Reviews

Dance Your Ass Off

By BARI LIEBERMAN


Monday, June 29, 10PM, Oxygen

Take the glitz and glamour of Dancing with the Stars, add the emotional roller coaster of The Biggest Loser, and you get the new reality weight-loss competition Dance Your Ass Off.

Twelve full-figured fleet-of-foot contestants will try to shed pounds by busting a move, hoping to win a healthy new body and the $100,000 prize!

Each week, the contestants learn a new dance style, such as hip-hop, ballroom and even pole dancing, with a pro partner. Then they perform in front of a live audience and a panel of judges led by dancer Lisa Ann Walter. After receiving their scores, the contestants weigh in, and the one with the lowest combined dance and weight-loss total is sent packing!

Host Marissa Jaret Winokur, Tony Award winner for Hairspray and Dancing with the Stars alum, thinks shaking your butt is a great way to a healthier you. “You’re doing a cardio workout while having fun,” she tells Star. “You sweat like crazy, but because you’re so focused on learning the steps, you forget how much pain you’re in!”

There are daily practices and gym sessions with trainers and nutritionists on site to help the dieters change their lives. And for Marissa, getting a chance to strut her stuff again was reason enough to sign on. “I hadn’t danced since DWTS, and I was so inspired that I started dancing again,” she tells Star. So would she have stood a chance in this competition? “I tried to pole dance, and I only lasted 20 minutes,” she laughs. “I wouldn’t make it very far on this show!”
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