Dancing With The Stars by Kelsey McNeal/ABC
TVGuide.com's new Dancing with the Stars Power Rankings — based on the weekly polling of you, the readers — are out, and Kristi and Mark are still waltzing away with this thing. Seriously, is there no catching them? Is the ice-skating fan base that massive a force to be reckoned with? Or is no one else on the parquet anywhere near up to par?For what it's worth, Shannon and Derek are putting their best feet forward these days, and are somewhat inching up on Team YamaBallas. Meanwhile, Marissa and Tony linger in (a tie for) last, veritably tapping their toes until the scythe comes.The Top 8 Power Rankings56.2% Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas 18.8% Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough10.6% Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska 9.1% Cristián De La Fuente and Cheryl Burke 1.9% Marlee Matlin and Fabian Sanchez 1.4% Mario and Karina Smirnoff 1.0% Priscilla Presley and Louis Van Amstel 1.0% Marissa Jaret Winokur and Tony DovolaniRelated:• Photo Gallery: Top 8 Power R...
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Cheryl Burke and Drew Lachey by John Sciulli/WireImage.com
You can see the hurt written all over her face. Two-time Dancing with the Stars champ Cheryl Burke, 23, is battling her way back to normalcy after becoming the target of vicious print rumors that she and her married celebrity partner from Season 2, Drew Lachey, had an affair during this winter's national Dancing tour. "The story is completely false. And absurd," Burke quietly said after Monday night's performance show. "I'm just glad that I have friends that stick by my side and know the truth. They were with me 100 percent of the time on tour. I rode buses with [the other dancers, pro and celeb] and we hung out together 24-7."Some of Burke's peers know what she has been subject to. "I feel so bad for them because I know them personally and I know that nothing ever happened between them," says Tony Dovolani, who himself was the focus of tabloid rumors after his third-season partner, country singer Sara Evans, left the show in the midst of an abrupt divorce from her husband. Dovolani...
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Cheryl Burke and Drew Lachey by Barry Brecheisen/WireImage.com
A story in Star Magazine positing that former Dancing champs Drew Lachey (who is married) and Cheryl Burke canoodled during the latest winter tour has been shot down by Lachey's rep. "The story in Star is completely false," says the spokesperson. "It couldn't be further from the truth." (I know, right? Star publishing a whopper? I half expect the sky to be orange this morning.)More Dancing coverage:• Marissa Jaret Winokur to Have a Tiny Dancer of Her Own• Video Q&A: Steve Guttenberg and Monica Seles• Backstage at Dancing with the Stars: Ryan Seacrest?!• Poll: Vote for your favorite couple!
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Monica Seles and Cristian de la Fuente by Bob D'Amico/ABC
As Dancing with the Stars' newbies get ready to dazzle on the dance floor — the hit reality competition returns Monday, March 17 — we've got a week-long guide to who's hoofing for Season 7. Check back each day for our profiles of more pairings. — Deborah Starr SeibelMonica SelesAge 34Best Known For Her nine Grand Slam tennis titles between 1990 and 1996 Lives In Sarasota, Florida Partner Jonathan Roberts Advantages During her career, Seles' extraordinary speed, footwork and stamina helped her become the No. 1 player in the world. Disadvantages "Monica is one of our more nervous contestants this year," says DWTS executive producer Conrad Green. "This is a huge departure for her." And she's got a bad left foot that effectively sidelined her tennis career. "I've had numerous injuries to that foot," she says. "That was one of my biggest worries."Cristián de la FuenteAge 34Best Known For Being a telenovela heartthrob who has also appeared on Ugly Betty and CSI: Miami ...
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Maksim Chmerkovskiy by John Sciulli/WireImage.com, Cristian de la Fuente by Bob D'Amico/ABC, Cheryl Burke by Craig Sjodin/ABC
He may be sitting on the sidelines this time around, but Maksim Chmerkovskiy hasn't removed himself entirely from the sixth season of Dancing with the Stars. Shortly after the new celebrity-pro pairings were revealed, the handsome hoofer shared with us his more-than-qualified take on some of the contenders. — Deborah Starr SeibelCristián de la Fuente and Cheryl BurkeWill things look pretty for the Ugly Betty star? "He’s a good-looking dude, and Latin, and has that swagger," says Maksim. "And [two-time champion] Cheryl knows how to do her thing, getting people to the finals." Jason Taylor and Edyta SliwinskaTackling the ballroom floor is nothing new for a Dancing star (see: Rice, Jerry and Smith, Emmett). "I really like Jason," says Maksim. "He and Edyta are going to do great together and make a beautiful couple."Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark BallasThe Olympic gold-medalist very well could have the mettle to go far in the competition. "This pairing is one of the bette...
