Donny Osmond Wins 'Dancing With the Stars'

NEW YORK — Donny Osmond was declared the new champion of "Dancing With the Stars" on Tuesday night, taking home the show's mirror ball trophy in the season finale of the ABC contest reality program. Osmond, the former teen pop star of the singing Osmond family, said the show has been a highlight in a career of ups and downs.

"I did it!" Osmond exclaimed. He promptly rushed to the audience and plucked out his wife, Debbie, whom he carried across the stage. Helping push Osmond over the top was his performance Tuesday: an Argentine tango, performed with his professional dancing partner, Kym Johnson. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba hailed it as "artistry in motion." It earned the top score of the final performances Tuesday.

Three celebrities made it to finale of the show's ninth season: Osmond, the singer Mya and Kelly Osbourne, the daughter of Ozzy Osbourne. The show picks a winner with a combination of judges' scores and viewer votes. Mya entered as the favorite, having won the highest scores on Monday's show. Dancing with Dmitry Chaplin, she performed a jive. "I'm just so happy to have made it to the finals," Mya said after the loss. The 30-year-old singer is most famous for collaborating on the Grammy-winning hit "Lady Marmalade" from the soundtrack of 2001's "Moulin Rouge!"

Osbourne was the first of the three eliminated. With her famous family — Ozzy, Sharon and Jack — looking on, Osbourne and professional partner Louis Van Amstel danced to a cover of Ray LaMontagne's "Trouble." The 25-year-old was clearly moved and began crying after her last dance.

She thanked the audience and said she had "grown so much" during the show. Co-host Samantha Harris said Osbourne had become "a swan." The finale culminated a season of good ratings for "Dancing With the Stars," which consistently ranked as one of the most-watched shows of the fall.

The contestant who grabbed the most headlines, former Congressman Tom DeLay, had to withdraw in the third week of competition because of stress fractures in both feet. A healed DeLay returned Tuesday night to dance the Texas two-step routine he had hoped to perform. All the former contestants returned, including former Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin. Waltzing to the theme of "Monday Night Football," he performed a dance-off with another NFL receiving great: Jerry Rice, a contestant on the second season of "Dancing With the Stars." The judges declared Rice the winner.

Pop singer Aaron Carter, voted off this season, performed a dance to the theme of "The Muppet Show." Animal took the drums, while Miss Piggy lurked backstage. Mistakes on the dance floor weren't the only missteps of ABC's live broadcast. At the top of the show, as highlights from Monday's show ran, the video froze on shot of Miss Piggy, prompting host Tom Bergeron to remind viewers that the broadcast was live — and send the show to an early commercial break.

Whitney Houston also made a guest appearance to perform her "Million Dollar Bill" and the fitting "I Wanna Dance With Somebody." The gymnast Shawn Johnson won last season's "Dancing With the Stars."

Michelle Obama goes glam for state dinner (with a dress by little-known designer Naeem Khan)

Looking glamorous in an elegant strapless gown by Indian-American designer Naeem Khan, Michelle Obama welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Mrs. Gursharan Kaur to the White House Tuesday night and ushered in the Obama administration's first official state dinner.

Though she's become known for her (sometimes controversial) high-fashion risk-taking, tonight Mrs.Obama chose a dress with a classic floor-length cut in a subdued gold fabric and paired it with a light shawl. Her makeup was kept to a minimum and her hair done in a dignified updo. The entire ensemble seemed traditionally feminine and sophisticated, reminiscent of the first lady's more conservative predecessors.
But there were a few Michelle-style flourishes, including a pair of elaborate chandelier earrings and a stack of glittering gold-and-diamond bangles piled high on her left arm. Her choice of Khan as designer is also characteristic of this first lady, who often favors little-known artisans over big names. Khan has been on the fashion scene since 2003, and has outfitted youthful celebrities such as Beyoncé, Carrie Underwood, and Jennifer Lopez. He has also dressed dignitaries like Queen Noor and designed the costumes for the 2006 movie "Dreamgirls."
Tonight's look may mark a sartorial departure for Mrs. Obama, a shift into more sophisticated, luxurious, and regal attire, rather than the playful, accessible, less-polished clothing she's worn thus far.
It will also mean a big shift in popularity and business for Naeem Khan, who--like the first lady's favorite designer before him, Jason Wu--is more than likely about to become one of the most-searched and sought-after names in the business.

