Marc Malkin
EXCLUSIVE: Read it here first...
DWTS: Who Will Take Home the Disco Ball Trophy?
It's happy feet time!
With just a couple of days to go until the disco ball trophy is handed out on Dancing With the Stars, we thought we'd check in with some DWTS vets to find out what they think will go down when Mya, Donny and Kelly waltz as if their lives depended on it…
Maksim Chmerkovskiy: Kym's In, Karina's Out
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...
DWTS' Karina Scolds Aaron for His Twilight Blunder
Aaron Carter didn't exactly get spanked by Karina Smirnoff because he's lacking in the Twilight appreciation department, but she did give him a good talkin'.
Earlier this week, Carter got a lot of flack from Twi fans because not only didn't he do cartwheels for being compared to Robert Pattinson on Dancing With the Stars, but he admitted he still hadn't seen Twilight.
"I told Aaron, 'Don't put that out there. What if Rob does the next season of Dancing With the Stars?! I want him to come and dance,' " laughed Smirnoff.
As a little extra incentive for Pattinson, Smirnoff said she plans to watch Twilight with Carter as soon as the season is over. "Then we're going to tweet about Rob's great performance," she told us last night at the Genlux, Ford Models and Madison Kelly fashion party in Beverly Hills.
While we love our DWTS, we can't imagine Rob will be signing up for the show anytime soon.
Besides, Smirnoff isn't exactly lacking in the romance department…
Dancing's Aaron Carter Can Kiss Those Twilight Votes Good-Bye
UPDATE: No surprise, but Aaron Carter has been getting a lot of flack from Twi-fans because he was less than enthusiastic when we asked him about being compared to Robert Pattinson.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO OFFEND ANY TWILIGHT FANS," Carter just tweeted. "I'M FLATTERED THAT I WAS COMPARED TO ROB PATTINSON. IN FACT, IM GOING TO RENT THE MOVIE 2NIGHT :)"
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OMG! Aaron Carter is so not that excited about being compared to Robert Pattinson.
Just last week, Dancing With the Stars judge Bruno Tonioli gushed about the pop singer's performance with Karina Smirnoff: "It was a little like watching Robert Pattinson tangoing in Twilight!"
But when we caught up with Carter yesterday, he was rather blah about the whole thing...
Exclusive
Maksim & Karina Reunion? Never Gonna Happen!
If anyone out there is still holding out hope that Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff will get back together, there's probably a better chance of seeing Tom DeLay doing a jive on next week's Dancing With the Stars.
It just ain't happenin', folks!
Maks made that pretty clear when we caught up with him at last night's Free the Slaves Freedom Awards at the University of Southern California's Bovard Auditorium in L.A.
Exclusive
Mya Is No Miley Cyrus: "I'm Staying on Twitter!"
Mya has no plans to pull a Miley Cyrus and ditch Twitter.
Even if it means getting tweets from men who are in...prison?!
"After our lambada last night, it was like, um, 'Oh jeez,' " Mya laughed earlier this morning during our exclusive weekly chat. "I didn't know they have Twitter in jail. The messages were off the train!"
Even so, she says, "I'm staying on Twitter."
I've got more Mya for ya. Read on to find out why she's kinda starting to ignore judge Len Goodman, what she wanted to do to Derek Hough's nipples last night and her thoughts about that rumored on-set showmance between Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff...
Exclusive
DWTS's Mya: "My Body Is Torn Up From the Floor Up"
Mya and her Dancing With the Stars partner, Dmitry Chaplin, have a lot to live up to next week. Their high-spirited jive landed them in a first-place tie last night with Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff, with a near perfect score of 27.
They'll be dancing a rumba next. "I'm not sure if it can be as impactful," Mya says. "It's not a fast number, so…to actually entertain a crowd with a slower song, I'm not sure. I'm kind of nervous."
The rumba, however, is a much sexier and sensual dance. "Dmitry is not a hard person to look at, so that's very helpful," Mya says with a laugh. "You just put yourself in a zone and start thinking about crushes to try and get into the moment."
That's not all I have for you from Ms. Mya. Read on to find out about her DWTS-related bruises, why she's seeing a doctor on a regular basis and her new, carb-loaded diet...
Exclusive
Maksim & Karina Emmys Fight: "It Got Kind of Loud"
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff may have looked fab onstage, but things weren't quite in step behind the scenes.
An insider reports the ex-couple exchanged some heated words before and after their performance.
"They were going at it, screaming at each other," an eyewitness tells me. "He said she was taking too long in hair and makeup. It got kind of loud."
Backstage at the Lipton Green Vitali Tea gift lounge, questions about the breakup were off-limits, but Karina said she couldn't be happier with their dance routine...
Exclusive
Dancing's Edyta: It's Gonna Be Awkward With Maks & Karina
Talk about uncomfortable situations!
Dancing With the Stars professional hoofer Edyta Sliwinska says she's not looking forward to being on set with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff when the new season kicks off later this month.
"It's going to be kind of awkward to work with them, because we all have to be in the same environment and very often in the same room or even sitting next to each other on the same couch," Sliwinska told us this week when she and her celeb partner, Ashley Hamilton, stopped by the 9Planet Universe event in Los Angeles.
"It'll be awkward because I'm friends with both of them."
In fact, Sliwinska saw Chmerkovskiy just the other day…
Update
Dancing With the Stars Duo Karina & Maks Split!
Welcome to today's episode of Splitting With the Stars.
I just learned that the dance-happy duo of Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy have uncoupled and called off their long-pending nuptials.
"I am confirming that they did indeed break up," Karina's rep tells me. No word yet from Team Max.
Word of the split comes just a month after they debuted on Broadway in Burn the Floor. In retrospect, we may have missed signs of trouble back on the eve of that show's debut, when they told us their busy schedule, including the upcoming season of DWTS, would delay their vow swapping until next summer...
Exclusive
Maksim "Can Die Now" After Madonna Love
Karina Smirnoff better watch her back!
Madonna hasn't even met her fiancé, fellow Dancing With the Stars professional hoofer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, but she may already be smitten with him.
Maksim's celeb partner in the upcoming season of DWTS is Madge's longtime best gal-pal, Debi Mazar.
"Debi came in one time and she said, 'I was talking to Madonna and I was describing you to her,' " Maksim, 29, tells me. "And then she goes—and I quote her—'Madonna said, 'Maks sounds divine.' "
He couldn't believe his ears...
Exclusive
Maksim & Karina: Dancing Over to the Emmys
Dancing With the Stars' real-life sweethearts Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are waltzing their way into the Emmys.
A source exclusively reveals that the husband-and-wife-to-be (they got engaged on New Year's Eve) will be performing during the big awards show Sept. 20.
I know exactly what they'll be doing, but I think I'm gonna hold off on telling ya too much so you can be surprised. I promise, however, it's going to be fun.
The two have already shown us what kind of fancy footwork they could get themselves into...