Exclusive

Dancing with Mario, Week 6

Mario opens up about get hot with Karina, the Elizabeth Shannon-Derek Hough romance and why his mom doesn't really like judge Len Goodman

By Marc Malkin Apr 23, 2008 12:47 AMTags
Mario, Karina Smirnoff, Dancing with the StarsABC/Kelsey McNeal

The chemistry between R&B hitmaker Mario and Karina Smirnoff seems to be getting stronger by the minute. Their rumba on last night’s Dancing with the Stars was their hottest performance yet.

If these two aren’t careful, those pesky romance rumors will bubble up again. Even so, Mario won’t let that stop him. “The only thing I’m nervous about, really, is continuing to raise my score each week,” he says. “That’s my fear going into next week—that my performance won’t be as strong as this week.”

They’ve got a lot to live up to. Their fancy footwork on the rumba earned them a 27 out of a 30.

Read on for my latest exclusive chat with Mario to hear about ripping a bedsheet off of Smirnoff, the Shannon Elizabeth-Derek Hough romance rumors and why his mom doesn’t have much love for judge Len Goodman...

Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba loved your rumba. But Len said he thought it was too raunchy. What’s up with that?
Len is really the star of the show! Forget about us! That’s his personality even off the dance floor. I just think he’s a guy that has a lot to say about whatever.

Your 6-year-old brother was in the audience. What did he think?
He just enjoys watching the show, but now that he’s been on TV I think he’s going to enjoy it a little more.

Is he a star in the making? Is he also a singer?
He seems like a pretty good dancer from the way he was moving his hips on TV, but he doesn’t sing. He plays soccer. He likes soccer and he loves animals.

And your mom—did she have any problems with it being too raunchy?
She thought the performance was great. She said it was very hot. She doesn’t like Len too much, because of his comments each week. He always has something to say.

OK, what on earth was Karina wearing? What was that white thing?
The white fabric was supposed to be a sheet. In the dance, I was supposed to take the sheet off of her, but before the dance we decided not to do it. We didn’t, because she would have been, um…That would have gotten some other comments from Len.

I have to ask you about Shannon and Derek. Were you surprised when you heard they were rumored to be dating?
No. They’re both young, attractive and have great fun together…I don’t know if the rumors are true or not, but they don’t look bad together.