Has the clock at last run out for a longtime underdog? Is Jason poised to tackle second place? Can Cristian take advantage of Kristi's weakest numbers and gain some serious ground? Those questions and more are raised by TVGuide.com's latest Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings:
The Top 4 57.8% Kristi and Mark, with their lowest tally in four weeks! 21.7% Cristian and Cheryl, who have been steadily gaining over the past six weeks, net their largest percentage to date 17.0% Jason and Edyta are also enjoying their best numbers ever 3.5% Marissa and Tony have to wonder: Now it's time to say goodbye...?
Are Shannon and Derek Dancing into a Reality Show?
Dancing with the Stars Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough by Kelsey McNeal/ABC
Could Dancing duo Derek Hough and Shannon Elizabeth be quietly choreographing plans for a new reality show of their own?
Sources tell Extra that the two are in talks with the production company that Mel B runs with her husband, Stephen Belafonte. The purported reality series will explore the recently ousted pair's career moves, including Elizabeth's acting efforts and Derek's passion for music. It would also highlight, of course, their new-found "showmance" of which some of us cannot get enough.
Would this show be a go? Or would a Shannon-Derek reality series be a quickstep to regret? Anna Dimond
Melanie Brown and Maksim Chmerkovskiy by Kelsey McNeal/ABC
It's a wonder they ever got the 100th episode of Dancing with the Stars off the ground: Imagine trying to wrangle more than two dozen kissing and hugging celebrities into their seats. Even the judges got into the act. Carrie Ann Inaba left the judges' table to wrap her arms around Drew Lacey. After the show, there would be a massive cake, a group picture and a celebration at a Hollywood hot spot. But the real party started on the dance floor, as six seasons' worth of stars and pros staged their own joyous reunion.
"Can everyone take a seat, please," pleaded warm-out comedian Bill Sindelar for the umpteenth time. (They ignored him, of course.) Sabrina Bryan needed to hug Wayne Newton. Joey Fatone grabbed pro Kym Johnson. Mark Cuban shook hands with Jerry Springer. "All my boys are here!" cried Johnson, who partnered Springer, Fatone and Cuban. "Except for Penn [Jillette], who had to do his show in Vegas."
For the studio audience seeded with 100 fans from all 50 states who won a contest to be there it was an amazing spectacle, a stellar night of star-gazing. "There's Apolo!" cried one woman as the Season 4 champ stood on the sidelines getting ready to dance.
"It's like I never left," says Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who returned for a reunion dance with Spice Girl Mel B. "We're doing a samba and a mambo. The samba is new, and the mambo is the one we did on the show. I was thinking about doing something new, but it was a big hit on the show, so I decided to bring it back. The audience is going to love it."
Chmerkovskiy, who's been sorely missed this season, just opened a third dance studio on Long Island. He says the temporary break from DWTS was just what he needed to recharge his batteries. "No one supported me in this decision," he says. "Not one person was even understanding. They were like, 'We don't care if you're tired. People would kill to be in the spotlight like this. You're 28, suck it up.'"
But to Chmerkovskiy, who hadn't been home in two years, it was time to reconnect with his family, his students, and live life away from the cameras. He's still under contract and may return next season. But the break did wonders for his state of mind. "When the show started this season, I thought I was going to miss it," he says. "But I didn't have that feeling at all. I've been training, I've been on a schedule to work out, I've been experimenting with yoga and I love it. When the hell would I have time to do that?"
The only sad point in the evening was the ouster of Mario from the competition. The audience gasped when Broadway star Marissa Jaret Winokur was saved, knowing that it spelled doom for the R&B star. But Mario was smiling to the end, a class act who says he learned a lot in the past two months, including the finer points of listening to his partner, Karina Smirnoff. "I knew how to listen to a woman," says the 21year-old. "But I learned how to appreciate what she had to say. Big difference."
Did he think he deserved higher scores? "A lot of people felt that way," says Mario. "But there was nothing I could do about it and I have to keep being the entertainer that I am. I was talking to some of the other dancers and we were saying if we'd had a month to learn all these dances, how amazing we all would be."
Mario pauses, then smiles. "What Karina taught me is that under pressure, you perform your best. I think I'm going to still ballroom dance. I'll continue." Deborah Starr Seibel
The following contains spoiler information relating to Dancing with the Stars' Tuesday results show.
The news came quick and (perhaps) unexpectedly for Marissa and Tony: You're safe! They are, indeed, the Syesha of this show. (Minus the waterworks, that is.) One commercial break later, it was revealed that in addition to (duh) Kristi and Mark and Cristian and Cheryl, that Jason and Edyta were also sticking around. Ergo henceforth therewith, Mario and Karina were sent home, falling shy of the final four. Has anything changed in your thinking? Who is your current pick to win this season of DWTS? Vote, now!
