Day 66: Dancing with the Stars!!! (And Rome, too!)

I gotta be honest here and say that the tour around Rome felt a little... long. Yeah, we saw the Trevi Fountain and threw in three coins to make three wishes (hey – I got what I wished for last time!)...

 

... went to the Roman Forum...


... explored the Colosseum (there were no kitties in the underground part like last time – poo)...

... went to lunch with the group...

 

went to the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica...

And yep, I can officially say I've been in two places at one time (just like in “A Walk to Remember” - awww!!): I stepped on both sides of the line marking the Vatican from Italy.

 

I can officially say I've tried Blood Orange Fanta (it doesn't taste much different from normal Fanta, except that in Italy they use no food dye in their Fantas, but instead color the plastic bottles accordingly... hmmm). I can even say I saw the canopy in St. Peter's Basilica and thought immediately of Little Gay Professor Man and thought how jubilant he'd be that I didn't need need, “Dos minutos, chicos y chicas, para fijais! De que epoca pertenece esto?” because I knew it was the epitome of the Baroque era! But all in all... it was a lot of walking, a lot of heat and a lot of exhaustion.

I felt like one of those over-spoiled types, sure, but everybody on the tour seemed to be wilting a few hours into the whole thing except for the guide, who went on and on, pleased as punch, saying repeatedly, “Look well!” and “He killed!” (instead of “He was killed”) and telling us how much every service costs at St. Peter's Basilica (Do you want to get married there? 7.000 euro for an hour with a limit of 20 guests. Do you want private time with your family in the chapel? 2.5000 euro for two hours between 18.30 and 20.30. Do you want one on one time to be blessed by the Pope? 15.000 euro for an hour and a private entrance through the Sistene Chapel.).

When we finally got back to the ship, all of us were ready to unwind. Grandma was in her swim suit and out the door before Sam and I could blink. We joined her later and went on a bunch of waterslides and went hot tubbing. :) I was keeping an eye on my watch, though, 'cause I wasn't just about to miss Dancing with the (Epic) Stars!!!

I got back to the room with an hour to get showered, dressed up in my lemon dress and made-up. By 9:05 I was in the Atrium lounge, all ready to sign myself up. So when sign up turned out to consist solely of writing your name on a slip of paper, I got nervous. What if my piece of paper didn't get selected?! What would I do?! Just then, Grandma and Sam came down to be my cheerleaders. I tried to explain I wasn't sure if I'd even get to compete, but Sam was confident I would be up there.

As 9:30 rolled around they announced the judges, then the “pros” and then finally began selecting names out of the jars. First girl? Somebody from the UK. Second girl? Someone from Ireland. Third girl? “Chelsea from Denver, Colorado!”

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I jumped out of my seat and trotted past the cameras (this was all being broadcast to the entire ship of about 6,000 people) to my partner, “Remix.” He smiled and winked at me and took my arm. As they introduced us he whispered not to worry, we'd just be crazy and have fun. I told him I was more or less a ballroom dancer and I would lead whatever he followed. This made him smile and he nodded.

There were eight couples and seven rounds (but, eek, I can't remember what one of them was... if it comes to me, I'll let you know):

First round? 70's Disco!

I had no idea what to do for this, so I let Remix lead it all. Right away he put me in hand-hold position and could tell I knew more or less what I was doing. While everybody else was doing the disco-finger, we were more or less doing the Jive with a little impromptu craziness on the side! He winked at me as the judges said all eight of the couples had sucked, “Don't worry, they always hype it up like this at the beginning – we're gonna win!” And with that, the first couple was voted off.

Second round? Waltz!

Remix claimed he didn't know how to waltz, but a few seconds into the song and it became quite clear that was a lie! We waltzed all over the stage and I tried my best to do the strange backward-bend pose I'd learned at Shut up and Dance in Fondy the year I'd lived there. We glided without to many mis-steps and we both dipped each other to get the audience going! He also picked me up and spun me semi-gracefully, which the judges commented on: “It was a nice move, but Chelsea is wearing a dress and there are small children in the front row...” Haha. Either way, another round safe!

