Give Kate Gosselin a Break, Says Dancing Pro

Find out why Mark Ballas thinks we should be more supportive of the reality-TVmom

Bruno Tonioli may find Kate Gosselin's dancing "dreadful," but two-time cha-cha champ Mark Ballas thinks people need to cut the reality mama some slack.

"She's really out of her element, thrown in the deep end," Ballas tells us. "I think she's doing a really good job, and I think people need to give her a break. I absolutely sympathize with her. She's never done this before. It's difficult."

But that doesn't mean Ballas expects Gosselin to actually win...

Ballas says he has high hopes for that other reality-TV star contestant, Bachelor boy Jake Pavelka, along with Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger and Olympic champ Evan Lysacek. "I also really like Erin and Maks together," he added. "I thought what they did with the blindfold was really creative."

Even though we are bummed that Ballas and Shannen Doherty were the first to get booted this season, at least he now has plenty of time to recover from his painful knee injury. And don't be surprised if said knee starts to twitter.

"I think it's kind of awesome that there's a Twitter page for Evan's broken toes," Ballas joked. "I'm going to need my knee to have its own."

Fortunately, he doesn't exactly need his knee to continue working on his other passion. Ballas will be at the Mint in L.A. on Monday night performing songs from his new album, Waiting for Patience.