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Julianne Hough and Helio Castroneves, Dancing with the Stars
Oh, what a long, strange trip it's been — 37 cities, 250 costumes and more than 200,000 rhinestones. But finally, Sunday at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, it was time for the Dancing with the Stars tour to come to an end. "It's bittersweet but I'm happy to go home," Cheryl Burke said after she joined the cast and a few crew members for their final pre-performance cheer. "I'm going to miss everyone," added Edyta Sliwinska. "I'm just really excited to sleep in my own bed."
But first there was a show to do. And what's a final show without a few surprises? The first non-scripted moment of the evening came when the entire crew joined the dancers on stage to dance the twist. Derek Hough was mid-move when he caught a glimpse of the crew, all dressed in black, doing the moves behind him and pointed out the impromptu dance party to his partner, who quickly burst into a smile. It was the first of
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Matthew Lawrence and Cheryl Burke by Jean Baptiste Lacroix/ WireImage.com
Now that I think about it, Cheryl Burke didn't seem like her usual perky self when I interviewed her last Friday backstage at the Dancing with the Stars Tour. And now I know why. Burke's publicist confirms to me exclusively that the two-time Dancing champ and her boyfriend of a year, actor Matthew Lawrence, have broken up. "I can confirm that Cheryl Burke and Matthew Lawrence quietly ended their relationship a few weeks ago," says the rep. The pair met in 2006 through Matthew's brother, Season 3 Dancing contestant Joey Lawrence, but didn't start dating until early '07. In related news, this is my third Dancing-related blog post in less than a week — and that's not including this week's vodcast or all the cast interviews that just went up on our video page. How did this happen?!Oh, right. The strike.
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Cheryl Burke and Wayne Newton, Dancing with the Stars
This will be the third national tour for one of Dancing with the Stars' most popular pros, Cheryl Burke. Even before the fifth season ended at the end of November, the two-time champ started tour rehearsals and then packed up to hit the road again — without a single day off. There was just one fly in the ointment: A health scare the night before the tour's big opening night in Seattle on December 18th. After cramping on stage during final run-throughs, Burke was rushed to a Seattle emergency room and diagnosed with possible appendicitis. Thankfully, it wasn't. And after getting cleared by her family doctor, Burke is back on tour and in winning form.
To be accurate, maybe the tour should be called "SoftScrub Presents Dancing — and Singing — with the Stars." Because Las Vegas legend
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Any Dancing with the Stars fans disappointed that Cheryl Burke might not get to tango with their town need not fret. As exclusively reported by TVGuide.com, the two-time champion had to bow out of the tour on Tuesday to tend to an urgent medical matter, prompting pro peer Louis van Amstel to proclaim any prolonged absence of Burke a "disaster." Doctors have since confirmed that Cheryl had not been addled by appendicitis, and cleared the dynamic dancer to rejoin the cross-country shuffle starting Friday — fittingly, when it arrives in her hometown of San Jose, California. — With reporting by Deborah Starr Seibel
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Cheryl Burke, Dancing with the Stars
The show may be over, but the drama isn't. As a nearly sold-out crowd of 6,000 settled into Seattle's Key Arena Tuesday night for the opening of the Dancing with the Stars national tour, the announcer made a statement no one wanted to hear: Due to illness, Cheryl Burke would not be dancing. As loud groans filled the auditorium, you had to wonder what fresh disaster had befallen the show and one of its most popular pros.
"Last night, during the run-through, I was cramping and in pain," Burke tells TV Guide exclusively. "I couldn't even stand up straight." Burke, who was rushed to the hospital, was told that it is a possible case of appendicitis. She will fly home to San Francisco on Wednesday for a second opinion from her family doctors. "I hope it doesn't require surgery," she says. If it does, Burke will be off the two-month tour for an undetermined period of time.
"It's a disaster," says pro Louis van Amstel, who is choreographing the tour and has ha
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