A.R. Rahman, Jennifer Hudson headline state dinner

WASHINGTON – It's an all-star lineup for Tuesday's first state dinner of the Obama White House: Oscar-winners Jennifer Hudson and A.R. Rahman headline the entertainment list.

Hudson won an Academy Award for her role in the movie "Dreamgirls." Rahman won two for music in "Slumdog Millionaire," including the Best Original Song award for "Jai Ho."

Also performing: Kurt Elling, a Grammy-winning jazz singer and composer, and the National Symphony Orchestra, with Marvin Hamlisch conducting.

The dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (MAHN'-moh-hahn SING) will be in a tent on the White House South Lawn. Guests will dine at tables for 10 with apple-green linens. Deep purple flowers are meant to evoke the state bird of India, the peacock.

Oprah's TV Pilot Deal With HBO

We told you Oprah Winfrey wouldn't disappear.

Oprah rocked the nation last week when she announced that she'll pull the plug on The Oprah Winfrey Show in September 2011. We had a hunch Ms. Winfrey had some things in the works, and it's confirmed. In addition to the official plans for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) to launch in 2011, a report emerged on Monday that Oprah and HBO are teaming up.

This may be a TV marriage stranger than Khloe Kardashian's, but it sounds like it could work. Oprah's studio Harpo and HBO are planning a pilot for an hour-long series on a woman who one day up and leaves her husband and children to pursue her dreams. The plot seems a little Desperate Housewives and left-field -- her family thinks she's been kidnapped? -- but with Harpo and HBO at the helm we can be pretty sure it'll fly.

Here's what president of HBO Sue Naegle had to offer: "[The show] is unsentimental and pretty shocking, and there is something complicated and destructive driving her ... It is literally a day at the pool, where she gets up, in sarong and flip-flops, and walks out of her life, leaving everyone behind so abruptly that her husband and kids initially think she's been kidnapped or murdered."

Interview Exclusive: Samantha Harris of 'Dancing With the Stars'

Samantha Harris shares the secrets of her transformation into a "ballroom princess."

Busy women will get this: we have careers, homes, jobs, kids, appointments, workouts, and now...the holidays. How are we supposed to manage it all and still feel good?

Dancing With the Stars co-host Samantha Harris knows the struggle. The alpha-female who turns 36 this week holds down a gig with the number-one reality show in America and is a host and correspondent on CBS' The Insider. She's also a wife to financial wholesaler Michael Hess, as well as a mom to busy two-year-old Josselyn. For Harris to keep up her workout routine through her pregnancy was a must for her high-profile TV gig...and for her peace of mind. She now has one of the most coveted bods on TV, and when the women heard we were talking to Samantha Harris they wanted to know one thing: "How does she always look so amazing?!"

While prepping for Dancing With the Stars to go live ("I can give you a good fifteen minutes!" she said while noshing on a barbecue chicken salad in the makeup chair) Samantha Harris kindly revealed her banging body tricks (including - aha! - lots of sculpting for those killer arms).

LimeLife: Samantha, the first thing everybody wants to know about you is this: how do you maintain such awesome shape?

Samantha Harris: Oh, thank you! Basically, pre-pregnancy, I was very dedicated to my workouts anyhow -- they'd always been an important part of my life. So I was working out a solid four to six days a week for an hour a day before I had Josselyn, and I think muscle memory comes into play a lot when you're trying to get back in shape post-baby. But I think it also really helped that I the good fortune of having a very good pregnancy where I wasn't sick. I was able to maintain my workouts throughout the majority of my pregnancy. I kept up with the same activities that I was doing pre-pregnancy, just with a heart rate monitor and a slightly lower intensity under supervision of my doctor. So I felt really great and I think that really helped.

LimeLife: So then during your pregnancy, what was your attitude toward your diet?

Samantha Harris: During the pregnancy I tried not to overindulge. I think our society has taught us that we can eat for two, and I think that's an unfortunate bit of misinformation that's been passed down from generation to generation. I really maintained a similar diet to what I had pre-pregnancy. The only thing I really changed was eating within the first hour of waking up because I was always a late-morning breakfast person and I usually would go a few hours before I would actually have a meal. I think that was the biggest change as well as the occasional slight nausea I had in the first trimester.

