Drew Lachey Now Famous Enough To Dump Nick
Never again must Drew Lachey suffer through hearing those dreaded words "You know, Jessica Simpson's ex-brother-in-law" following his name; instead, "champion dancing star" will trail him like an incandescent comet's tail:
The former 98 Degrees pop singer out-hoofed pro wrestler Stacy Keibler, who many saw as the favored finalist, along with NFL great Jerry Rice, when ABC's ballroom hit wrapped its second season Sunday night, aired live from Los Angeles.
With his professional dancer-partner Cheryl Burke, Lachey wowed the audience with his number: a freestyle routine danced to "Hound Dog," whose big finish had him vaulting over his partner's shoulders.
The show's voting rules, a mysterious logorithm involving judges' scores, home audience voting, and a third variable known as "whatever is in ABC's best interest," saw Keibler eliminated prematurely, but not before her infectious samba exposed America to the kind of large expanses of Mystic Tanned flesh so lacking from primetime TV in the post-wardrobe-malfunction era. But most would agree this was Lachey's World's Ugliest Trophy to lose, and, fittingly, it went home in the hands of its rightful owner. Long relegated to the shadow of his more famous brother, Lachey can now take center stage once and for all, and enjoy the kind of career boost the show gave to its last winner, J. Peterman, who's probably doing some dance show somewhere.
