Dancing with the Stars
Gossip (Page 24)

Enough about the Dustin Diamond sex tape already!

What about the performance of his formed Saved by the Bell co-star, Mario Lopez?

A.C. Slater and his Dancing with the Stars partner, Karina Smirnoff, did their best on last night's episode, despite the latter having pinched a nerve in her back only hours before the show began.

"We were kind of rushing to do the dress rehearsal and during the pull-out, a part of my rib twisted in and pinched a nerve," Karina said. "I don't even know what that means - I just know it hurt like crazy! But the doctor cracked me and said I should be fine in three to four days."

Based on this Ashlee Simpson picture, looks like she's been cracked out a few times herself.

Lopez added: "She's a trooper and so tough, but I was worried."

The dancing duo, however, did not receive the highest score of the evening. That honor went to Vivica Fox and someone named Monique Coleman.

But who cares? Let's get to the important dirt: Are Lopez and Smirnoff dating?

Mario denied rumors.

"We get along so well and we do love to make each other laugh, but truthfully, we can't entertain messing around because there's only so much time and you really need to focus," he said.

Wow. That's dedication, folks. Passing up a pretty lady to focus on your job? Patrick Dempsey should mention that concept to his alter ego on Grey's Anatomy.

What would Jesse Spano say?

Mario Lopez may be considered the favorite to win this season's Dancing with the Stars, but in other ways, he's already come out on top. Or maybe his partner, Karina Smirnoff has.

Lewd comments aside, however, a source told Us Weekly that the couple has been dating since August, saying "it's serious." Perhaps jealously over seeing a happy twosome is what caused Shanna Moakler to purposely have herself eliminated this week. You never know.

"They do look good together, don't they?" said Lisa Rinna, this season's co-host.

They sure do. Not as good as this Jessica Alba picture. But still pretty good.

Admit it, your feet are tapping as you read this, aren't they? You just cannot wait for tomorrow night's season premiere of Dancing with the Stars.

Neither can host Tom Bergeron. He recently sat down with TV Guide to discuss the season.

Q: Any tweaks or twists for the new season? Or are we not messing with the show that reaps ridiculously high ratings?
Bergeron: Well, there is that. I mean, the core of it we're not messing with. But we're going 10 weeks instead of eight.

Q: Did Season 2's ratings translate into a pay raise for you?
Bergeron: I'm doing OK. I just bought a dining-room set, so life is good. I'm putting those TV trays away!

Q: Do you have any early favorites among this round's contestants?
Bergeron: It's too early. Yesterday I looked at all of the training tapes, where they are at this point, and Jerry Springer was asking his partner if she knew CPR. That's usually not a good sign. Tucker Carlson, it's hard to say â€" he could be the Kenny Mayne of Season 3, or he could surprise us. But there are some very good dancers as well, some very impressive teams coming up.

Q: Who do you think is primed for a Kelly Monaco-esque wardrobe malfunction?
Bergeron: There are several possibilities. Any of the women I'd be happy to see have a wardrobe malfunction.

Q: At this point, do you have any say in which stars do the show?
Bergeron: No. No. But that's fine.

Q: Funny/sad story: I must have walked past Stacy Keibler a half dozen times at TV Guide's Emmy After Party, but couldn't for the life of me place where I knew her from. To be fair, in a dark, crowded nightclub, you can't see her telltale 42-inch legs.
Bergeron: [Laughs] Stacy is a case in point of somebody who, outside of the world of wrestling, people pretty much didn't know. Now she's got a much higher Q [rating].

Q: Who would you like to see on DWTS?
Bergeron: When I won the Emmy for Hollywood Squares, I thanked Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks and the Pope. I said, "I don't know any of these people, but I would like to book them." I'll hold to that. Any of those three I'd like to see do a fox-trot.

Q: Will we see you dancing again this season?
Bergeron: No. I did it for a reason last time - I wanted to emotionally and physically experience what the stars experience, to have a sense of what they put themselves through.

Q: For the men, I'm guessing that was groin pulls.
Bergeron: And sheer terror at times. But to keep trotting out there and dancing at this point, it's more like, "Look at me! I can make the producers let me dance!" There's no real point.

The misguided stumping continues!

First, Tom DeLay appeared to be serious in urging Republicans to vote for Sara Evans to win Dancing with the Stars.

