Week 8: I’m Just Dancing Like It’s Our Last Dance and Having Fun!

The former Broadway star takes Us behind the scenes of the hit ABC show

JUDGING THE JUDGES
Carrie Ann is the one judge I have been trying to impress, but now I feel like Len is the one I want to impress. Len liked my ballroom and he’s the one who is the tough. But [Tony and I] are at a place now where there are so few couples left. We are very happy we didn’t have to go - we were really worried!

INJURED ON THE DANCE FLOOR
I was so devastated [when Cristian was injured]. People don’t realize how intense this is. You are using muscles you never use and I think that is why there are so many injuries. I try and be careful, but his was fluke accident and sometimes things just happen. He is in much better spirits now that he knows he gets to stay another week and dance, so I am very excited for him.

OH, BABY!
This is actually getting me ready to have a baby [Winokur is expecting via a surrogate]. The truth is, I am such a control freak and its teaching me you can’t control every element of your life, the baby is coming July 15, so the baby is going to change my life and I will be a bit more ready because I can’t really control everything that is what I have learned here. So I am looking forward to learning more.

CHOREOGRAPHY CHAOS
[Doing two dances last week], they both had different moments that were really hard. I had to tell myself to just worry about one at a time and not the other, because I was worrying about both. They were so different but equally as challenging.

COMPETING COUPLES
I am not intimidated by anyone. I don’t see any [particular couple] as my biggest competition now; it all comes down to what we each do. It’s about staying on another week and having fun. I am going to try to keep dancing like it’s our last dance and do the best I can do.

BY MARISSA JARET WINOKUR