TV Hot Spot: News

Harris Helps Latest 'Stars' Dance Off!

Post by: Sal


A new baby was a good reason to be absent when more stars began dancing, but Samantha Harris is glad to be back for the wrap-up.

The "E! News" correspondent also is the co-host of the popular ABC competition "Dancing With the Stars," which ends its fifth round Tuesday, Nov. 27. She and Tom Bergeron will preside over the finale of a season that has had its share of surprises, ranging from Marie Osmond's on-camera fainting spell to Jane Seymour's absences due to reported food poisoning and her mother's death.

"It's definitely been the most unpredictable season we've had," Harris says. "It's a wonderful cast that's been very supportive of one another, but it's just been one thing after another -- whether it's who's in the bottom two and might be kicked off, to things that have been happening outside the show. Sabrina Bryan getting kicked off was the shock of all shocks; in my opinion, she was the strongest dancer technically."

Bryan's end-of-the-hour dismissal precluded a backstage interview, but Harris maintains she knows how to handle the job.

"I'm more a cheerleader than another harsh critic who might bring them to tears," she says. "Obviously, if something happens on the floor like someone tripping or missing a step, I need to address that. Viewers and the show's producers alike want to know what happened, but there's a way to go about asking the questions."

Harris and husband Michael Hess welcomed daughter Josselyn, their first child, the day before "Dancing" started its season in September, and she kept up with the show as a viewer during her relatively brief maternity leave:

"There I was, watching from my postpartum bed," she says, "my baby on one side and my husband on the other. We used the closed-captioning because we didn't want to bother the baby."

While Harris was off, her spot was filled by a personal friend, earlier "Dancing" champ Drew Lachey.

"We go out with our respective spouses on double dates all the time," Harris says. "If there was anyone from a past season I could have handpicked to fill in for me, it would have been Drew. I was ecstatic he was chosen, and it worked out perfectly, because he was able to get up there before his own show begins in January (ABC's 'Dancing' spinoff 'Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann')."

A fan of "Dancing With the Stars" from the start, Harris joined the show in its second season. She had wanted to be involved, but she knew her "E! News" duties would keep her from having time to train as a contestant.

"When my agent called and said, 'Hey, you're on the short list,' I thought she meant to be one of the dancers. I said, 'Boy, that's exciting, but I could never do it.' She said, 'No, no, to be the new co-host.' I was floored. I never fought so hard for a job in my life.

"Because I was full time at E! I had to make sure they were amenable to it," Harris adds. "Thankfully, they were gracious enough to work it out."

Not that E! executives didn't know what they'd get in return. With Harris as a part of "Dancing," her exclusive, up-close coverage is featured regularly on "E! News."

Given her "Dancing" experience thus far, Harris has learned to expect the unexpected from the show. She concludes, "As my good friend Tom Bergeron says, if it weren't about the viewers' votes and the contestants' popularity, this would be a ballroom-dancing special on PBS."

Take Care,

Sal