Third round? Country Dancing!

Country dancing? I looked at him as if to say, “wtf?” thinking that was going to be like Country Two Step, but instead it was a bunch of dosey-does (however you spell that) and some little cowboy kicks. The absolute best part, though, was when he told me to jump on his back and we ran around the stage while I did the lasso motion above his head!!! :) The other couples tried to copy our awesome move, but to no avail. ;) Safe!

Fourth round? Latin!

“Hell yes,” I thought to myself. “Bring it ON.” Remix turned out to have some hip moves on him, because he got all down with the music and was doing merengue, salsa and bachata all over the place. When I followed suit, he yelled, “YEAH girl, you can move. GET IT!” and winked at me. *dancing bliss*

Fifth round? Michael Jackson (Thriller)

We'd gone in the back for another water break when the boys told us that the next song would be “Thriller.” I told him I'd accidentally missed that dance class and I had no idea what to do. “Just follow me – we just gotta entertain the audience and we'll be fine.” Sure enough, with enough “Thriller” moves, we got the judges adoring us.

The moment of truth came and there were three couples. The judges got to pick their favorite couple of the competition to advance to finals. After much debate they announced their pick: “Couple Number Five: Remix and Chelea!” OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sixth? Medley! Tango, Swing then Polka.

This was it. This was our time to shine. And Remix told me so. We ROCKED the Tango. I was a little all over the place, but when Remix asked, “Can I drag you?” I nodded and leaned in, doing my very best Tango pose I could come up with. The audience cheered and the judges loved it! Next was swing. The other couple did a lift, so we countered with swinging both of each other through our legs. :) And finally, the Polka was a big disaster. I know I lived and danced in Wisconsin for awhile, but nothing was coming to me – nor the other pair, for that matter!

After the judges gave their comments, it was time for the audience to decide. I looked over and saw Sam SCREAMING and YELLING when it was time to vote for me – it was the most adorable thing EVER!!! So many people were WOOHOOing and standing up and cheering and clapping and yelling!!!! It was a close call (and the girl from the other pair had an adorable yellow asymetrical dress with high high heels and a cute blonde braid in her Irish hair), but the winner was announced:

REMIX AND CHELSEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH.

MY.

F*ING.

GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WON DANCING WITH THE (EPIC) STARS!!!!!! The ship-wide dance competition on one of the biggest cruise ships in the world!!! HELL YES!!!! They gave me a trophy and a bag full of prizes and then asked me to do my victory dance.

“I'm too tired – somebody else dsereves this dance,” Remix said to Andy, our cruise director and host of the show/competition. And just then, the character from Avatar came out, dressed in his big costume with his giant head! HAHAHA!! They started playing “I had the time of my life” and I stared dancing with Avatar.

LOL. Half way through the song, Remix came back and finished the song with me and everybody cheered!!!! Remix invited me out to the club Bliss and countless people from the audience came up to me for the rest of the night around the ship, telling me that I'd done a great job!!! Awwww!!! Sam told me I was “famous now” and asked if he could be my “Official Body Guard.” He offered me his chocolate chip cookie and his 7up, saying he was scared the other food was poisoned and as my body guard, he couldn't have anything happen to me. Hahaha. <3 CUTE!

If it weren't 1:11 am and I didn't have to wake up at 6:15 to catch my bus to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast tomorrow, I would spend the whole night typing every detail and how surreal I felt. I'm not sure the last time I won FIRST place in something?! I always got 2^nd in Debate. I got 3^rd in my West Coast Swing competition. The only thing I can think of was the costume contest I was in when I was about 5 when I dressed up as an Orange M&M and my Elmo had a suit to match – hee hee!

But really – it was beyond AMAZING. <3 **squeal!!!*

XOXO

Jet-set Cupcake