Las Vegas Weekly

October 5, 2009 · 7:32 AM

Dancing With the Stars Preview: Is Mel B returning to compete?

By Robin Leach

Peepshow headliners Kelly Monaco and Mel B flank Jerry Mitchell, the show's creator, director and choreographer.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

If you didn’t do a double take with the bare-chested, howling Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell on Dancing With the Stars last week, then get prepared for tonight’s episode. The UFC star will appear in ruffles and shake his costume decorations when he doubles for Big Bird on the hit ABC show.

But whatever he’s wearing, Chuck and partner Anna Trebunskaya intend to do all they can to avoid being eliminated. They’ve been rehearsing for six consecutive days, and they’ll do battle with our other Las Vegas captivating couples Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson and Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel.

Chuck, incidentally, won a $10,000 bet with UFC head honcho Dana White, who gambled that his fighter wouldn’t lose sufficient weight for the TV show!

If there’s no sudden catastrophe, ugly fall or last-minute injury, our three should be safe, and the villain of the piece, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, will get the lowest votes and be sent packing tomorrow on the results show. We’ll have our now-expected spoiler alert report moments after the Hollywood telecast on both nights has been aired on the East Coast.

We’ve now learned some of the stars that the top-rated show has booked for the results show. You can expect to see teen country pop star Taylor Swift on the heels of the Kanye West debacle at the MTV Video Music Awards. I’m assured that he won’t be appearing! Queen Latifah, Colbie Caillat and Michael Buble also have signed on to perform.

Bigger news out of DWTS this week is that ABC is currently determining which star will be brought back to appear and possibly compete yet again next week. I’m reliably told that, so far, former Peepshow star Mel B is the favorite. The 34-year-old former Spice Girl leads Season 4 runner-up Joey Fatone and Season 2 winner Drew Lachey as her nearest competitors.

Mel even used her Twitter account to ask her fans to plead her case to ABC execs. Her tweet, verbatim: “Pls pls pls everyone go to abc.com and vote for me to come back to dance on dwts next week, vote today if you can if you wanna see me shake it again!" She even told fans she’s been working out and missing DWTS so much, she’s watching every episode and hoping she’ll be brought back to the studio next week.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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