Maksim Chmerkovskiy: Kym's In, Karina's Out
Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and his then fiancé Karina Smirnoff made their Broadway debut last summer in Burn the Floor.
But Chmerkovskiy says producers have only asked him to return, which he'll do right after Thanksgiving.
The hunky hoofer says there's no way he would have gone back if Smirnoff was part of the deal. The two called off their engagement just days before they danced together on the Emmys in September.
"I wouldn't do it if she was asked back," Chmerkovskiy told us last night at the Sony Cierge event at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Instead, another one of DWTS' pros will be joining him...
Dancing With the Stars' Secret Curse: Broken Balls!
ABC
We thought Shawn Johnson was the only one who had trouble with her Dancing With the Stars disco ball trophy, but we just found out she is not alone.
"I've seen Cheryl Burke's trophy fall apart!" season three champ and football legend Emmitt Smith told us last night at the Free the Slaves Freedom Awards in L.A. "That trophy she got with Drew [Lachey]—I've seen it fall apart!"
And little does Smith know, but the one Burke took home when she helped him win didn't hold up too well either...
Cheryl Burke Urged Tom DeLay to Quit Dancing
ABC/Harper Smith
Cheryl Burke may not have been thrilled about having to leave Dancing With the Stars so early, but she realizes it was the only step Tom DeLay could have made.
"He talked to me a few days before," the Dancing pro said last night at Hollywood Life's Hollywood Style Awards, where she was given the Choreographer Award by her former partner Gilles Marini.
"It was during rehearsal when he could only rehearse 30 minutes a day," she said. "I could see it was getting worse. I offered it to him. I said, 'Tom, you don't have to continue, honestly. I don't think it'd be good for you."
DeLay, as DWTS fans know, announced his departure from season nine after last week's performance show because he was suffering from fractures in both feet.
But we haven't seen the last of this pair...
Hayden Costar: More Girl-on-Girl Kissing, Please!
NBC
Kissing Hayden Panettiere on Heroes didn't come as a complete shock to Madeline Zima.
"I had an inkling," Zima told us yesterday at Hollywood Life's Hollywood Style Awards at the Armand Hammer Museum in L.A. "I did always play my character a little bit with some kind of secret—whether it was that or something else still remains to be seen."
So what was it like locking lips with Claire-Bear on the episode airing tonight? Mostly business as usual...
What Do DWTS Dancers Do After Stars Get the Boot?
Will Binns, PacificCoastNews.com
What do the professional dancers do once the celeb is booted off of Dancing With the Stars—or leaves with an injury? Are they free to go and find other work or are they still working for the show?
—Jelykat, via the Answer B!tch inbox
Rejoice, for Cheryl Burke and her brethren are free to shed their sequined shrinkwear and flee to parts beyond. And flee they do, as long as they can make it back in time to perform in the occasional results show or finale.
In fact, your favorite dancer may actually slip out of the state and alight onto a princess fairy cloud near you. Like who? Like where? Well...
Breaking News
DeLay to Dancing: I Know How to Quit You
ABC/CRAIG SJODIN
Tom DeLay is saying good-bye to Dancing With the Stars.
I just got word that the former Republican congressman will announce on tonight's results show that his injuries have left him no choice but to drop out of the competition.
With stress fractures in both of his feet, the 62-year-old Texan performed the samba last night against the advice of his doctors and DWTS producers.
DeLay started feeling pain before the season even premiered...
Tom DeLay Won't Be DeLaid Up By Foot Injury
ABC/CRAIG SJODIN
The stress of preparing for his Dancing With the Stars debut is starting to get to Tom DeLay.
Or to his feet at least.
The ex-congressman revealed via Twitter today that he has sustained a pre-stress fracture in his foot—which appears to be a relief for the 62-year-old Texan.
"Old age is catching up to me, may have a stress fracture in my foot. no worries, it'll take more than that to keep me off the dance floor!" DeLay wrote around noon.
Two hours later, he followed up with, "No stress fracture! It is a pre-stress fracture. I live for another day."
DeLay's partner, two-time winner and last year's runner-up, Cheryl Burke, is either thrilled and relieved or has vowed to step harder on his foot next time.
Just judging by Dancing's track record, you could probably guess that this season's walking wounded will include more than DeLay. Sure enough, nimble Iron Chef America chairman Mark Dacascos, who's dancing with Lacey Schwimmer, bruised the sole of his foot while demonstrating his martial-arts mastery to his partner.
Let's keep our eyes on the disco ball, guys.
________
Check out the rest of the celeb-pro pairings for the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars, premiering Sept. 21.
Exclusive
Cheryl Burke Won't Bring "Sex to the Dance Floor"
ABC/KELSEY MCNEAL
Cheryl Burke wasn't too thrilled when she first found out she was partnered with Tom DeLay for the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars.
"I was a little scared that I was going to get a grumpy old man," she admits.
She was happy to learn otherwise.
"He's a really nice guy and he's such a family man," Burke says. "He's just like a normal guy who was in politics. But this show isn't about politics, so hopefully they give him a chance."
No surprise, but the 62-year-old former Republican congressman from Texas is nothing like Burke's most recent partner, hunky Gilles Marini...
Dancing's Tom DeLay: He's No Gilles Marini, But...
http://www.gillesmarini-calendar.com; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
It's not every day I get to talk to Tom DeLay about his waistline.
But I did just that when the former Republican Congressman called me from Sugar Land, Texas, where he and Cheryl Burke have been rehearsing for his upcoming spin on season nine of Dancing With the Stars.
The 62-year-old ultraconservative politico said he's ready for some of the show's signature costumes.
"I lost 20 pounds, so I can wear the tight pants," DeLay boasted. "I've known I was going to do Dancing With the Stars for three months now, so the moment I agreed to do it, I started working out really hard and heavy."
However, he knows he can't exactly compete with Burke's last partner, Gilles Marini…
Exclusive
Paula Abdul: Will Dancing Come Calling?
Patrick T Fallon/ZumaPress.com; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Paula Abdul may not be one of the contestants on season nine of Dancing With the Stars, but Cheryl Burke still has hope the former American Idol cheerleader judge will pop up on the show.
"As a contestant she'd just blow everyone out of the water, but as a guest judge she has a lot to say, because she has so much dance experience," Burke recently told me.
Burke said Abdul has been a DWTS fan for quite some time…
Exclusive
Dancing With the Stars: Under Doctor's Orders
ABC/Kelsey McNeal,pbnj productions/Getty Images
The medical bills at Dancing With the Stars may not be as high this upcoming season as they have been in the past.
Producers of the hit reality-competition show have finally implemented safety measures that they hope will reduce the curse number of injuries that have plagued many of their celebrity contestants.
"There's a rule now that we're not allowed to train for more than five hours a day for the first two weeks," professional hoofer Cheryl Burke told me last night at the Anna Faris-hosted Malibu-Reef Check event in Beverly Hills.
And there's more…
Exclusive
Gilles Marini: "I Feel Like I'm a Bad Dad"
ABC/KELSEY MCNEAL
Leave it to Gilles Marini to be thinking about someone else after last night's stunning upset that left him in second place on Dancing With the Stars.
When I tell him how, well, shocked I am that he didn't win, he assures me it's all right. "Don't worry, man," he said after the show on his way to catch a red-eye flight to NYC for an appearance this morning on Good Morning America. "It's OK."
He's hoping his 10-year-old son, Georges, will be OK, too...
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