BRIDGET MARQUARDT: I’M ROOTING FOR HOLLY – AND MELISSA – ON DWTS

BRIDGET MARQUARDT: I’M ROOTING FOR HOLLY – AND MELISSA – ON DWTS

Bridget Marquardt is cheering for two contestants on Dancing With the Stars: BFF Holly Madison and jilted Bachelor contestant Melissa Rycroft. "I heard Holly got seventh place out of 13th, so that's good because she had very little time to practice. I think she only had, like, 6 days," Marquardt tells Usmagazine.com of her Girls Next Door costar, who joined the cast last-minute after Jewel withdrew due to knee problems. "I heard the [Bachelor's Melissa] did really well too," Marquardt adds. "I would love to see Holly take it all the way, but it would be great for the her...what a fairytale ending!"

Madison is newly single as well, after her recent split from Criss Angel -- whom she'd been dating since calling it quits with Hugh Hefner last October. "It [the show] really couldn't have come at a better time," Marquardt says. "She's just gone through a break up, her life's in transition, she's depressed and everything." Marquardt says it's "hard to predict" who will win, but: "I hope Holly stays in it for a long time!" (Especially because Marquardt is on the road for her new Travel Channel show, Bridget's Sexiest Beaches -- premiering March 12 -- and hopes "to go live and watch her in the studio if I'm ever in the country.")

"It doesn't surprise me she did really well," adds Marquardt -- who has only seen clips on the news, but planned to watch the whole routine on YouTube. "She has the background -- she was a cheerleader in high school, she did ballroom classes at the mansion, she knows choreography." Plus, "she looked gorgeous, of course," Marquardt says.

Marquardt says Hef played a part in getting Madison the gig. "Hef helped arrange all this for her," Marquardt says. "It's something she's always wanted to do, but he didn't necessarily support because it would require time away from the mansion. He loves to have us there all the time! Now that she's back home, he totally helped arrange this for her. "That's how I knew about it: I was at the mansion hanging out with Hef, and he got the call that it was official," she says. "He called her, put her on speakerphone. She said, 'Wait a minute, I thought they picked everyone!' She was really excited." After Marquardt found out her pal would be on the show, she sent her a congratulatory text message. Madison's response? "I'm kinda' nervous!"

So did Hef tune in Monday from the Mansion? "I would bet $100 he watched," Marquardt said. "Hef's 'Manly Night' is on Monday. He had [the show] recorded. He either watched it with all the guys, or went upstairs and watched it in his room! But I guarantee he saw her part."

Marquardt hasn't talked to Madison since the show aired because she's been practicing with partner Dmitry Chaplin for five to six hours. "I've been text messaging her," Marquardt tells Us. "Her schedule must be grueling. Either that, or she's mad at me for spilling the beans!"