LimeLife: Then can you share with us some of the not-so-disciplined choices you might allow yourself to make every now and again?

Samantha Harris: (laughs) I am a huge dessert fantatic, and I will eat something sweet every single day. So to me that means that I have to balance that somehow. I make choices like egg-white omelettes and lean chicken breasts and brown rice and salad with lower-calorie dressing; no cheese, no red meat. You can find your own [food habits] that you feel okay giving up.

Love it when the Dancing With the Stars stars get personal? Finalist Kym Johnson recently spoke with us about life offstage and working with Donny Osmond - check Kym out here! Plus, check back tomorrow when Samantha Harris shares a behind-the-scenes look at life when she's not in front of the Dancing With the Stars camera.

Black Friday deals have gamers grinning

Thanksgiving's almost here, and with it comes what's by far the biggest shopping day of the year -- Black Friday. But before you set your alarm clock, pack your sandwiches, and head out to tackle the crowds, get educated. We've boiled the week's ads down into the most tempting deals for gamers -- and for those shopping for them.

This year, retailers are favoring console bundle deals over straight price cuts, and there are some seriously tempting packages out there, like Walmart's PS3 offer that throws in top superhero games Infamous and Batman: Arkham Asylum -- plus The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray -- for the same $299 the base console costs. That's a savings of nearly $150.

On the games front, most major retailers are slashing prices on even the newest of releases. Dragon Age: Origins -- released just two weeks ago -- will be on sale for $34.99 at Best Buy, a $15 saving, and it's by no means the only bargain. Smash hit The Sims 3 will be available at several stores for under $30, while Rock Band (complete with guitar, mic, and drums) can be rocked for an astounding $50 at Walmart.

Read on for our picks of the best deals from each store, but there are lots more. Check www.blackfriday.info for complete details.

Over 100 icebergs drifting to N.Zealand: official

SYDNEY (AFP) – More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.

An Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist said the ice chunks, spotted by satellite photography, had passed the Auckland Islands and were heading towards the main South Island, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northeast.

Scientist Neal Young said more than 100 icebergs -- some measuring more than 200 metres (650 feet) across -- were seen in just one cluster, indicating there could be hundreds more.

He said they were the remains of a massive ice floe which split from the Antarctic as sea and air temperatures rise due to global warming.

"All of these have come from a larger one that was probably 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles) in size when it left Antarctica," Young told AFP.

"It's done a long circuit around Antarctica and now the bigger parts of it are breaking up and producing smaller ones."

He said large numbers of icebergs had not floated this close to New Zealand since 2006, when a number came within 25 kilometres of the coastline -- the first such sighting since 1931.

"They're following the same tracks now up towards New Zealand. Whether they make it up to the South Island or not is difficult to tell," Young said.

New Zealand has already issued coastal navigation warnings for the area in the Southern Ocean where the icebergs have been seen.

"It's really just a general warning for shipping in that area to be on the alert for icebergs," said Maritime New Zealand spokesman Ross Henderson.

The icebergs are smaller remnants of the giant chunks seen off Australia's Macquarie Island this month, including one estimated at two kilometres (1.2 miles) and another twice the size of Beijing's "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium.

Young earlier told AFP he expected to see more icebergs in the area if the Earth's temperature continues to increase.

"If the current trends in global warming were to continue I would anticipate seeing more icebergs and the large ice shelves breaking up," he said.

When icebergs last neared New Zealand in 2006, a sheep was helicoptered out to be shorn on one of the floes in a publicity stunt by the country's wool industry.

Tween Justin Bieber fans lose control at NY mall

New York police shut down a mall appearance by teen pop singer Justin Bieber (BEE'-ber) after thousands of young girls showed up and got a little too wild.

Nassau County police say girls and adults in the crowd of nearly 3,000 started pushing and shoving as they waited for the 15-year-old sensation to arrive Friday at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City.

Five people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.

Police arrested a vice president from Bieber's record label, Island Def Jam Records. They say he wasn't cooperating with attempts to disperse the crowd.

Some fans had camped out overnight for the event.

Bieber never made it into the building. He told WBLI radio that police turned him away.

Bieber's debut album, "My World," was released Tuesday.

