Revealed: Dancing With The Stars NZ champion Simon Barnett's pick for this season's winner

  • 20/06/2018

Former Dancing With The Stars NZ champion and More FM radio host Simon Barnett has shared his pick for this season's winner - and it's not who you might expect.

The broadcaster won the glitter ball trophy in 2015 during the show's sixth season, along with his dance partner Vanessa Cole - who happens to also be Chris Harris' partner this year.  

"I knew Chris would do well, and my bet is that he'll win this thing," Barnett told listeners about the former Kiwi cricket star.   

More FM producer Samantha Baxter speculated that professional ballroom dancer Vanessa was the real reason behind both of her celeb partners' successes on the show.

"When you first started on Dancing With The Stars, you were quite challenged, and same for Chris Harris. But she must be a miracle worker because she turned the both of you around," Baxter said. 

"That's what I'm hating about this," replied Barnett.

"I was getting a lot of glory from those days and now everybody thinks it's her - everybody thinks it was Vanessa and that I wasn't actually that good!"

In the end, Barnett admitted his endorsement of Chris was based largely on Vanessa's ability as a choreographer and attention to detail.

"She said to me one time 'don't worry about why we're putting in so much work, people will notice your feet. They won't know why they think you're better, but they will notice.'"

Viewers can help keep their favourite dancer in the competition by texting their first name to 3333 - each text costs 99c and net proceeds go to that star's chosen charity.

DWTS NZ airs Sundays 7pm and Mondays 7.30pm on Three, and all episodes can be viewed again on ThreeNow.

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