Women aren't the only ones who have the prerogative to change their minds. Dancing with the Stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who told TV Guide that he would not be returning for Season 6 (starting in March), has had a change of heart. He wants to be asked to return to the show.
His comments, he says, were a result of the fatigue after a very long season and the strain of being away from home (Maks lives and works in Edgewater, New Jersey) for the six months that it took to do two seasons of the show during 2007. "Being away from home for so long was taking its toll," says Maks. "I'm one of those people who get very homesick and needs to recharge the batteries. I've missed all the Hanukkah parties and all the dinners. I haven't seen my family in four months."
But after seeing his words in print, he realized th
read more
Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Dancing with the Stars
This may break a million hearts, but Dancing with the Stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy says he won't be returning for Season 6 in March. "The 25 million viewers are going to remember me whether I'm there or not," says Chmerkovskiy, who hopes to return to professional ballroom competition and is busy over the holidays choreographing a New Year's Eve show at the Wynn Las Vegas.
Chmerkovskiy, 27, says he's had a great time over the past four seasons teaching celebrities like Spice Girl Mel B. and boxing champ Laila Ali how to dance. But he's impatient to become a student again himself. "Other dancers on this show have aspirations to become actors and singers and they lose focus of where they came from," says Maks. "The second you close that door and stop educating yourse
read more
Julianne Hough and Helio Castroneves, Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars champs Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough will be taking their act on the road. The Season 5 winners will be joining the 37-city Dancing national tour "for about a week's worth of dates," says Hough, who is vacationing in Hawaii.
The tour, which also features Marie Osmond, Sabrina Bryan, Wayne Newton, Drew Lachey, Joey Lawrence and Monique Coleman, steps into high gear on Dec. 18 in Seattle. "Helio saw that everybody wanted to do the tour and didn't want to be left out," says Hough. She didn't want to be left out, either, but her schedule didn't allow for two months of traveling. "I had a blast doing the last tour and if we could pop in there and do a few dates, that would be great."
While still unsure of the specific cities
read more
Sabrina Bryan and Mark Ballas, Dancing with the Stars
It's a dislocated left shoulder for Dancing with the Stars pro Mark Ballas, who suffered the injury during the show's finale last night while doing the cha-cha with his celebrity partner — and real-life love interest — Sabrina Bryan. According to his father, ballroom great Corky Ballas, Mark went in for an MRI Wednesday afternoon to determine whether surgery is needed to repair the damage.
"If you watch the tape," says Ballas, "you can actually see Mark grab his left shoulder during the dance. He actually danced that whole number with a dislocated shoulder. It happened right after he turned her under his left arm."
Following his performance, the young dance star was rushed by ambulance to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai
read more
Julianne Hough and Helio Castroneves, Dancing with the Stars
The finale was everything Monday night wasn't: Supercharged and electrifying, the dancers returned to dazzling form. And the fatigue, illness and injuries were forgotten.
Well, almost forgotten. Pro dancer Mark Ballas, who wowed the crowd again doing his show-stopping cha-cha-cha with the much-missed Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan, was whisked off to the hospital immediately after their performance. He had been in some distress for two days with a sore shoulder. "Something kind of funky was happening," says Bryan, who was anxious to join Ballas at the hospital after the show. "But he's a true competitor. And even though we weren't competing tonight, he wanted to have our last performance. He was not going to let anyone know."
But Jane Seymour knew. "He shouldn't have been dancing," she said after the show. "He's hurt himself." Mark Cuban knew, too. "His father told me that he's got a torn muscle in his shoulder, and it's really, really painful," says Cuban. "It happens to basket
read more
Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough, Dancing with the Stars
It was the Dancing with the Stars night we've all been waiting for, but everything was just a little off kilter. The hallways were packed with VIPs: friends, family and stars like All My Children's Cameron Mathison, exiled weeks before he was ready to go home. "I think it's going to be Helio," says Mathison. "I've been a fan of his forever."
But like any great marathon, you could feel the strain, see the warning flags. "Julianne [Hough] has strep throat," says her mom, Marriann Nelson, outside the soundstage. "She's been feeling awful all week, but she's still dancing." Is she feeling well enough to perform tumbles and lifts for the freestyle? Her mom nods her head yes. "She just keeps going. One time, for a [ballroom] championship, she danced with shingles."
Inside, Mathison was tucked away in the audience with Jane Seymour, her husband, director James Keach, and Seymour's pro partner, Tony Dovo
read more
Jennie Garth and Peter Facinelli, Dancing with the Stars
Jennie Garth's husband, actor Peter Facinelli, wasn't sure if Dancing with the Stars' cameras were still running. His wife had just been eliminated on Tuesday night and was crying, caught up in a group hug with the other semifinalists and pros in the middle of the dance floor. "I was waiting for the cameras to stop," says Facinelli. "But then I said, ‘Aw, screw it,' and I ran out there. Because I knew she needed me."
The cameras had, in fact, gone to black. So what you didn't see was that Facinelli broke through the circle of love, grabbed his wife and gave her the longest, most beautiful kiss. "I forgot that anybody was out there," he says, just moments later. "It was like nobody was there except the two of us."
"He's my baby," says Garth. Did she know he was going to engage in such a public display of affection? "No, but I kn
read more
Julianne Hough and Helio Castroneves, Dancing with the Stars
One of the greatest singers in the world says she wants to dance. On the show. As a contestant. Céline Dion, backstage at Dancing with the Stars Monday night, had just pretaped two songs for the show's finale next week. One of them will be her signature ballad, "My Heart Will Go On," from Titanic.
"I hope they invite me again," says Dion. "I want to dance. For me, it's not about a contest. It's about having the privilege to share the dancing floor with the most amazing, talented people, and to share music. It's not about winning. It's about dancing as many times as possible."
Who is she dreaming about as a possible partner? Maks? Tony? Jonathan? "I want all of them," she says slyly.
Dion says she's not kidding. Six of the show's professionals danced in front of her as she sang — including Tony
read more
Edyta Sliwinska and Cameron Mathison, Dancing with the Stars
Joey Fatone was hanging out in the backstage parking lot after last night's Dancing with the Stars. It's the place where all the dressing-room trailers are lined up. "It's going to be Mel B. or Helio [Castroneves]," he says, making his prediction about which two of the remaining four dancers would be in the finals. "At least that's what I'm hearing."
Fatone, last season's runner-up, was visiting old friends, including his former pro partner, Kym Johnson. Pros and celebs were milling about, changing into street clothes and getting ready to call it a night. "It's a great show this year," says Fatone.
And its greatness comes fro
read more
Marie Osmond and Jonathan Roberts, Dancing with the Stars
Her smile is famous the world over. And no one is quicker to laugh. But on Monday night, Marie Osmond's physical and emotional exhaustion after Dancing with the Stars finally got the better of her. The judges' tough comments seemed to take the last bit of fight out of her. "I'm whipped," she says quietly after the show.
Nevertheless, after the show Osmond and her pro partner, Jonathan Roberts, headed to a rehearsal studio to begin work on next week's two new dances. It seemed impossible — foolhardy even — for her to keep practicing after a week spent burying her father and flying to Chicago with the Osmond family to make good on their promise to appear on Oprah. Bu
read more