Backstage Buzz: How Cheryl Gave Cristian a Needed Lift
Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke by Kelsey McNeal/ABC
It's one thing to sustain a serious injury while you're performing and then let the adrenaline pumping through your body allow you to carry on. It's quite another to be alone and in pain, away from the spotlights, and scared that the decision you made to keep going was the wrong decision.
That's what happened over the past few days to Cristian de la Fuente, who ruptured a tendon in his left arm doing the samba on April 28th edition of Dancing with the Stars, then announced the next day that he had the approval of his doctor to delay the surgery needed to repair it and stay on the show. That decision felt good on Tuesday. But by Wednesday? "My arm started hurting and I was like, 'Oh my god. I can't drop out,'" says de la Fuente. "I told the producers that I wanted to stay. They changed the show for us to stay so we can't quit. What have I done?"
Part of the problem is that de la Fuente can't take powerful painkillers because he doesn't know if they'll make him feel disoriented and dizzy. "I don't know what reaction my body's going to have to them," he says. "And I have to dance, I have to hold Cheryl [Burke, his pro partner], lift Cheryl."
But he kept going and it was Burke who made it all work (though she stopped short of attending doctor appointments with him. "I can't handle that stuff," she says). But she came up with a plan not only to dance around his bad arm but to do the one lift per dance that was suddenly approved for the first time this season, two weeks before the finals. "She did it one way and it didn't work," shares de la Fuente. "And then she fixed it. And then it didn't work again and she fixed it again. She's not only a great dancer, she's a great choreographer and a great friend."
"I didn't really tell him, but I was nervous [Monday night]," says Cheryl. "I was nervous that I was going to push him too hard in the tango because there was adrenaline running through my body, too."
De la Fuente took 10 Advils over the course of Monday before the show. On a pain scale of one to 10, he says his arm when the injury occurred "was close to a 10. Now it's a two. But the doctor explained that it's going to start hurting in other places on the arm because the other parts are trying to compensate."
De la Fuente's doctor, by the way, is Dr. Neal Ellatrache, a pioneer in sports medicine and arthroscopic surgery and the team doctor for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was in the Dancing audience on Monday night. And he saw what we all saw, which was two remarkable performances and the highest scores of the night.
And when it was all over, de la Fuente was out in the hallway and greeted his 3-year-old daughter, Laura, whom he picked up with his good right arm. Fittingly, the little girl was holding a paddle with the number "10." — Deborah Starr Seibel
WATCH VIDEO: Kristi and Mark at Sexiest Stars Party
Last week, TV Guide threw the mother of all parties in Tinseltown in honor of all the pretty people who grace our television screens night after night. Even your favorite Dancing duo, Kristi and Mark, stopped by on by the red carpet to chat about what to expect on tonight's episode. And, we might add, Kristi is sporting quite the sexy low-cut dress to keep in theme with the evening.
TVGuide.com's latest Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings, determined by the vote of readers, finds Kristi and Mark of course playing queen and king of the hill, with virtually no one in a position to knock them off. With Shannon and Derek gone, Cristian and Cheryl have claimed the No. 2 spot with 14.5 percent of the vote but can Cristian's compromised arm weather this week's tango?
Further down the rankings, Marissa and Tony again dodged cellar-dweller status, with Mario and Karina bottoming the list. Can Mario, an early fave of the judges, reverse his momentum?
The Top 5 Power Rankings 65.4% Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas 14.5% Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke 12.7% Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska 4.4% Marissa Jaret Winokur and Tony Dovolani 3.0% Mario and Karina Smirnoff
Kelly Monaco "Nervous" About Kristi's Bid to Be Next Female Champ
Kelly Monaco Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com
As Season 6 of Dancing with the Stars quick-steps closer to its finale, let's not forget that once and only once has a female celeb walked away with that ghastly trophy. And while Kelly Monaco believes current front runner Kristi Yamaguchi and pro partner Mark Ballas have the tools to close this deal, she does have some concerns.
"I hope and pray that Kristi is going to be our girl to carry it through and take it home," the General Hospital beauty shared Thursday night at TV Guide's Sexiest Stars party in Hollywood. "But I get nervous about her coming out of the gate too strong. In the history of the show, those who have been on top in popularity and come out strong tend to fall back toward the end."
