitted he’s nursing a sore ankle with only ten days to go before his Dec 8 world welterweight championship fight here against Ricky Hatton at MGM.
Said Helio: “I wasn’t expecting it, so I am shocked by the victory. I thought Mel because she’s an incredible dancer. The mirror-ball trophy will look so good between my two Indy 500 trophies.”
Mel added: “I’m not going to deny it; losing was a terrible thing.
Marie was eliminated at the opening of last night’s show after trailing badly in the judges’ voting the night before. Her army of doll-collector fans simply didn’t muster enough votes to overcome the narrow margin between Helio and Melanie. However, it’s still an extraordinary achievement for Marie because she’s been roiled by turmoil the past few months: she split with husband Brian Blosil after 20-years of marriage, she fainted during one of the October telecasts of Dancing with the Stars having dropped 30lbs in rugged rehearsals, her father died earlier this month the day after she’d appeared on Oprah to mark the Osmond family’s 50-year showbiz career. On top of that, last week during a Larry King interview she admitted that her 16-year-old son, Michael had entered rehab to battle a substance abuse problem.
“The show gave me something that I knew was solid, something I can count on. It’s been one of the best experiences of my life,” she said. Now we’re waiting for word if Marie will go ahead with her Christmas show set for the Suncoast up in Summerlin on December 21, 22 & 23 or appear on the DWTS tour which is scheduled to hit the Orleans Arena here on December 30. Marie will definitely return to Vegas with brother Donny for ten-days next July at the MGM Hollywood Theater!
Celine won raves for her songs, “My Heart Will Go On” and “Taking Chances” on the show, so now make sure you click into Luxe Life starting tomorrow for our daily countdown of the final 13 shows that Celine will perform at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace. It all ends on Saturday night December 15, and then in February our favorite Lake Las Vegas resident will begin an extraordinary year-long tour around the world starting in South Africa in a special performance for Nelson Mandela’s charity!