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DWTS "Underdogs" Reveal Their Secret Weapon

Erin Andrews and Maksim dish on why they're making it to the end—maybe!

By Megan Masters May 19, 2010 3:39 AMTags
DWTS, ERIN ANDREWS, MAKSIM CHMERKOVSKIYABC/ADAM LARKEY

Question: Can Erin Andrews and Maksim Chmerkovskiy go all the way on Dancing With the Stars?

Answer: "Are Evan [Lysacek] and Nicole [Scherzinger] still participating, or is it just us?"

So said the always adorable Erin when we chatted her up backstage tonight. But if Maks has anything to say about it, his three-time finalist losing streak will end next week, thanks to a li'l sumpin-sumpin he's got up his sleeve...

"We can joke around about that because we know we're the underdogs," Erin told us before Maks interjected that he and his ladylove partner "do [their] best." 

Don't count out this twosome just yet! They've got a secret weapon they're busting out—ever heard of a little something known as originality?! Oh yeah, we went there.

"We're different," Erin shrugged. "Evan and Nicole came into this thing and were knocking them dead from the get-go. It obviously took me every single week."

There's no mudslinging here, folks. Just the simple joys of good ol'-fashioned competition. "We've been admiring [Evan and Nicole] from the sidelines like any viewer out there," said Maks. "We just come out and humbly try to do our best. And the last three weeks have shown that we can be here. We are underdogs, but you never know!"

One thing he does know? "We are going to not play it safe."

Let's just all these two cautiously optimistic, shall we? "We knew tonight was going to go like this," Erin told us of their close call with elimination. "I thought I was going to be down for the count."

Thankfully, there was something—rather, someone—to make her week a whole lot better. (Yep, we're talkin' to you, Joey Fatone!) "I had a good time meeting Joey this week and singing 'N Sync songs with him in the makeup trailer," she gushed with the giddiness of a 12-year old schoolgirl. "It was a moment in my life. I was really excited—I maybe still am."

Do Erin and Maks have the moves to stick around another week? Dance your way into the comments section and fill us in.

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