Jane Seymour may have brought classy back to the dance floor, but even the slinkiest gold dress this side of her Bond days couldn't provide the sizzle needed to win the disco ball trophy.

The 56-year-old British actress was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars Thursday, putting an end to a topsy-turvy run on the show that included two absences and an in-house battle over what constitutes a lift.

"It was so worth doing. This has just been an unbelievable dream," said Seymour, who along with partner Tony Dovolani sported temporary cheetah-paw tattoos to protest Sabrina Bryan's controversial exit last week.

"I'm kind of teary about it. I've had the best time of my life. I can't believe what Tony got me to do," she continued. "The biggest thank you has to be to the fans because they've just been unbelievable—"

Then Tom Bergeron, who along with Samantha Harris was in ad-lib mode thanks to the writers strike, had to quickly wrap things up to bring the show in under time. (Yes, even reality shows need writers, too.)

The impact of the WGA walkout was in full effect during Monday's performance show, as was the bitter taste left by Bryan's elimination, when Harris pointedly reminded at-home viewers that it's their job to vote for their favorites.

"The reason that Sabrina isn't back here this week is because not enough of you voted for her!" she said following the first dance of the night, Helio Castroneves' tango.

"By the way, global warming, that's your fault too," Bergeron, the resident quip-meister, added when the camera swung his way.

But while Bryan could have felt the love pouring out of the studio from anywhere within a 10-mile radiance, Marie Osmond was not on hand to learn that the viewers had appreciated her jaunty quickstep as much as the judges had.

The singer and QVC fixture flew to Utah Tuesday morning after learning that her father George had passed away at age 90.

"Marie's going to be fine," said partner Jonathan Roberts, who coached the 48-year-old mother of eight back into contention last night. "She's with her family right now. It's going to be a rough week but we're going to be back."

And, Roberts said, George Osmond was able to watch his daughter's performance last night, which coincidentally was dedicated to her parents. (Mom Olive Osmond died in 2004).

"It was a good way to say goodbye," Roberts added.

Osmond, who fainted on-camera two weeks ago after dancing the samba, only to get right back up and hock a doll inspired by her infamous swoon, became the fourth celeb to excuse herself from the ballroom this season due to an unfortunate turn of events.

Seymour missed the Oct. 2 results show following the death of her mother, 92-year-old Mieke Frankenberg, while scheduled performer Gloria Estefan had to cancel two weeks later to be with her ailing mom in Miami and Jennifer Lopez prerecorded her Oct. 23 appearance so that she could attend her grandmother's funeral.

While it's hard not to be overwhelmed by all of the non-dance-related issues that have befallen the fifth installment of Dancing with the Stars, the contestants were forced to double our pleasure Monday night by performing two dances apiece for the first time this season.

Osmond was the only one to nail the first dance, actually, scoring a 28 on her quickstep to take a first-round lead.

But while Helio Castroneves' tango "needed more polish," Melanie Brown's foxtrot was "a hair out of sync," Seymour's quickstep "totally lacked body contact," Jennie Garth's Viennese waltz set her "back two steps" and Cameron Mathison's quickstep was "out of control," they all came roaring back in round two with higher scores.

Roaring the loudest was Mel B, who emoted and stomped her way through a perfect paso doble en route to scoring her second 30 of the competition. Her and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy's combined score of 54 topped the leader board at the end of the night.

But only four points separated them from Seymour, who in last place may have wowed the judges the least but whose score of 50 proved that there is verylittle margin for error remaining in this competition.

Five contestants remain and will continue to dance two numbers each week until the finals, when three couples will be called upon to triple the stakes.