'Dancing With the Stars' Niecy Nash: 'I'm gonna rest when I'm dead'

Niecy Nash doesn't get much shut eye. And the "Dancing With the Stars" contestant tells Zap2it she's not about to take five anytime soon.

That's because the mother of three has two other jobs (host of the Style Network's "Clean House" and a regular on "The Insider") that keep her on-the-go pretty much 24/7. Her "DWTS" partner Louis Van Amstel told us last week that his biggest concern about Nash is her lack of sleep.

But from talking to Nash, sleep is not on her imminent agenda.

"I'm gonna rest when I'm dead," Nash says.

For now, she's focusing on learning her dance moves -- without losing her curvaceous frame. Nash just may be the first contestant in the history of the show who has proclaimed that her goal is to not lose weight.

"I like my body the way it is. I celebrate my jiggly parts, and I'm dancing for every girl who's not a size 2," says Nash. "I don't need to look like everybody else and try to identify with Hollywood standards of beauty."

And to keep all her "jiggly parts" intact, Nash tells us she snacks throughout practice. At least every other day, a cheeseburger (sans onions) is on her menu.

That's not to say Nash isn't taking her role on the show seriously -- since this is her shot at "redemption."

Nash got kicked out of her dance class in eighth grade for forgetting the routine. She looks at this opportunity as her chance to make a comeback.

"I want to prove to everybody that it's never too late to follow your dreams," says Nash. "I haven't been in a leotard since I was in the eighth grade, but I'm a 40-year-old mother of three taking steps to live my dream."

And while Nash isn't making Kate Gosselin-like proclamations that she's going to win the whole competition, she tells us that if she were to somehow pull it off, she'd make it worth our while. 

"You want to see me crying like an eighth-grade school girl? Let them hand me that Mirrorball trophy because that's exactly what's going to happen."

As for why Nash shed some tears on "DWTS" season premiere night when the judges gave their critique?

"I was not necessarily thinking about the judges. As a matter of fact, I forgot about that part," she says. "Who you saw on that dance floor was Niecy Nash the eighth grader who forgot her routine in the middle of it and was embarrassed, and so I was able to dance the dance, remember my steps and enjoy myself -- and so I was just overcome."

Nash will continue her quest for redemption on Monday, March 29 when "Dancing With the Stars" begins its first week where contestants will face elimination.

Check out Nash and Van Amstel from a segment they did for the Los Angeles CW affiliate, KTLA:



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Photo credit: ABC