Photo Credit: ABC/KELSEY McNEAL

Week 6: I’m Excited About This Week’s Group Number!

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

GET READY FOR GROUP NUMBERS!
This week’s [couples’] dance is the Viennese Waltz. I am also excited about the group dance, too; I like ensemble numbers. I’m working as hard as I can!

SEXY SAMBA
The way I was able to get into my character [for last week’s dance] was by thinking I was a party girl going to a nightclub and being like ‘Come on, you want me!’ But actually I have never even been to a nightclub and I don’t think I would be like ‘Tony, do you want me?’ because I’m married. I have been to many gay bars but not a nightclub - it was definitely different. The character that I was doing in the samba was a lot more confident and was a more sexual being and I am just Marissa. It was the most fun I have had on the stage so far - much more fun than it looked.

MARLEE + MARISSA = BFF
Marlee and I are really close, she is my closest friend here. This week she was emailing me and saying she was shaking her booty all week long and I was telling her I was dropping it like it was hot. It’s great to have someone to talk to and say ‘You know what? This is really hard.’ I just told her just go out there and have fun. I keep trying to instill that in her that we are at halfway mark and that it’s totally awesome.

HOW CHARM-ING
My new good luck charm is a necklace from Jane Seymour! She gave it to me the night that we got those horrible, horrible scores on the jive, so during the next dance when I got saved, I thought it was this necklace that saved me! Now I can’t take it off my neck.

STILL GROOVIN’
My friends always tell me they can’t believe I’m still on the show! None of my celebrity friends would ever want to do this. It’s so much work and such a hard gig!

BY MARISSA JARET WINOKUR