Palin angered by 'sexist' Newsweek cover

For the second time since Sarah Palin stepped into the national political spotlight, a photo of the former Republican vice-presidential candidate featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine is sparking controversy. Palin herself blasted the "out-of-context" cover as "sexist" on her Facebook page.

Originally published in the August 2009 issue of Runners World, the photo features the former Alaska governor in short runner's shorts. It was part of a multi-photograph slideshow that accompanied an article about Palin and her love for the sport titled, "I'm A Runner." In her Facebook post late last night, Palin took issue with Newsweek using a photo from an article about health and fitness to promote an analysis piece contemplating her relevance as a political figure:

"The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this "news" magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner's World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness -- a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention -- even if out of context.

The reaction to the Newsweek cover has predictably sparked outrage from conservative supporters of Palin and kudos from liberals who oppose her. CBN commentator David Brady called the cover "a new low" for the "biased" magazine, adding that Newsweek has a history of portraying liberal women as "heroes for the next generation," while portraying conservative women like Palin as "nuts and dopey." Meanwhile, documentary photographer Nina Berman hailed the cover as "brilliant" and "shrewd" for using a "propped photo where Palin is an obvious participant ... to show how far out she is willing to travel on the road of self promotion" while "shield[ing] themselves from what would have been the inevitable criticism if they had dolled her up themselves and posed her the same way."

The current cover flap isn't the first time Newsweek has generated controversy with a photograph of Palin. The October 13, 2008, issue featured an extreme close-up of Palin that seemed to be devoid of the high-tech retouching often employed by magazines. Conservatives claimed this highlighted some of Palin's supposed "flaws," like wrinkles around her eyes.

Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham told Yahoo! News that the photo choice was simply the "most interesting image available":

"We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do. We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard."

Byrd becomes longest-serving Congress member

WASHINGTON – The Senate is marking a new milestone Wednesday when West Virginia Sen. Robert C. Byrd becomes the longest-serving lawmaker in congressional history.

"I look forward to serving you for the next 56 years and 320 days," Byrd said in a statement marking the occasion. His only regret, Byrd said, was that his late wife, Erma, was not there with him.

"I know that she is looking down from the heavens smiling at me and saying congratulations, my dear Robert — but don't let it go to your head," Byrd said.

It was unclear whether Byrd would be able to attend Wednesday's session.

Setting records is old news to the white-maned Democratic lawmaker. Since June 12, 2006, Byrd has been the longest-serving senator and later that year he was elected to an unprecedented ninth term. His colleagues have elected him to more leadership positions than any senator in history. He has cast more than 18,000 votes and, despite fragile health that has kept him from the Senate floor during much of this year, has a nearly 98 percent attendance record over the course of his career.

Which, by Byrd's count, has spanned 20,774 days. On Tuesday, Byrd's service tied the record set by Carl Hayden, D-Ariz., who served in the House, then the Senate, from 1912 to 1969.

The arc of Byrd's story is more complex than the numbers would suggest. It's been long enough for him to rescind positions that he once trumpeted, such as his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Lengthy enough to voice his regret, over and over, about joining the Ku Klux Klan a lifetime ago. Long enough to see and cheer the nation's first black president and to watch his one-time rival and later dear friend, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., succumb to brain cancer.

He's a champion of "earmarks" — pet project spending that critics also call "pork." He's helped bring home to West Virginia $326 million for 2008 alone, according to Citizens Against Government Waste.

Byrd's also been around enough to confound a monthslong whispering campaign that he was not well enough to continue serving as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He stepped down only when he was ready but still chairs the panel's homeland security subcommittee. In October, after a season of illness and absence, Byrd personally managed a $44.1 billion spending agreement on security measures against natural disaster, terrorist attacks and other threats.

Friday is his 92nd birthday. And next week, Byrd writes in his weekly column, should be about Thanksgiving.

What does he give thanks for this year?

The privilege, he writes, of representing "our great people in the United States Senate."

Longer, of course, than anyone else.

US adult smoking rate rises slightly

ATLANTA – Cigarette smoking rose slightly for the first time in almost 15 years, dashing health officials' hopes that the U.S. smoking rate had moved permanently below 20 percent.

