Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Gossip

We are sad to report that the smoldering Dancing with the Stars duo, Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, have just called off their engagement.

"I am confirming that they did indeed break up," Karina's rep told E! News.

Word of the split comes just a month after they debuted on Broadway in Burn the Floor. Perhaps it was their busy schedule that contributed to the split.

That Broadway performance, in addition to the upcoming Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars, had already pushed back their nuptials until next summer.

"We don't plan," Maksim Chmerkovskiy said this summer.

"We're [rehearsing] 14 hours a day."

Karina and Maks will no longer be dancing the horizontal mambo.

"The only thing we've decided on is next year in June," Karina said. "We were supposed to pick the place, but we've never actually had the time to go further."

"We don't feel like we're messing out on the wedding dress fittings," she continued. "As long as we're together, tying the knot is a plus. It's something extra."

Or it was, anyway.

Will their breakup cause tension on the Dancing with the Stars set? What's the over-under on how long it takes before Karina reunites with Mario Lopez?

Stay tuned.

On her reality show, Denise Richards attempts to claim that her life is complicated.

But the outcome for this terrible actress and exploitive mother was very simple on Dancing with the Stars: she and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy were eliminated last night.

The pair got the boot after performing a samba dance-off against fellow contestants Holly Madison and Dmitry Chaplin.

“I had fun! When else am I going to get to dress up like this, work with someone like Maks and be able to do a family show that my daughters can watch together,” Richards said after the results were announced.

Naturally, she couldn't do an interview without mentioning daughters Lola and Sam.

“They love watching us. We TiVo the show and we watch it together, but every time I have to go to rehearsal they go ‘too much dancing.’ It’s hard to find balance. I think they will be relieved it’s over."

For sure. It leaves more time for the family to "accidentally" be photographed all around town.

The eighth season of Dancing with the Stars is premiering fans for a Cold War of a different sort.

While Maksim Chmerkovskiy has owned the hearts of female viewers for years now, he's about to get some serious competition from another Russian native.

Maks, meet Dmitry Chaplin.

This former So You Think You Can Dance finalist debuts on the world's most popular dancing competition next month. He's paired with Jewel.

Compare the foxy foreigners below:

Who is the better looking Dancing with the Stars contestant?

A number of celebrity birthdays make this 17th of January a very special occasion for The Hollywood Gossip. After all, who would expect that the following stars (and we're using the term loosely in some cases) would share a day of birth?

People of all ages and walks of life, such as ...

... adopted son of the world's biggest movie star Connor Cruise (14)!

... Kim Kardashian sex tape (and future reality show) star Ray J (28)!

... Dancing with the Stars god and Karina Smirnoff fiance Maksim Chmerkovskiy (29)!

... faux trailer trash, Pamela Anderson ex, and Waffle House brawler Kid Rock (38)!

... incoming First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama (45)!

Which celebrity birthdays are next? Who shares yours? Click on the link to find out - and click to enlarge the pictures of today's birthday boys (and girl) above!

Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff are prepared to entertain friends with the greatest first dance in wedding history.

Indeed, this pair of Dancing with the Stars professionals is set to get married!

The engagement took place just prior to midnight on New Year's Eve, as E! Online reports that Chmerkovsky sealed the deal with a Harry Winston number.

Smirnoff and Chmerkovskiy began dating soon after Karina ended a two-year relationship with Mario Lopez.

Forget the Rumba and the Cha Cha.

It appears as though Dancing with the Stars professionals and Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Cheryl Burke and practicing the Horizontal Mambo together.

The rumored new couple was spotted holding hands, snuggling and possessing far more chemistry than Kim Kardashian and Mark Ballas on the dance floor...

With all the attention paid to Kim Kardashian on Dancing With the Stars this week, we've largely ignored one critical component of the hit TV competition:

Hunky male stars.

Without these guys below, the show would be nothing. Ladies love the likes of Derek Hough, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Mark Ballas. Tell us, Dancing fans ...

Who would you rather ...

The contestants for this season of Dancing with the Stars will be announced tonight. But we can say this already: the cast will be much uglier than last year.

That's because Maksim Chmerkovskiy won't be included in it.

"He just needs a break," said an ABC spokesperson of Maksim to take a season off from the series. "He is part of the Dancing family, and he will be back."

A fan favorite (i.e. a complete and utter hottie!), Chmerkovskiy may appear on several of Dancing with the Stars' results shows when the pros are featured in group-choreographed dances.

In the meantime, he's putting the finishing touches on a fitness DVD with fellow pro Cheryl Burke. He's also appearing on the February 26 episode of All My Children, teaching various characters how to pole dance.

The next installment of Dancing with the Stars just got a lot better looking.

"I am not quitting the show," Maksim Chmerkovskiy said Wednesday, backing off previous comments he had made that suggested he was through with the reality competition.

The dancer's claims about departing the show were made "at a time when I was very stressed out. Sure, there's lucrative offers. There are things that I really want to do with my life other than this show, that's a given. After coming down from two seasons back to back, ten weeks each season, it takes its toll."

It certainly takes its toll in the love department, if you ask Sabrina Bryan, Mark Ballas, Mario Lopez or Karina Smirnoff!

Chmerkovskiy says he regrets speaking so casually about his future on Dancing with the Stars.

"This show is amazing and it's rewarding. After last season I thought there's no way I could top off the experience with [Laila Ali] and then I get [Melanie Brown] as a partner this season. I want people - especially my fans - to know that I appreciate their support. I am not turning my back on the show. I don't want people to feel betrayed. I love this show."

Sorry, Dancing with the Stars fans: you've seen the last of Maksim Chmerkovskiy on your show.

The hunky professional told TV Guide that "the 25 million viewers are going to remember me whether I'm there or not," referring to his decision to skip out on season six, which kicks off in March 2008.

But why would Maksim Chmerkovskiy leave the show that made his (long, complicated) name known across the country?

"This is a very lucrative world," he said of Hollywood. "And I spent some time here just looking around and going, 'Wow, this is an amazing house.' But I'm a very analytical person. And right away, I looked past the curtains and I saw the drugs and the difficult lifestyles and the failed marriages. And I saw absolutely no family values â€" and that is the most important thing."

Ouch. Might he have been referring to Helio Castroneves supposedly ditching his fiance for Julianne Hough?

It's hard to know for sure, but Maks was at least clear that he loves his last two partners on the show: Laila Ali and Melanie Brown.

"It's really important to me to maintain the relationship after the show," he said. "With Laila, I love her. But it didn't work because she's a very private, very reserved person. But this season, with Mel, this is a person I'll be able to call any time and say, 'Hey, I'm in town. Let's have dinner.'"