Marie Osmond’s feisty spirit isn’t the only reason we should be rooting for her to win “Dancing With the Stars.” This year’s champion will be crowned in late November, just two days before the entertainer launches her Christmas-concert tour.

Osmond, who turned 48 this month, chatted by phone en route to last week’s results show (in which Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was ejected), about being part of a top-rated TV show, which one of her family members might not be in her corner and why she waited so long to record a new album. Q. The chance of public humiliation is so great on a show like this. Does it get to you? A. Only if you let it.

Except for (Cheetah Girls’) Sabrina Bryan, the rest of us aren’t trained dancers, so, yeah, it’s been tough. This past week I was spinning on the floor and got a massive bruise the size of a football. I think it looks like Elvis, which is appropriate since we were dancing to an Elvis song. But no one is having more fun than I am. I’ve lost 20 pounds, so I tell my fans to keep voting for me because it’s the best diet I’ve ever been on.

Yeah, I’ve said that if there are 24 million viewers, 22 million are Osmonds. They text me all the time and I tell them to get off the phone and vote. They’ve all been very supportive, but I think Donny might be voting for Jane Seymour. Q. What’s harder: Learning how to waltz or rewatching the Donny and Marie movie “Goin’ Coconuts{quot}? A. I like you. Definitely watching “Goin’ Coconuts.” Truly one of the worst movies ever made. But my kids like it. Q.