Marissa Jaret Winokur has lost her gig with Dance Your Ass Off to the sexy former Spice Girl, Mel-B. The executive producer of the show said that they switched to Mel-B because the Oxygen channel’s core audience grew up with the Spice Girls and there’s a large portion of the audience that can’t connect to Winokur. But Winokur’s representative told People magazine a different story:

“Marissa’s reasons for not returning to season 2 are the following: the format of the program did not allow her to interact with the contestants and offer them encouragement and support, and criticism she received from producers regarding her appearance.”

The Tony award winning actress has been struggling with her weight for a couple of years, and it looks like Marissa was axed from the show due to her weight.  As for Mel-B she is very excited about taking on the show as she knows what it’s like to dance and lose weight and she’s looking forward to following the contestants’ journeys.

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The Dance Your Ass Off host Marissa Jaret Winokur is still on the road to healthy weight loss and fitness.  It’s been a rocky road but she’s taking a healthy approach and keeping herself focused on the prize.  In her People magazine diet blog this week she wrote that it was a great week for her even though she was tempted when she hosted a BBQ at her house.  She was even sure to have healthy food available and light beer for her guests.

She went on to mention that another time during the week she was on her stair machine at home flipping through People Magazine when she came across Sherri Shepherd’s weight loss story.  She was immediately inspired because Sherri is not a size 0 but instead a healthy and shapely woman who has won the weight loss challenge.  She wrote in her blog,

“She was wearing a bathing suit and – get this – SHE WAS NOT A SIZE 0, she didn’t lose 60 lbs. and she didn’t look airbrushed! She looked beautiful!!! She was radiant and inspirational!”

Winokur explained that Sherri’s photo shoot is proof that you don’t have to weigh 120 pounds in order to wear a bathing suit.  And she also referred to  Sherri as a role model:

“She’s a wonderful role model! P.S. Her legs are to die for and I hope to look as good as she does when I do my photo shoot – in 2012!”

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In Marissa Jaret Winokur’s quest to lose weight before her People magazine photo shoot, the Dance Your Ass Off host has turned to Twitter for help.

Over the weekend the 36-year-old host found that her followers on Twitter offered her more support than her own family. Learning to tweet before she eats helped her choose a healthier option at Starbucks, while afterwards her “tweeters” congratulated and praised her for the choice.

“I guess strangers are like, ‘Come on, we can do this’, while my family is more like, ‘Oh, Marissa is on a diet again’,” Winokur blogged on People.

The Tony-winning actress and former Dancing with the Stars contestant has gone public with her weight-loss mission, hoping to return to her skinnier shape and appear in a bikini in People magazine.

Her latest tweets include “In car heading to work! Oh no CRAFT SERVICES!! Meaning free 7-11 all day long … Lord give me strength!”; “@writerchickmc You are always so supportive!!! oxoxo I am eating a banana and really want a cookie but holding strong! It’s still early!”; and “Good night, I made it under 1300 cal. Today, I’m hungry and have a headache, but it’s worth it right. RIGHT? Is it? I mean really I’m hungry!”

Follow Winokur on Twitter and help motivate her at http://twitter.com/Marissajwinokur. You never know, you might help her reach her target weight and prevent her falling off the diet wagon again.

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