ABC/ADAM TAYLORDancing With the Stars and American Idol are both so hot this season, they can't help but get their wires crossed.
Further proving that winning isn't everything, Idol castoff Pia Toscano will perform on DWTS next Tuesday. Incidentally, she'll provide the background music while, ahem, "close friend" Mark Ballas struts his stuff on the floor.
But that's next week, and there was plenty of business to attend to tonight!
After a hit-and-miss Monday dedicated to the good ole U-S-of-A (Toby Keith performed tonight, natch), it was anybody's night to go home...
Except for Hines Ward, of course. The football hunk scored the season's first 27 last night and was shooed to safety early on.
No, it was Petra Nemcova who was booted from the runway, er, ballroom Tuesday after again failing to improve upon that one memorable waltz she performed a couple weeks ago.
Sure, the Czech hottie had "perfect poses" and "beautiful lines," according to head judge Len Goodman, but, as Carrie Ann Inaba noted, it was "transitioning from pose to pose"—i.e., dancing—that tended to trip her up. Still, she lasted longer than most models on this show.
"It's been a life-changing journey for me, and I made amazing friends," the ever-gracious stunner said. "Dmitry [Chaplin] put up with me for two months..."
"Yeah, that must have been tough, huh?" interjected host Tom Bergeron.
"No wonder I get grumpy, because there is no justice," protested Len when only Petra and wrestler Chris Jericho were left behind.
Kirstie Alley also had to sweat, but not as much.
Chelsea Kane, who was left standing around last week with ultimate eliminee Sugar Ray Leonard despite being alone in first place, score-wise, was not treated nearly as cruelly tonight, and she and Mark Ballas were able to breathe easy much earlier on.
Ralph Macchio found himself in an unfamiliar position last night—tied for last place!—but it didn't seem to do much damage to his fan base. He and fellow 22-getter Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett were both on easy street after being forced to review the highlights of their relatively lackluster performances.