Now the Rev. Al Sharpton, a staunch Democrat, has thrown his support behind conservative MSNBC pundit Tucker Carlson.

"We are living in trying and uncertain times," the good reverend said, seeming tongue in cheek fortunately. "That's why now, more than ever, we need a strong leader who will stand up for what we believe. Better yet, we need a leader who will dance for what we believe. Tucker Carlson is just such a dancer."

Mario Lopez, however, is topless - and ready to disappoint Sharpton!

But the former presidential candidate continued:

"Watch Tucker do the cha-cha and then call in your vote to make sure he advances to the next week's show. You can call as often as you like. Remember: Voting in celebrity dance contests is not just your right in this country, it's a privilege.

If you sit back idly and fail to perform your civic duty, lesser dancers could win this competition. America simply cannot afford that. "

Yesterday, Carlson admitted to me that he actively sought Sharpton's endorsement. "Nobody turns out the vote like the Reverend Al," Carlson said.

If onyly we could get him to weigh in on whether or not he's excited for Grey's Anatomy or Lost.

"I want to balance the influence of DeLay and at the same time get a right-winger off talk television and help Tucker find another career," Sharpton explain. "I think it would be a great contribution to society to have him as a cheeseball disco dancer than a talk-show host propagating right-wing politics."

The competition on Dancing with the Stars is heating up before the first hip is even shaken.

For one contestant, though, the reality show should simply serve as a nice distraction from a difficult couple months. Shanna Moakler hasn't been going through the most peaceful of splits from husband, Travis Barker.

She recently talked about it with People magazine:

How are the divorce proceedings going?
The public will be very happy to know that we have a pre-nup! So I'm not stealing his money or gold digging. I have no problem sharing the children with him and I want that very much. I don't see it getting ugly.

Travis said there were innate personality differences between the two of you.
We're definitely two different people. Travis is a morning person; I'm a night person. Travis, believe it or not, is a bit more quiet and reserved. I'm more of an extrovert, a social butterfly.

Did he ever question you about infidelity?
Well in the press he has, but to me he never did. I feel like all the things that he said were just excuses for abandoning his family. And I can say on the record that I was 100 percent faithful to that man. I was in love with him.

Nick and Jessica and Carmen and Dave split after having reality shows about their relationships. Do you believe in the MTV curse?
I don't believe in the curse. Nope. I don't think the reality show had anything to do with the demise of our relationship.

You must not be turned off of reality TV, since you're doing Dancing With the Stars.
I really feel like it was divine intervention, that God was like, 'Okay babe. These doors are going to close, (so) I'm going to open some of these doors for you.' It has really helped keep my mind off of things and really helped me be positive.

Wow, so the Big Man Upstairs is a fan of Dancing with the Stars. We had no idea. He's probably rooting for Tucker Carlson.

Oh, it's on. When it comes to Dancing with the Stars, everyone and their old congressman have an opinion.

Let's start with John Avello, Director of Race & Sports Operations at Wynn Las Vegas. Having studied everyone's two-step, and even their three-step, Avello has tapped Mario Lopez to walk away with the crown. PinnacleSports.com agrees.

No one there must've seen the Saved by the Bell episide where Slater and Jesse lost a dancing competition to Screen and Lisa, who was on crutches at the time no less!

Meanwhile, Monique Coleman, whoever the heck that is, is slated for the runner-up slot. Avello, though, has some bad news for talk show pundit Jerry Springer: expect him to be the first contestant voted off.

Avello uses industry insiders and formulaic processing (whatever that means, maybe Monique Coleman knows) to come up with the odds. In the past, he's accurately predicted winners for shows like American Idol and Survivor.

Online casinos aren't the only ones taking sides on Dancing with the Stars, however ...

Continue Reading...

We can hear the chants already: Jerry! Jerry!

No matter how many times Jerry Springer trips all over himself during Dancing with the Stars, followers of his talk show will serenade the host with his name, per usual.

The former mayor of Cincy recently talked about the show, beginning September 12 on ABC, with the Associated Press:

AP: A lot of people are commenting, "What, Jerry Springer's on that show?"
Springer: This is not a combo you would have put together. It wasn't the first name people thought of when they said, "Who'd be a good dancer?" ... When I met (partner, Kym Johnson), she said, "Well, what do you wanna work on?" And I said, "The only thing you gotta know is CPR." There's no one within 30 years of my age. There's no chance, unless they have an old-man division.

