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…
Exclusive
Mya's Dancing Motto: "Don't Step on Dmitry's Feet and Don't Kick Him in the Nuts!"
Kelly Osbourne wasn't the only one hurting from last night's Dancing With the Stars.
Mya tells me the Argentine tango has left her and Dmitry Chaplin painfully black and blue. "My body is very sore from kicking each other," she told me this morning during our exclusive weekly postperformance chat. "There are tons of bruises on my legs. That's why I wore fishnets."
As for Dmitry, Mya clocked him where it really hurts at least five times during rehearsals. "My focus last night was, don't step on Dmitry's feet and don't kick him in the nuts," Mya said. "I was so nervous because a guy can't dance through that. He'd be hunched over."
Luckily, she avoided contact with the family jewels during their performance. Even so, Mya says she may be picking up a special gift for Dmitry to prepare for next week's jitterbug. Read on to find out what it is, plus get more details on Kelly O.'s injury…
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
Dancing's Mya: Surprised to See Debi and Maksim Go
Happy almost birthday, Mya.
Friends threw our Dancing With the Stars pal an early surprise party for her 30th last night at L.A. hot spot Coco De Ville. (The actual big day is Oct. 10.)
"We were just having dinner at STK and we came over and it was, 'Happy Birthday!'" Mya said. "There were balloons everywhere and some old acquaintances that I hadn't been in touch with in a while."
But, of course, there was a gaggle of new friends from DWTS…
Exclusive
Injured Dancing Debi: The Show Must Go On!
Debi Mazar isn't about to let an injury get in the way of her competing on Dancing With the Stars…yet.
The tough-as-nails Entourage actress tells me she's going in for an MRI today to check on the pulled neck muscle she suffered while doing the fox-trot on Tuesday night.
"I'm one of those people who have a very high tolerance to pain," she says. "I power through it. I can be half dead but I keep going forward."
Debs says her professional partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy doesn't realize his own strength sometimes...
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…
Exclusive
Maksim Admits Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Maksim Chmerkovskiy doesn't seem to like it rough.
"It's a little rough right now," the Dancing With the Stars pro acknowledged this afternoon when E! News caught up with him outside 3rd Street Dance Studio in West Hollywood. We asked Maks how he's been doing since he and fellow hot-stepper Karina Smirnoff called off their engagement.
Questions about the permanence of the split and Maks and Karina's plans to dance at the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 20 went unanswered—but his point came across.
It's hard to say what was the final straw for the too-cute couple, who as recently as last week were planning a June 2010 wedding.
We know that breaking up is about as fun as teaching Tom DeLay how to quickstep. But at least Maks has Madonna's kind words to comfort him in these hard times.
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They aren't life partners, but they're going to hoof it out on Dancing With the Stars together until elimination do them part: Check out this season's celeb-pro pairings!
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...