Monaco scoffs when reminded that before the season started, Yamaguchi claimed to possess no rhythm. "Oh, I beg to differ," she smiles. "She's got nothing but rhythm." That said, the show's premiere champ stresses that now is not the time for Kristi to rest on any laurels. "Even though she's fantastic already, youve got to keep getting better." Matt Mitovich
Backstage at DWTS' "Most Unpredictable" Night Ever
Dancing with the Stars by Kelsey McNeal/ABC
It was enough to make the producers want to tear their hair out. Would Latin soap star Cristian de la Fuente — who suffered what everyone thought was a severely pulled muscle in his left arm Monday night doing the samba — be able to stay on Dancing with the Stars? Or would he be forced to withdraw? And if he did, would Tuesday night's elimination of Shannon Elizabeth be nixed? "In six seasons of the show, this has been the most unpredictable night for production," says cohost Samantha Harris. "In our early [Tuesday] morning meeting, we thought Cristian could continue. Then after rehearsal, we were told he would not be able to continue. And literally moments before we went on the air, it changed again."
That's because just 10 minutes before going live, executive producer Conrad Green was on the phone with Cristian de la Fuente's doctor. Everyone knew the actor was hurt. What they didn't know until after the Tuesday afternoon MRI is that De la Fuente had actually ruptured a tendon. "Literally, five minutes before the show began, the specialist gave his opinion," says Green. "The key thing for us was knowing that Cristian wasn't going to hurt himself further. I wasn't willing [to let him keep dancing] just on a song and a prayer. But I will take a specialist's opinion over my own presumptions. If Cristian wants to do it, knowing the risks, we're never going to stop someone being on the show."
"I've been at the doctor's office, from 9 in the morning until 5 tonight," says De la Fuente, noticeably holding his left arm steady. Adds Harris, "He had a compression bandage on it during the show, but it was constricting his arm so much that it was making his hand swell, so he took it off."
Says De la Fuente, "I'm going to go to the doctor again tomorrow morning so he can tell me how to use the arm, protect the arm."
Cristian's pro partner, Cheryl Burke, says, "I have to be really careful choreographing" in light of the injury. "I think the tango (next week) is going to be the most challenging because we have to stay in ballroom hold and he's got to keep his left arm up. I'm going to try not to put any pressure on it and work around it. I don't know how I'm going to do it. I'm still thinking about it."
"I've said to him many times, "If you feel that you're going to hurt yourself, just stop," says Green. "He's going to have to be very careful with that arm."
"It's very admirable that he is not giving up," says judge Carrie Ann Inaba. "That's what this competition is all about. It's a partnership, and I think he really reminded us of that. He can't let Cheryl down." Will it be like judging Heather Mills, who danced on a prosthetic leg? "We have to score what we see," says judge Bruno Tonioli. "At the end of the day, you have to score the dance." So no lifts for De la Fuente? Tonioli laughs. "No, only slides! Slides across the floor. And less clothes." Deborah Starr Seibel
Cristian Makes His Decision! Who's Your Favorite Dancing Duo Now?
The following contains spoiler information from Tuesday night's Dancing with the Stars results show.
This week's results show offered two sorts of outcomes: Another couple was sent home, but not until Cristian de la Fuente revealed the prognosis for the injury he suffered during Monday night's samba. Toward the show's very end, Cristian revealed that he had in fact ruptured a bicep tendon and that it would require surgery to repair it. The doc and knife will have to wait, though, as De la Fuente aspires to stay in the competition as long as viewers want him and Cheryl around. "If people voted for us and they want us to be on the show, I would like to be there and not give up," he told Tom Bergeron.
As it would be divulged moments later, people do want Cristian and Cheryl around. After that couple was declared safe, Shannon and Derek rumored to be off-stage lovebirds were instead sent home.
All of which brings us to a new week of TVGuide.com reader polling. Who's your current pick to win DWTS? Have your say now!
Karina Smirnoff and Mario Lopez by John Shearer/WireImage.com
Has the music died for Mario Lopez and Karina Smirnoff? By some accounts, the former Dancing partners have split, and Smirnoff now has the sad task of moving her belongings out of Lopez's home in Los Angeles, a source tells People.com.
The split has not been confirmed by Lopez's rep, but Smirnoff is rumored to have been getting up close and personal with E!'s Michael Yo which, if true, indicates that Smirnoff's as agile in relationships as she is on the dance floor. This isn't the first rumored rumble in the relationship: Earlier this season, Smirnoff was said to be involved with her current Dancing partner, Mario, the R'n'B singer .
Lopez and Smirnoff never officially acknowledged that they have been an item, so a split will likely not see an official statement, either. While Smirnoff still has some Dancing to do this season, Lopez, at least, is getting out of town. He and his dimples are hitting the road to promote his upcoming book Knockout Fitness. I have a feeling he won't be dancing solo for long! Anna Dimond
Maksim Chmerkovskiy by Jean Baptiste Lacroix/ WireImage.com
ABC has detailed its plan to mark Dancing with the Stars' 100th episode on Tuesday, May 6, and it involves the return of several familiar faces (and their respective feet, too). Not only will Mario Lopez perform a number from A Chorus Line with Macy's Stars of Dance, and not only will Season 5 champs Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough serve up a dance-floor encore, but Maksim Chmerkovskiy — who bowed out of participating in Season 6 — will reunite on the parquet with former celeb partner Mel B.
