dancing with the stars (402 posts)

ABC/KELSEY McNEAL

Spending all season craning your neck over the judges' table is good for catching illegal lifts, but not so good on your already arthritic neck.

As Dancing With the Stars' prettiest judge (sorry, Bruno) practices the former and suffers from the latter, Carrie Ann Inaba will be undergoing the first of what may be several surgeries this morning in order to relieve the pressure caused by her spinal stenosis.

"I have arthritis," she told People. "The space around my spinal cord has become compressed. I have been locked. My neck was so stiff. We're hoping this procedure will relieve that.

"I'll be fine and if this surgery goes well, I may have another one in the future."

The curse spares no one, people.

And just like her show's dancers, who know from speedy recoveries, Inaba plans to be back on her feet in no time. Along with fellow cofounders Katie Holmes, Nigel Lythgoe and Adam Shankman, she plans to be in attendance at the Dizzy Feet Foundation's Celebration of Dance fundraiser this Sunday in Los Angeles.

________

You don't have to be working on the dance floor to get injured. Just like you don't have to be a hot young thing to take home the Mirrorball Trophy, right Donny Osmond?

ABC/KELSEY McNEAL

Wait, Kathy Ireland was on this show? What the heck is Tom DeLay doing here?!

Oh right, the Dancing With the Stars finale is when a whole season's worth of contestants come out of the woodwork and remind the viewers just how right they were in casting these folks aside long ago.

With that behind them, Donny Osmond, Kelly Osbourne and Mya gathered tonight for one last spin around the floor and awaited to hear who would be bringing the illustrious disco-ball trophy home for good.

Kelly danced the Viennese waltz more gracefully than ever; Mya brought new sharpness and confidence to her and Dmitry Chaplin's nerd-meets-seductress jive; and Donny performed his Argentine-tango ass off, somehow managing to look intense but not hammy.

But, as Len Goodman said earlier, "There can be only one."

Keep Reading

ABC/ADAM LARKEY

From Argentine tango to Viennese waltz, the final round of Dancing With the Stars had a little bit of everything.

Finalists Mya, Kelly Osbourne and Donny Osmond danced three times apiece on night one of the ABC hit's two-part finale, which will culminate tomorrow with one of these endearing celebs being crowned queen or king of the ballroom.

Though neither Donny nor Mya has ever been in the bottom two (or three) and Kelly and her can-do attitude have obviously developed quite the following, voters' loyalties may well have shifted during the course of the evening thanks to the hit-and-miss nature of the routines.

We always expect the anything-goes freestyles to be especially exciting...so perhaps that's why we're even more let down when they fail.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. First came a Latin round. Then they did a group Mega-Mix, in which all three couples performed the same Viennese waltz, samba and jive choreography simultaneously.

We broke it all down for you:

Keep Reading

ABC/KELSEY McNEAL

They've jived and jitterbugged, waltzed and rumba'd—all with an eye on lifting the disco-ball trophy on next week's season finale of Dancing With the Stars.

Mya and her "tutti-frutti booty" distanced herself from the pack Monday, scorewise, while Donny Osmond suffered an early stumble that left him playing catch-up all night. Making up the middle of the pack were Joanna Krupa, who's handled Derek Hough's standout choreography like a champ, and Kelly Osbourne, whose biggest competitive hurdle all season has been her own nerves.

Though it's hard to believe any of them had time to rehearse, what with all the sound bites they're expected to provide and David Bowie impressions they must do.

But tonight, after a dance sequence from Nine and performances by Leona Lewis, Alicia Keys and the Bee Gees, the competition was eventually whittled down to three finalists.

By the will of the people, who obviously love an underdog...

Keep Reading

ABC/Adam Larkey

First Hélio Castroneves, now Aaron Carter. Dancing With the Stars has a curse, all right, but it has nothing to do with injuries.

Unless you count the damage done to one's bank account. And permanent record.

Just a week getting booted from the reality-competition, Carter is on the receiving end of considerably worse bad news, this time courtesy of the IRS. Turns out, Nick's little bro owes Uncle Sam more than $1 million in back taxes.

Just think of all the Kleenex that could buy.

As it is, according to court documents filed last week, Carter's tax delinquency dates back to 2003, a clearly banner time for the cry baby pop star, as he's indebted to the federal government a whopping $965,284.97 from that year alone.

An additional $45,350.11 is also owed from income earned in 2006, making his debt grand total a hefty $1,010,635.08.

We don't care who you are, that figure's gonna bring on the waterworks.

________

Aaron's out of Dancing With the Stars, but these four are still in...at least for the next few hours.

ABC/ADAM LARKEY

Serious stuff, these semifinals.

Donny Osmond, Joanna Krupa, Kelly Osbourne and Mya marched into the ballroom tonight knowing they had three dances ahead of them and little room for error if they wanted to be center stage on next week's finale.

First, each did a ballroom number, then a Latin dance containing a 15-second solo and then, the dance that each couple had to prepare a few weeks ago in case they were forced into a results show dance-off.

So that's why Donny needed a sparkly green jacket!

Overall, we saw many impressive moves, some sharp hip action and a lot of energy, and any three of the four deserve a spot in the final (based on talent and/or personality). 

Then again, you be the judge...

Keep Reading