Archive for the ‘Enteraiment’ Category

Seles and Jillette Say Goodbye

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

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He predicted it even before the dancing started. Magician Penn Jillette said that if you looked at the big picture, booking him for the show — and then booting him out first — wouldn’t be a bad move for the producers of Dancing with the Stars. “I like a little bit of game theory,” Jillette said in his first interview about the show. “The producers could have me on and say: ‘We’re booking Sasquatch and isn’t that funny? And then when he loses, it’ll be funny, too.’” But once he signed on the dotted line, Jillette committed himself fully. He got a trainer in Las Vegas that he calls “the Nazi. He’s a very, very bad man.” He dropped an astonishing 48 pounds before the show went on the air. He got special orthopedic shoes for feet that have been battered by his more than three decades in show business, starting with circus training. “The producers made me promise that I would try as hard as I could,” he says.And he did. “He did his best,” said his wife,.

Kristi Tops the Top 10

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Uh-oh, is this season’s Dancing with the Stars a one-horse race already? Following the first (double) elimination, TVGuide.com polled readers on their favorites to win the disco ball this time around. And again, as she did during the first Power Ranking, Kristi and Mark are looking golden, skating past the rest with a dominating 72.4 percent of the vote. Only one other couple, Jason and Edyta, amassed double digits!Is it simply too soon to see who might gain momentum and challenge the Olympian for the title? Or perhaps Kristi and partner Mark Ballas have peaked too soon, and are subject to David Archuleta-style burnout? As you think about and discuss that, here is the complete chart:72.4% Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas12.1% Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska4.7% Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough2.8% Marlee Matlin and Fabian Sanchez2.3% Mario and Karina Smirnoff1.9% Adam Carolla and Julianne Hough1.4% Steve Guttenberg and Anna Trebunskaya1.4% Priscilla Presley and Louis van Amstel0.5.

Are Mario and Karina More than Dancing Partners?

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

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Things on the Dancing with the Stars dance floor get hot, but is the romantic beat going after-hours for Mario and partner Karina Smirnoff? The NY Post is reporting that the pair were seen smooching (!!) outside the Four Seasons hotel in L.A. A source says, “They were making out by the valet with their hands all over each other, and he was whispering in her ear. It was around midnight, so there weren’t many people around.”Smirnoff, who is publicly dating her former DWTS partner, Mario Lopez, denies the rumor. Her rep says that the two “have a completely professional relationship.” Mario’s rep also denied the claim, telling Us, “This did not happen.” Mario, however, has hinted at his attraction to Karina, as well as at his view of Dancing as a potential hotbed for intra-cast hooking up. In this Mega Minute video, he talks about his fondness for Karina (at the 1:30 mark) as well as DWTS’ propensity for backstage hookups (2:10):What do you think of the rumor?

No Drama, Only Laughs

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Right about now, the producers of Dancing with the Stars must be thinking, “I wish we had a little more of the life-and-death drama that surrounded Season 5.” Marie Osmond fainting, Marie and Jane Seymour carrying on despite family crises, Jane and Mark Ballas being carted off to the emergency room for food poisoning and a dislocated shoulder…. There will never be a cycle like Season 5. Instead, what we have is the calm sense that stars are working really hard to dance really well, and then — given permission to let loose by comedians Penn Jillette and Adam Carolla — getting loopy with the judges. Take Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough, sitting on the floor (along with host Tom Bergeron) to catch their breath as they get their scores. “I had to sit down,” Elizabeth shares after her jive. Her secret goal in life is to play Wonder Woman, but right now, she wouldn’t have the energy. “I was so tired and so happy that it was over.

Dancing’s Dovolani Expecting a Paso Doble of Babies

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Tony Dovolani’s waiting for more than his scores this season on Dancing with the Stars. The pro and his wife, Lina, are expecting twins, People says. The new babies will be No. 2 and 3 for the couple, who have a 2-year-old daughter together.”Kids are a blessing and give your life purpose and meaning,” he says, noting, too, that “everything is great” with Lina’s pregnancy, now in its fourth month.Dovolani’s partner this season, Marissa Jaret Winokur, is also expecting a new addition to her family, via a surrogate, giving the two more in common than their dance steps. “I’m thinking about my babies and she’s thinking about her baby,” he confides. “Now, if somebody doesn’t point their toe, it’s no longer as important as it used to be.”

All Things Dancing with the Stars

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

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Dancing pro Derek Hough injured his neck during rehearsals on Tuesday. By several accounts, the 22-year-old was carried out of the studio on a stretcher and then taken to the hospital, as a precautionary measure.Hough’s neck sprain happened during practice with his sister, Julianne, and Mark Ballas. While the 22-year-old reportedly wasn’t planning to compete in Tuesday’s competition, ET says that Hough — clearly a tough professional — will now appear. Now that the show will go on with him on the dance floor, his partner, Shannon Elizabeth, can let out a sigh of relief… not to mention start warming up.

Who’s Your Favorite Dancing Duo?

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

The following contains spoiler information about this Tuesday night’s Dancing with the Stars results show.Just as everyone was deeming this season of Dancing drama-free, pro shuffler Derek Hough was hospitalized with a neck sprain and one of this round’s most amiable participants, Steve Guttenberg, got shown the door. Taking into account these latest developments, who is your current pick to emerge as Dancing champ?

Derek’s Setback, Lots of Baby Talk and Another Goodbye

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

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Weren’t we just saying that Season 6 had no drama? Scratch that. On Tuesday morning, Derek Hough, Mark Ballas and Julianne Hough were rehearsing an up-tempo routine to Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head,” when Derek threw his head back “and I just felt my neck go,” he says. “It crunched and popped and I said, ‘I need some help.’”Paramedics rushed in to stabilize Derek’s neck with a brace, put him on a gurney and drove him to the hospital where it was determined that he had strained a neck muscle, much like whiplash. The doctors gave him a neck brace and advised him to go to bed for three days “to get the weight off my neck,” says Derek, who plans to forge ahead and dance next week. “We were really worried because Derek isn’t one to complain,” says his little sister, Julianne. “And so when we saw him run off the dance floor, we were like, ‘uh, oh.’” Mark’s father, Corky Ballas, was in the ballroom and witnessed the whole thing. “The studio was really cold this morning,”

Please Vote Again Now

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Long story short — a gremlin got to the Top 9 Dancing with the Stars reader poll. So in the interest of fairness, please re-cast your vote now for the couple you think will emerge as this season’s winner.The new Power Rankings will be posted Monday morning.