Marc Malkin

EXCLUSIVE: Read it here first...

Dancing with the Dollars

Mike Modano, Willa Ford, Maksim Chmerkovskiy Garret Ellwood/WireImage.com,Jerome Ware/ZUMApress.com,Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com

Forget the chatter that Russian dance instructor Maksim Chmerkovskiy has dropped out of the Dancing with the Stars tour because of supposed romance problems with dancing partner Willa Ford.

As I've always reported, nothing happened between Ford and Chmerkovskiy. I'm told Chmerkovskiy's decision is based on business. He may indeed be skipping the tour—because it looks like he's being lured to Las Vegas.

A source says Chmerkovskiy is in talks with the Wynn hotel to develop some sort of Cirque du Soleil-like show featuring—what else?—ballroom dancing. And Chmerkovskiy certainly isn't the only one turning his Dancing card into cash. Just this week, Mario Lopez announced that he signed a development deal with the CW network, and Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin are set to costar in Chicago on Broadway sometime next year.

Even though Ford and her fiancé, hockey player Mike Modano, are househunting in Dallas, where he plays for the Stars, I hear that Ford will continue to pursue acting work.

But if the future husband and wife are ever apart for too long, they'll always have their private photos. I'm told Ford and Modano like to email each other photos of themselves in various states of undress.

"That's the most ridiculous rumor we've ever heard," Ford's rep said, when asked about the photos.

Certainly doesn't sound ridiculous to me. First of all, they're consenting adults, so my hat's off to them. And it's not like Ford hasn't already shown off her nether regions to millions. Earlier this year, the blond beauty appeared in Playboy!

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