After his worst performance of the season and near-elimination after dancing the tango this week, Baltimore's Mario says he has "rededicated" himself to winning ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

In his weekly conversations with The Sun during the season, Mario had voiced mounting concerns about spending enough time in rehearsal with partner Karina Smirnoff while crisscrossing the country performing as a singer. On Monday, it caught it up with him when he and Smirnoff scored only a 21 out of 30 points and were one of two couples facing elimination at the end of the Tuesday night results show.

"This week has definitely been planned out better," he said. "And I've now made the show my No. 1 priority."

Mario says he is not making excuses for Monday's performance: "I'm not asking people because of my busy schedule to have mercy or pity on me -- no, not at all. I simply underestimated the time it takes to do this right. But it's all good, I got some constructive criticism from the judges, and it's only going to make me stronger.

Mario says he'll be dancing the Paso Doble to the song "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder -- and so far, he is finding it easier than the tango.

"The tango is not an easy dance to learn, and the pressure is there because everybody assumes because of my music career, I'm going to be perfect every time. Plus, Karina is amazing at what she does, but this girl's choreography is not the easiest in the world."

As to what it was like standing on-stage with one other couple waiting to hear which would be eliminated, Mario says it's a nightmare.

"When you are one of the last two on the stage, you really feel -- really feel it," he said. "Look, if it wasn't for those black ballroom pants I was wearing, I might have had a problem. ... I was so nervous, I might have peed on myself -- and those white pants I had been wearing [in previous weeks] might have showed that."

Read recaps of the Dancing With the Stars episodes so far here. 

(Photo of Karina and Mario courtesy of ABC)