ABC/Harper Smith

Cheryl Burke may not have been thrilled about having to leave Dancing With the Stars so early, but she realizes it was the only step Tom DeLay could have made.

"He talked to me a few days before," the Dancing pro said last night at Hollywood Life's Hollywood Style Awards, where she was given the Choreographer Award by her former partner Gilles Marini.

"It was during rehearsal when he could only rehearse 30 minutes a day," she said. "I could see it was getting worse. I offered it to him. I said, 'Tom, you don't have to continue, honestly. I don't think it'd be good for you."

DeLay, as DWTS fans know, announced his departure from season nine after last week's performance show because he was suffering from fractures in both feet.

But we haven't seen the last of this pair...

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NBC

Kissing Hayden Panettiere on Heroes didn't come as a complete shock to Madeline Zima.

"I had an inkling," Zima told us yesterday at Hollywood Life's Hollywood Style Awards at the Armand Hammer Museum in L.A. "I did always play my character a little bit with some kind of secret—whether it was that or something else still remains to be seen."

So what was it like locking lips with Claire-Bear on the episode airing tonight? Mostly business as usual...

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Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images; AP Photo/Matt Sayles

Just when we thought we were Gilles Marini's No. 1 fan, along comes...Sally Field!

The 62-year-old acting legend is smitten with the Sex and the City and Dancing With the Stars hunkster, 33, after working with him recently on Brothers & Sisters (he's guesting as a love interest to Sarah Walker, played by Rachel Griffiths).

Read on find out exactly what Ms. Field (and another certain female television star) thinks of Marini...

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ABC/KELSEY MCNEAL

Cheryl Burke wasn't too thrilled when she first found out she was partnered with Tom DeLay for the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars.

"I was a little scared that I was going to get a grumpy old man," she admits.

She was happy to learn otherwise.

"He's a really nice guy and he's such a family man," Burke says. "He's just like a normal guy who was in politics. But this show isn't about politics, so hopefully they give him a chance."

No surprise, but the 62-year-old former Republican congressman from Texas is nothing like Burke's most recent partner, hunky Gilles Marini...

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http://www.gillesmarini-calendar.com; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

It's not every day I get to talk to Tom DeLay about his waistline.

But I did just that when the former Republican Congressman called me from Sugar Land, Texas, where he and Cheryl Burke have been rehearsing for his upcoming spin on season nine of Dancing With the Stars.

The 62-year-old ultraconservative politico said he's ready for some of the show's signature costumes.

"I lost 20 pounds, so I can wear the tight pants," DeLay boasted. "I've known I was going to do Dancing With the Stars for three months now, so the moment I agreed to do it, I started working out really hard and heavy."

However, he knows he can't exactly compete with Burke's last partner, Gilles Marini…

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ABC/CRAIG SJODIN

If there was ever a time for Ashley Hamilton to take on his dad, George Hamilton, in the tanning department, it's right now.

The younger Hamilton, 34, says he's more than willing to be spray-tanned for his stint competing in season nine of Dancing With the Stars.

"He was so tan, they had to untan him on the show," Ashley cracks about his 70-year-old famous father, who competed on DWTS in season two. "But I'm sure by week one, I'll be just as tan. I'll finally get the family crest."

Ashley, who is paired with Edyta Sliwinska (just as his dad was), says he's surprised how much the training is kickin' his butt...

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Mike Marsland/Getty Images; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

It's a bit of a sad day here at E! Online.

We just got confirmation that it doesn't look like our favorite Frenchman, Gilles Marini, will be reprising his role as Samantha Jones' very well-endowed Malibu neighbor in the follow-up to the Sex and the City movie.

"As far as I know, he will not be in the sequel," Marini's rep says.

The much anticipated SATC 2 begins shooting in a couple of weeks or so.

Marini, 33, has made no secret of wanting to return…

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Maxim

Joanna Krupa went topless on the cover of this month's Maxim, she's bared it all for Playboy and now the 30-year-old Pole is making a play for the coveted Dancing With the Stars disco ball tropy.

No surprise: She has no qualms about the reality competition's signature barely-there costumes.

"You've got to show a little bit of skin to make it fun," she told us earlier today.

Read on for more about those eye-popping ensembles, how she's planning to stay injury-free and what her fiancé thinks of her spending time bumping and grinding with another man.

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ABC/Kelsey McNeal,pbnj productions/Getty Images

The medical bills at Dancing With the Stars may not be as high this upcoming season as they have been in the past.

Producers of the hit reality-competition show have finally implemented safety measures that they hope will reduce the curse number of injuries that have plagued many of their celebrity contestants.

"There's a rule now that we're not allowed to train for more than five hours a day for the first two weeks," professional hoofer Cheryl Burke told me last night at the Anna Faris-hosted Malibu-Reef Check event in Beverly Hills.

And there's more…

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We know Gilles Marini can act, we know he can strut his stuff on the dance floor and we know he poses quite nicely for the camera. But can he sing?

According to him, yes!

The multitalented Mr. Marini is working on an album. Yes, an album...

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Fred Goudon

Can one ever get enough of Gilles Marini?

As long as the Dancing With the Stars runner-up is willing to show off his stuff, we're more than happy to stare take a look.

Photographer Fred Goudon just handed us these exclusive outtakes from Gilles' new 2010 calendar.

There are more pics after the jump—but remember, especially if you're at the office, Gilles is not shy...

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