Reality TV > Springer Tries Dancing to Gentler Tune
October 18, 2006
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Jerry Springer has been hearing that chant for 15 years as host of his notorious syndicated trash TV talk show, but now he's hearing it for a new reason.
His dancing.
Springer, who was a 49-1 long shot at the start of this season's Dancing With the Stars (ABC, tonight, 8 ET/PT), is still going strong in the fifth week. He has outlasted pundit Tucker Carlson, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, actress Vivica A. Fox and pop star Willa Ford.
And it is a hit — the season's No. 4 show — averaging 18.9 million viewers on Tuesdays.
"I can't explain it, unless people like to see an old schlub falling around the floor," says Springer, 62, who acknowledges wowing the audience more with his antics than footwork. "What's sad now is that far better dancers than me are being voted off. I feel bad."
In a move that caught ABC by surprise, country singer Sara Evans, 35, withdrew last week after filing for divorce from her husband, Craig Schelske. Evans, who said she needed to be with her family, makes a final appearance tonight. "I hope everything works out for her," Springer says. "Life is the only real dance. And you don't always get to choose your tune."
The Web has been buzzing with suggestions, particularly on ABC.com's message board, to bring back Ford, the last eliminated. ABC had no comment on what will happen.
Springer is not sure how he has survived this long, other than showing a new, gentler side. "Everything I've done in my public life has been edgy, and now all of a sudden, here I'm just like everybody else."
David Mann, a former mayor who served on Cincinnati's city council with Springer, recently told The Cincinnati Enquirer that Springer's command of an audience can be compared to President Clinton's. "Clinton can control a room or a stadium. Jerry has the same power."
Dancing's judges have praised Springer's entertainment values. Said Len Goodman after Springer's silly and saucy samba last week: "You bring so much fun, so much joy, so much entertainment to this show." Carrie Ann Inaba told him, "You are so adorable."
Springer says the attention is "embarrassing," though he acknowledges an "uptick" in job offers. But the veteran politician and showman knows the clock is ticking. Tonight he will perform the pasodoble and a disco dance. "In the end, they have to preserve what the show is. It has to be about dancing. At best, I've got one more week."
