Wozniak staves off Dancing elimination, credits fans

Computerworld - Even though he received the lowest scores in three years on Dancing with the Stars Monday, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and his partner last night survived elimination and will hoof it again next week.

Wozniak, 58, and his professional partner, Karina Smirnoff, were one of the first four couples told during Tuesday's results show that they would advance to the next round. Wozniak looked stunned, and Smirnoff jumped up and down and screamed with glee, shouting "Oh my God."

Moments later, Wozniak tried to describe his emotions. "I was more shocked than anytime in my life," he said. "Maybe except when I got served with divorce papers."

The couple had received their abysmal score from the judges the night before -- 10 out of a possible 30 -- which was the lowest total since the second season of the reality series, broadcast in early 2006. They were five points behind the next-lowest couple, Jackass star Steve-O and his partner, Lacey Schwimmer.

In a message posted to his Facebook page early this morning, Wozniak credited fans for saving him from his second sudden-death "dance-off" in two weeks. The two couples with the lowest scores are asked to dance one final time on the results show, with the judges' new scores added to the mix.

"It's obvious that with the lowest judges' score, friends and fans who voted over and over and over for us did save us, and prove their existence to the producers of Dancing with the Stars," Wozniak said. "I am eternally grateful to so many of you who gathered groups of friends and got them to vote on all their phones as many times as allowed."

Actress Denise Richards was the celebrity dancer sent home Tuesday night.

Dancing's judges have been hard on Wozniak in their postperformance comments. On Monday, judge Bruno Tonioli told Wozniak, "Steve, get on your knees and beg [for] forgiveness. This was the worst samba I've ever seen, I think."

In turn, Wozniak has called the show's producers "liars," claimed that the phone and online voting was rigged and downplayed the judges' relevance. He continued to beat that drum on Facebook in his message today.

"The producers did their best to get me to back out because of my injuries," he said, referring to the foot fracture and pulled hamstring that have sent him to the hospital twice since the show started. "They tried to get me to back out because of embarrassment, saying the judges might give me 2's. I said I don't get embarrassed."

And he again questioned the judges' scores. "I'm not sure why the judges almost always have the same scores within a small range. How do they all know what level of lowness or highness to score? All three judges had scored me incredibly low," Wozniak said.

Even so, Wozniak said he'll persevere because he's having fun and feels that he's a role model. But he asked for his fans' continued support. "A ton of you actually voted over and over and over to keep me in, and it worked. It could even work all the way to the victory. It isn't enough just to want me to win. It takes votes," he said. "With all of you, nothing can stop me."

Wozniak and the remaining celebrities will next dance on Monday, March 30, when the show airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time on ABC.

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