A little under 21 percent of Americans were current cigarette smokers, according to a 2008 national survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's up slightly from the year before, when just 19.8 percent said they were smoking. It also is the first increase in adult smoking since 1994, experts noted.

The increase was so small, it could be just a blip, so health officials and experts say smoking prevalence is flat, not rising. But they are unhappy.

"Clearly, we've hit a wall in reducing adult smoking," said Vince Willmore, spokesman for the Campaign for tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington, D.C.- based research and advocacy organization.

There's a general perception that smoking is a dying public health danger. Feeding that perception are indoor smoking laws, cigarette taxes and Congress's recent decision to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco.

But health officials believe gains have been undermined by cuts in state tobacco control campaigns. Also, the tobacco industry has been discounting cigarettes to offset tax increases and keep smokes affordable, Willmore said, citing tobacco industry sales data.

The adult smoking rate has been dropping, in starts and stops, since the mid-1960s when roughly 2 out of 5 U.S. adults smoked. Now it's 1 in 5. However, federal health goals for the year 2010 had hoped to bring the rate down to close to 1 in 10.

Adult smoking hovered at about 21 percent from 2004 to 2006, then dropped a full percentage point in 2007, said Dr. Matthew McKenna, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health.

The 2007 drop gave CDC officials hope that U.S. smoking was plummeting again. "Now that appears to be a statistical aberration," McKenna said.

The new survey's results come from in-person interviews of nearly 22,000 U.S. adults.

The study was released Thursday, published in the CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Also on Thursday, the CDC released state-by-state results on smoking from a different survey, conducted by telephone, of more than 400,000 adults. West Virginia and Indiana had the highest smoking rates, at about 26 percent, but four other states — Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee — had rates about as high.

Utah had, by far, the lowest smoking rate, with only about 9 percent of Utah residents describing themselves as current smokers.

Many of the states that have the lowest smoking rates are those that have been the most aggressive about indoor smoking laws and about state taxes that drive up the cost of cigarettes, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC's director.

Health officials are optimistic that more and more smokers will be discouraged from lighting up by escalating cigarette taxes, including a 62-cent federal tax that took effect in April. Perhaps the recession will have an impact, too.

"In general, when people have less money, they smoke less," Frieden said. "Time will tell."

Zardari allegedly made big money in sub-marine sale

PARIS: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is suspected of having received millions of dollars in kickbacks from the 1994 sale of three French submarines to the Pakistani Navy, a French daily reported.

In addition, investigators believe that the non-payment of the full amount of the agreed kickbacks may have led to the deaths of 11 French nationals in a 2002 terror attack in the city of Karachi.

The report says the French daily acquired documents that allegedly show that Zardari received 4.3 million dollars in kickbacks from the sale of three Agosta 90 submarines for 825 million euros (currently 1.237 billion dollars).

The documents were sent to the Pakistani National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by British authorities in April 2001 and indicate that Zardari received several large payments into his Swiss bank accounts from a Lebanese businessman, Abdulrahman el-Assir, in 1994 and 1995.

According to a former executive of the French naval defence company DCN, French authorities chose el-Assir to act as intermediary in the deal. He allegedly deposited a total of 1.3 million dollars in Zardari’s bank accounts between August 15 and 30, 1994, one month before the submarine contract was signed, and then 1.2 million dollars and 1.8 million dollars one year later.

According to DCN employees who testified in the terror attack investigation, the kickbacks to Pakistan in the deal totalled 10 per cent of the purchase amount, with 6 per cent, or 49.5 million dollars, going to the military and 4 per cent, or 33 million euros, being funneled to political circles.

Top 15 Franchise Failures

The recession has hit franchise owners particularly hard, with the Small Business Administration (SBA) reporting record loan default rates for 2008-2009. According to the SBA, individuals who took on SBA loans to finance a franchise had a 43% higher failure rate than in 2007. In total, those franchise losses cost the SBA $93.3 million last year - nearly 170% higher than the year before. Since 2004, franchise loan defaults have increased by nearly 10% (from 3.1% to 13.4%), highlighting that franchise owners have had an increasingly difficult time making a successful go of their new ventures. Sorting through the 2009 Franchise Coleman Report we were able to determine the franchises that had the highest SBA loan failure rates in 2008.

