Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke did it again last night. For the third time in as many weeks, the two earned a whopping 27 points for their samba on Dancing With the Stars. Although they tied with The Bachelor's Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani and Olympian Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas, there's no doubt that the Sex and the City stud and Burke gave one of the hottest performances we've seen in all of DWTS' eight seasons.
Even cranky judge Len Goodman gushed, "You just made a hard dance look easy."
That's exactly what Gilles was hoping to hear. "You know, all week long I was wishing and crossing my fingers that one of the judges would say, 'By the way, kid, this is the hardest dance,' " Gilles told me this morning. "People might think it's a party dance, but hands down it is the hardest."
Gilles had plenty more to say about his samba. Read on for dish about his butt shaking, kissing Cheryl and next week's tango.
Wow! You did it again last night with another 27. How does that feel?
I think the judges understand the amount of work we are putting into it. I also try to work the crowd and be entertaining at the same time. It's such a rush. I cannot describe how it is. I wish everybody could share that with me. I believe that the people out there—the 725 people in the audience—give me everything I need. There is no stress or nervous when I am out there because it is like one big family with me who want me to do good.
You said it took some time to get the samba right. When did you realize things were going well?
The first three days I looked horrible. Cheryl was looking at me like, "Oh, no!" Every week, it's back to zero for me. But on Saturday, I sent Facebook and Twitter messages that said, "Guys, don't give up on me. I think I get it. I think I finally get it."
Have you watched your performance? Did you know they were going to start off by zooming in on your butt?
I had an idea. I haven't seen it on the big screen, just on YouTube at 6 this morning. Hopefully, I shook it well. It looks like I was having fun. If I have fun, people will have fun.
Were you nervous that your groin injury would flair up with all that bumping and grinding?
Somehow the shaking was not hurting my groin. I'm very happy about no injury.
Do you have any preperformance rituals you do for good luck?
Before every show now, I am going to kiss her [Cheryl], because yesterday, you didn't see it, but three or four seconds before we were going to be live, I ran over there to kiss her and I ran back and danced. A lot of people came to me and said, "What was that kiss about?" I said, "Listen, I just kissed the person that is most important in the next two minutes in my life." I think it was just natural for it to happen.
Gilles, that's how the rumors are going to get started.
No, no, no! Cheryl is a major piece of my life as we speak. She is a brilliant, fantastic woman. I do love Cheryl. She is the perfect woman. You know, she's dating Maxwell and now he's a good buddy of mine. Those two deserve the world. I love them both very much.
What are you working on for next week?
The Argentine tango. It's something new for everyone. Even Cheryl said, "Oh, dude, I don't know this, so we are going to have to work twice more." The music is out of this world. As we speak, I have no idea how to dance it, but I have a few days to find out. Marc, I will impress next week.