AP: Well, John O'Hurley won the first season.
Springer: For each one, they get one old guy. I'm the guy. I'm so honored! It's gonna be - everything hurts. My hair hurts.

AP: How rigorous is the dance training?
Springer: Well, understand: For me, standing is rigorous ... It's exercise, and I'm certainly not used to that. But so far, I'm breathing. I know at the end of each week - of each performance - the country gets to vote you off. Have they ever voted someone off in the middle of a dance, though?

AP: Not on this show.
Springer: I was hoping I could get stopped early.

AP: How do you think you'll stack up against Tucker Carlson?
Springer: Well, you know, he'll whip me. He'll whip my butt. Let's be honest. First of all, he's 25 years younger than I am. Secondly, he probably went to all these good Eastern schools. He probably went to the cotillion ball. I can't compete with Tucker ... Maybe I could just introduce the acts. Do you think that they'd let me do that?

AP: How did you get involved with this?
Springer: I don't know, someone was drinking apparently ... I guess the final thing was my daughter, Katie, is getting married in December. And so we talked it over and I said, "Wouldn't it be great if I knew how to dance at my daughter's wedding?" That I wouldn't step on her train or feet. So that's my goal. I hope I'll last long enough to learn how to dance for my daughter's wedding.

AP: How is your dance partner treating you?
Springer: She's just as nice as can be. And she's so tolerant ... It's like if you went to a nursing home and you did a square dance with people, you would keep on eye on them to make sure they're OK. There's a lot of "You OK?... You OK?"

AP: So, really, what's going to happen that first show?
Springer: Here's what I think's gonna happen. All right, so the dance starts and I miss a step - which is likely - then all of a sudden, you can't stop and start over. You gotta catch up because it's choreographed. So that's my nightmare. That I've missed a step, I'm trying to catch up and I never catch up to what she's doing. And I'm just out there flailing away.

This is too easy. We apologize ahead of time, but when it comes to Joey Lawrence's new look, we have just one thing to say:

Whoa.

After laying low for a little while to get married and have a baby, Lawrence decided to shake his inner Blossom on the third season Dancing with the Stars.

"This dancing has been getting me in really good shape. You can't keep the weight on just because you're always moving 3-4 hours a day like this sweating your brains out," Lawrence said.

Let's forget the waltz and tango for a moment, however. Fans will need to get used to a new look from this former heart throb. The long, curly hair is gone. In its place? A shaven scalp, one with fewer hairs on it than pounds on Nicole Richie.

He's also packed on the muscles. Matt Lauer has competition all of a sudden.

"My hair went along with my career ... I never had the guts to go completely clean ... I got rid of all the hair products, brushes, dryers and everything. It takes me five seconds to get ready, it's great. I'm not going to grow it back."

The new season of Dancing with the Stars premieres Tuesday September 12th at 8pm.

Forget whoa, our reaction when we saw that Joey Lawrence would appear on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars.

How about bow? As in tie? As in the bow tie that recently named contestant, Tucker Carlson, wears on his show every day?

Yes, the political pundit will be getting his groove on with Emmitt Smith, Vivica A. Fox and others on ABC's hit reality show this fall.

We can only hope Jon Stewart plans to critique every missed step by Carlson on The Daily Show. Maybe he can also talk at length about Elle Mcpherson.

Okay, we just wanted another reason to mention that photo.

When we heard about the recent spat of contestant named for next season's Dancing with the Stars, one word came to mind:

Whoa!

That's right, the lovable Joey Lawrence will be ending his post-Blossom hibernation and hitting the stage with other pseudo celebrities and athletes.

Retired NFL running back Emmitt Smith will shake his shoulder pads, too, along with Vivica A. Fox.

Meanwhile, perhaps Mario Lopez plans to garner fame, attention and riches on the show ... and then donate the latter to foreclosed friend and fellow Saved by the Bell star, Dustin Diamond.

Based on a pair of recent pants popping shows, however, there are two celebrities The Gossip would like to see join this cast:

1. Cindy Crawford
2. Vanessa Minnillo

Think it's too late to have these beauties added before Dancing with the Stars premieres September 12?