1. Noble Roman's Pizza

Billing itself as "The Better Pizza People," this Indianapolis-based franchiser has had a tough time selling that proposition to customers. While the company reported a 30% net income increase in Q1 of 2009, Q2 total revenues were down more than $500,000 from the comparable period in 2008. Maybe that's why 53% of all owners with SBA loans defaulted in 2008.

2. PJ's Coffee and Tea Café

PJ's Coffee and Tea Café started out as a small business in New Orleans 30 years ago and only recently began selling franchise rights across the south, southeast and southwest. It might want to stick to Cajun country - 50% of the franchisees failed on their SBA loans last year.

3. Super Suppers

At the height of the market, working families expanded their spending to include luxuries such as cleaning services, lawn services and even assemble-your-own dinner services. Super Suppers jumped on the concept and its franchise growth was exponential between 2005 (40), to 2006 (152), and 2007 (206). However, the growth stalled with no new franchise owners coming on board in 2008, and existing owners with SBA loans began failing at a quick pace - 42%, to be exact, in 2008.

4. Figaro's Italian Pizza

Figaro's has been in business for 28 years, but most of its franchise owners aren't likely to reach that same anniversary. One-third defaulted on their loans, unable to grab enough of the industry's $32 billion in annual revenues.

5. New York NY Fresh Deli

Perhaps it was the low single-site franchise fee ($17,500) that attracted new business owners, but it was low revenues that led to closed doors. Thirty-one per cent defaulted on SBA loans in '08.

6. Amazon Café

This franchiser offers smoothies, wraps, salads, soups, juices and more, but apparently not enough more to keep all operators in business. Thirty per cent failed in 2008, and more than 52% have defaulted on their SBA loans since 2000.

7. Simple Simon's Pizza

Simple Simon's grew from one store in Tulsa to a network of 220 restaurants nationwide since 1982. However, nearly 30% of store owners who took on an SBA loan to finance the start-up have defaulted. Perhaps selling pizza isn't quite so simple after all.

8. Snip-Its

The Snip-Its children's hair salons ranked 30th on the Franchise Times' 2007 list of 55 fastest growing franchises, but two years later that growth has stalled. Thirty per cent of store owners with SBA financing failed to repay their loans in 2008.

9. U Build It

Seeking to grab a share of the market that made Lowe's and Home Depot household names the U Build It franchise offers owners an opportunity to serve as "construction consultants" for DIYers interested in building or renovating their own homes. But when the housing market collapsed, it shouldn't come as a shock that 27% of their franchisees reneged on their SBA loans.

10. Bellacino's Pizza

If you're a Facebook user, you can become a Bellacino's Pizza "fan." Unfortunately 26% of Bellacino's owners that took on SBA financing couldn't get enough regular fans to stay current on their debt payments. That number closes in on 30% dating back to 2000.

11. Blockbuster Video

While Blockbuster was able to fend off brick and mortar competitors, it has struggled to maintain market share since Netflix and Redbox changed the rules of the game. In 2008, one in four store owners with SBA loans failed to repay their debt; that number jumps to a sobering 38% since 2000.

12. Pizza Factory

If this list proves anything, it should be that entrepreneurs might do well to avoid pizza franchises. Twenty-four per cent of Pizza Factory owners took a pass on repaying their SBA loans in 2008, and that number jumps to 43% if you look back to 2000.

13. Pro Golf

With a rising unemployment rate, workers aren't knocking off early to hit the links. Perhaps that's what led to 24% of Pro Golf franchise owners defaulting on their SBA loans. But the fact that 64% of all owners have failed to repay their loans since 2000 makes you think that perhaps the business model is the real news, not the recession.

14. Conoco Service Station

While ConocoPhillips Company is a Fortune 500 company, its service center franchise owners (more than 3,100 operate under the Conoco, Phillips 66 and Union 76 brands) are struggling. More than one in five (22%) have defaulted on their SBA financing commitment.

15. Keva Juice

Keva's product isn't a "blendsation" everywhere. Twenty-two per cent of these smoothie store owners didn't raise enough revenue to repay their SBA loans last year; more than one in four (26%) have defaulted on their loans since 2000.

Conclusion

The moral of this story? If you're going to take on an SBA loan to finance your franchise, take a close look at which fellow entrepreneurs failed before you face the same fate.