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CelebNews@Usmagazine.com! - Dancing Finalists Stumble Into Finale, Marie Osmond Judged to be "Odd"

For a season best known for its high drama - fainting! food poisoning! the best dancer ousted early! - Monday night's performances on ABC's Dancing with the Stars were about as thrilling as re-runs of Donny and Marie.

Even so, Spice Girl Mel B (with pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy), race car driver Helio Castroneves (with Julianne Hough) and entertainer Marie Osmond (with Jonathan Roberts) gave it their all in the finale of ABC's hit show.

In the first round, the stars performed dances chosen by the judges. With her four fellow Spice Girls watching from the audience, a scantily-clad Mel B revisited the Cha Cha Cha, the first dance she had performed in the competition. Living up to her reputation as the dancer to beat, she earned a total score of 28 out of 30 from the judges.

Osmond's samba came next - and fortunately she performed it this time without collapsing. Though the trio of judges noted she was as entertaining as usual, they found her dance to be technically lacking and gave her a total score of 24.

Finally, Helio had the chance to redeem his previous Jive (for which he'd received three 8s), but the Brazilian racer veered off course. He was penalized for sloppy footwork and only earned a 25.

Up next was the freestyle round. This should have been the highlight of the evening and the chance for the dancers to show off all of their moves (including crowd-pleasing lifts).

Instead, there was more disappointment from the judges. Though Mel B had choreography help from a few hip-hop backup dancers from the upcoming Spice Girls Tour, her dance lacked the pizzazz of previous routines (one judge called it "disjointed"), but she still managed to garner a 27.

In what had to be the most bizarre dance of the evening - if not the history
of the show - Osmond then took the stage dressed as a rosy-cheeked doll who came to life to the Rolling Stones classic, "Start Me Up." The stilted, awkward dance, she said, was a tribute to her career as a doll-maker, as well as to all of her doll-collecting fans (whose votes, perhaps, have helped keep her in the competition this long).

Judge Carrie Ann Inaba called her dance "an odd choice." But judge Bruno Tonioli wasn't as nice. "This is the loopiest thing I have ever seen," Tonioli proclaimed , calling it a cross between "Baby Jane and the bride of Chucky." For that, she received two 7s and an 8.

Finally, Helio wrapped up the night with a lift-filled, high-energy routine that Berman deemed the "Best freestyle of the night, by miles." Total score: 29. Nonetheless, all of the dances left Us longing for the freestyling talents of past champions like Apolo Anton Ohno and Drew Lachey.

The three final stars will perform one more dance on Tuesday night, which only the judges will score; those scores will be combined with Monday night's totals and the viewer votes and the winner will be crowned. Mel B currently holds the points lead, but if Osmond manages not to freak out the judges again maybe she has a shot - albeit one as slim as a Barbie Doll.

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