Fans can also expect drop-bys from Sabrina Bryan, Joey Fatone, Master P. (!), Jerry Rice, Jane Seymour, Jerry Springer and Wayne Newton. — MWM
Cheryl Burke and Cristian de la Fuente by Kelsey McNeal/ABC
In a split second, the buoyant mood in the ballroom shifted. And all it took was the look of pain and worry on Cristian de la Fuente's face to change it. The Latin soap star and his partner Cheryl Burke were doing their samba when his left arm suddenly stopped working. "In the very beginning of the dance, I fell back into his arms and I heard something crack," says Burke, who was in tears after the show. "I thought it was my dress making that sound. I didn't think it was anything else."
De la Fuente kept going as long as he could, but by the end of the minute and a half, he was clutching his left arm. He couldn't complete the dance. "It really did have to be more than a muscle cramp," says Burke, "because he's not the type of guy to just go out there and give up. He's a strong man."
What was Cheryl thinking as she saw her partner struggling on the dance floor? "I was like, 'Oh my god, what's happening?'" she recalls. "I didn't know what was going on. So I just went ahead and finished the routine. I fell at the end. Whatever. You gotta keep going. It's a live show, you know?"
"I just wanted someone to take him off the floor," says Edyta Sliwinska. "To know that you're hurting especially if you're a guy and to know that everyone is watching? The cameras should not be on him. So that got me a little angry."
As Tom Bergeron cut to commercial, Burke and De la Fuente rushed backstage, as did De la Fuente's wife, Angelica, who sits ringside every night. Exec producer Conrad Green quickly conferred with the judges, who decided to judge the samba routine up to the point where De la Fuente had to stop. "You never expect something like this to happen," says Mark Ballas, who had his own scary incident during last season's finale, when his left shoulder dislocated during an encore cha-cha with Sabrina Bryan. His left arm was also hanging useless by the end of the dance. "All of a sudden, ping, your shoulder's on your back and your arm's flapping around. But De la Fuente was there for Cheryl. He didn't stop. He didn't walk off the floor. I'm proud of him."
The on-set EMT would diagnose De la Fuente as having a "severe muscle cramp," but the dancers all worried that it was something more serious. "I have injured myself in the past, but I never actually had to pull off the floor," says Karina Smirnoff, who underwent arthroscopic surgery for a neck injury just before the start of the season. "The adrenaline is kicking in so much that you don't really feel the injury until after the performance. But the fact that he had to stop means that it was really serious."
"Seeing him being carried out on a stretcher without even a smile in his eyes is not a good thing," says Marissa Jaret Winokur.
According to De la Fuente's publicist, he left the emergency room at 7:30 pm/PT about an hour after he was admitted and went home. He will undergo more tests Tuesday, and Dancing with the Stars will address his future plans on the show tonight. As of Tuesday afternoon, the buzz was that if an MRI suggested major damage, Cristian would need to bow out of the competition.
In Dancing's six seasons, De la Fuente is the first celeb to be injured, though it's a wonder it hasn't happened before. Now that the stars are dancing two dances a week with no downtime the chances of injury multiply exponentially. "On a scale of 1 to 10," says Tony Dovolani, "the level of difficulty is an 11." Winokur concurs. "There were times this week when I was laughing and crying at the same time because I'm so tired," she says. "Mentally, my brain can't take any more information. And physically, everything hurts."
How will De la Fuente cope with the situation? "We have very similar personalities," says Derek Hough. "Both very stubborn. He'll fight his way out. Even if he's got a full-on cast, I think he'll get out there and dance." Deborah Starr Seibel
Cristian de la Fuente suffered a "severe muscle cramp" in the midst of his and partner Cheryl Burke's Monday-night samba, yet valiantly attempted to finish the dance. "In the very beginning of the dance, I fell back into his arms and I heard something crack," says Burke, who was in tears after the show. "I thought it was my dress making that sound. I didn't think it was anything else." Watch video here (the ouch hits at the 1:00 mark):
Can we talk about how much the competition is really starting to gain some steam on the dance floor? Get caught up on week six by with ABC's "Online Encore" (which in actuality is the networks schmancy title for "Highlights & Extras"). Get the expert analysis on the dancers' fancy footwork, the tears shed in the confessional and even Shannon and Derek's showmance.
