Ricki Lake will be a little busy this fall with the premiere of her return to talk television on “The Ricki Lake Show,” but she would love to make a guest appearance on Season 15 of “Dancing with the Stars.”
“I’ve become like an uber, uber ‘Dancing with the Stars’ fan. I think it’s going to be a really exciting season,” Ricki told reporters on Saturday at the Television Critics Association summer tour in Beverly Hills. “And I’m hoping that they ask me to come back and do like one dance or something…. I really hope that I get to come back and do something.”
Ricki said she’s rooting for Kristie Alley, who is one of the alums returning to compete in the all-star edition this fall.
“I’m really happy that she’s back. I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do. I also think that guy Gilles [Marini] is really hot,” Ricki laughed.
Asked if she’s still cutting a rug on occasion by a reporter, the talk show host, who has always been open about her struggles with weight, said she hasn’t completely maintained her “DWTS” figure.
“Do I look like I’m still dancing? I have not been dancing,” Ricki said. “I cringe because at the end of the show I had [gotten] in such great shape… I’m still in the jeans, they’re just a little bit tighter now. But I did say to the press that I wanted to keep it [off]. It kills me that I couldn’t, but I wasn’t dancing every day. That show, for three and a half months, seven days a week, on average six to seven hours a day dancing, it’s impossible to maintain, but, I’m working on it.”
“The Ricki Lake Show” returns to syndicated television on September 10 and so far, she’s taped two shows.
Asked by AccessHollywood.com if the famous audience chant from her past – “Go Ricki!”– was part of the new show, or if she’d moved on for a mature feel, Ricki said she’d welcome it if the crowds want to react with the chant.
“It’s something that happened organically with the original show and I don’t remember how it came about. I feel like it was just generated from that New York crowd we had. It didn’t happen the first day of taping [the new show], but the second taping, it did sort of spring up,” she said. “It feels like a natural kind of thing, but I’m not opposed to it. It’s very endearing and it makes me feel very welcome, but I don’t want to be forcing people to [do] that when they come to our audience.”
Ricki’s new show won’t focus on celebrity guests to fill the time.
While celebrities will be brought in on occasion if the content fits, Ricki is mostly hoping for a Phil Donahue-style conversation-sparking talker.
“Phil Donahue, when he did those sorts of town hall meetings before Oprah [Winfrey’s show] and it sort of elevated conversation… and it was smart content, I think I want to do a little bit of that,” she said.
A mother of two, Ricki knows that balancing her big work schedule with parenting two boys will be tough.
“This is gonna be the challenge. I mean, ‘Dancing with the Stars’ was as tough as it gets because I really wasn’t home, but I did get married a few months ago and so my husband happens to be incredibly supportive,” Ricki said when Access asked about balancing parenting and her new gig. “I’m also one of these people, I think divorce can actually work really well too, because every Wednesday night and every other weekend, my kids go to their dad and they have a great relationship with him and I have free time with my sweetheart. It’s about a balance.”
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