Paulina Hangs Up Dancing Shoes

Wed., Mar. 28, 2007 7:04 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

She was after the golden shoes. Instead she got the boot.

Paulina Porizkova became the first contestant voted off Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday night's results show, taking partner and season one winner Alec Mazo with her.

"I feel like the kid on the playground made by the parents to go home when they're not ready yet," she said after her ousting.

"I guess my fan base was my family and they were not extensive enough."

Unfortunately, the 41-year-old's demise boiled down to a numbers game. While she and Mazo scored third overall, garnering 40 points out of a possible 60 for her first two dances and coming in ahead of the 34 points earned by both Billy Ray Cyrus and Clyde Drexler, Porizkova couldn't quite make up the numbers from the viewer votes, bumping her into last place.

She wasn't the only contestant with that problem—former Miss USA Shandi Finnessey joined Porizkova in the bottom two, despite having better scores than several other pairs Tuesday night

Not that the ousted model went home empty-handed.

While Porizkova managed to only perform two dances in her weeklong-stint in the competition, she apparently managed to win over the judges—if not the audience—judging by the steady flow of compliments that ran her way.

Judge Bruno Tonioli was at the forefront of the sweet talk, telling the "predictably bummed" model that she had "class oozing from every pore."

After her inaugural spin around the floor on March 19, in which she performed a foxtrot, Tonioli said she looks like she has "breakfast, lunch and dinner at Tiffanys."

Unfortunately, her second dance, Monday night's mambo, failed to go over quite as well with the judges, drawing criticisms that she was "stiff and starchy" from judge Len Goodman.

At least Porizkova can rest assured that, while plenty of people saw her lose her battle for the championship crown Tuesday night, even more saw her shine in her dances. The show kicked off its fourth season last week with a series best 22 million couch-bound ballroom aficionados.

And in an effort to get the same numbers for the results show, Dancing With the Stars is stepping up its lineup and bringing out the big names. In the inaugural vote off, Dionne Warwick performed "I Say A Little Prayer" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," while Jimmy Kimmel appeared to teach the steps of the tango—next week's dance—with his parking lot attendant, Guillermo.

Back to try their hand—or feet—at the dance next week: Ian Ziering, Laila Ali, Joey Fatone, Heather Mills, Shandi Finnessey, Clyde Drexler, Billy Ray Cyrus, Leeza Gibbons, John Ratzenberger and Apolo Anton Ohno.

Meanwhile, at least one of the contestants has a friendly bounty on her performance. The betting Website Bodog.com has opened up a wager as to whether or not Mills' prosthetic leg will come off during one of her routines.

According to the site rules, "Heather Mills' leg must fall off, not be purposely taken off, during a dance routine for all Yes wagers to be graded a Win."

Far from being offended by the seemingly insensitive bet, Mills herself is in on the laugh.

"There's only a small chance of it coming off," Mills told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show Monday. "I bet myself! That's why I kept my sleeve on!"