All Things Dancing with the Stars

It felt, she said, "like someone had hit the back of my foot with a baseball bat." Misty May-Treanor's tenure on Dancing with the Stars came to a sudden and stunning end Friday after she ruptured her Achilles tendon rehearsing the jive. "I heard this 'pop' and then when I tried to put weight on my left foot, there was nothing there," says May-Treanor. "My foot didn't feel like it was even attached."

But the two-time Olympic beach volleyball champion's Dancing days are not necessarily over for good. Setside sources tell TV Guide that the door is wide open for May-Treanor to return to the parquet at a future date. "I hope I get another shot," she says. Given that she'll need almost a year to recoup, that could bring her back next year, perhaps for Season 9.

If that happens, her partner is ready to sign her dance card again. "I can't say anything, and I don't know what they're doing," says Maksim Chmerkovskiy. "But if it's true, there's nothing in the world that would stop me from coming back to dance with her."

Chmerkovskiy was of course on hand when May-Treanor's Achilles tendon gave in. "I heard the pop," he says. "You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that this was bad."

Even a world-class athlete can be reduced to tears when an injury is that severe. "I cried for about three minutes when we were putting ice on it, and then again at the hospital," says May-Treanor, "because I didn't want to let people down. I felt so bad for Maks, who had put so much time into my training."

For the next few hours, May-Treanor endured excruciating pain and the realization that her Dancing run was over. "I was so bummed because I thought we were gonna kill it in the jive on Monday," she says. "This was going to be our breakthrough week."

That sentiment was echoed by Spice Girl Mel B., who had stopped by Misty and Maks' rehearsal studio earlier in the week to help Misty break out of her shell. "Everybody says I always dance with my game face on," says May-Treanor, "and that I don't look like I'm having fun." So Mel B. put Maks in a clown suit and painted a clown face on him, and the two women laughed at him for the rest of the rehearsal. "She had the dance down for sure," says Mel B. "She just needed to let go and laugh."

But on Friday night, rehearsing in the tennis shoes that would become part of her jive costume, the left shoe stuck on the ballroom floor and the tendon gave way. "Usually, when I hurt myself, it's just, 'Tape me up, coach. I'm ready to go back in.'"

Not this time. May-Treanor will go into surgery Tuesday in Orange County, and is facing nine long months of physical rehabilitation. "I've been talking about taking some time off," she says. "Now, I have to."

May-Treanor says the Long Beach home she shares with her husband, Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor, has become a haven for the walking wounded. "My husband just had an operation for a sports hernia last week," she shares, "so now we're both out of commission." — Deborah Starr Seibel

Related:
• Our complete DWTS recap
• Cheers & Jeers tackles Warren Sapp

Misty May-Treanor has withdrawn from competition on this season's Dancing with the Stars, after a painful foot injury has sidelined her indefinitely.

The Olympic gold medalist appeared on crutches during Monday's telecast to describe her injury. While practicing the Lindy hop with partner Maks Chmerkovskiy, she heard a pop, and thought she had collided with the judges' platform. "It just felt like nothing was there, like I didn't have an ankle," she told the crowd.

The diagnosis: She has ruptured her Achilles' tendon, and will therefore be out of the competition. She'll have surgery on Tuesday. But, she asserted, she will be there to cheer on her former co-competitors, and hinted that she might appear on a future season of the show.

May-Treanor said that she was already planning to take some time off from her professional volleyball career to spend some time with her husband. Check back later for Deborah Starr Seibel's backstage interview with Misty about her season-ending injury. — Mickey O'Connor

Watch clips of Dancing with the Stars in our Online Video Guide.

Plus: Get Mickey's full recap of Monday's show and weigh in!

Olympic gold-medalist Misty May-Treanor, who with pro partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy emerged as an early favorite in this season's Dancing with the Stars, injured herself on Friday, putting her future status with the show in question.

"Misty May-Treanor sustained an injury on Friday and received immediate medical attention," producers said in a statement to TVGuide.com. "Despite previous reports, she did not break her ankle."

Last week, Misty's paso doble earned her and Maks some of their biggest praise from the Dancing judges, with Carrie Ann Inaba deeming it a "most ambitious" routine for so early in the competition.

Though some online rumors have declared Misty (who is now resting at home) and Maks done, finished, finito for the season, the show's producers are opting to wait and see: "Doctors will reevaluate her condition on Monday and determine the outcome of her participation on the show." — Matt Mitovich

Helio Castroneves may have had his last dance — but not without some fancy footwork.

The Season 5 Dancing champ pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of federal tax evasion, following indictment on Thursday. Castroneves was released on $10 million bail after a Miami court appearance at which he was shackled in handcuffs and sobbing into a tissue, the AP says.

Yet, even with the weight of the day's emotion, he vowed to keep fighting. "I'm a race car driver," he said outside the court room. "This is a very difficult situation. I'll be strong and I'll win this race."

The Brazilian race car driver, 33, is accused of funneling $5.5 million in income to a Panamanian shell company from 1999 to 2004. He is being charged with conspiracy and six counts of tax evasion, with each count carrying a maximum sentence of five years.

Also indicted are his sister and business manager, Katiucia Castroneves and his attorney, Alan Miller. Miller's lawyer, Michael Tein, asserted that the trio was accused largely because of their fame. "This case is the height of overreaching," he said.

Castroneves has won the Indianapolis 500 twice, but he's best known outside of racing circles as the 2007 DTWS winner, alongside his lovely dance partner (and rumored partner off the dance floor), Julianne Hough.

Will Castroneves be able to race — or even rumba — away from this legal number? — Anna Dimond



Catch some of Helio's finer moves with clips in our Online Video Guide.

Just in case you were confused, there are two Kim Kardashians: The shy person who stars in her family's reality series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The reserved person who poses for Playboy. The party girl who makes the rounds of L.A. clubs but doesn't drink. And the model who's happy in front of a camera, unless she has to dance.

Kardashian, the third celebrity to get the boot (read the episode recap here), never quite married the two Kims on Dancing with the Stars. And the thing is: She knows it. "When people see me with my sisters on our show and they're really loud, they think that's me too," she says. "But if you really look, I'm quiet. I just sit there and giggle. When I go to a nightclub and they want a picture, I'll get up and do a dancing pose, and that's it. I sit on the side and observe. I don't even drink alcohol. The people here [at Dancing] are shocked, backstage. They'll say, 'Hey, let's have a drink before the show to loosen up.' And I'm like, 'I don't do that. I never drink. I've never liked it.' I just go out because I love to dress up."

At least she got to do that for the last two weeks. "Kim really is a shy person," says her stepfather, Olympian Bruce Jenner, who sat ringside every night. "I know for a fact that this is the hardest thing she's ever done in her life."

Certainly the hardest in terms of dancing. Her only prior experience on a ballroom floor was the father-daughter dinner dances her late father, Robert Kardashian, would take her to when she was a little girl. "My dad and my sister would go," says Kim, "and we would slow dance together in a little triangle."

But it was nothing like the circus atmosphere of Dancing with the Stars. "He would be floored by all this," she says. "He would've wanted me to come home and teach him everything. He loved to dance."

She thinks her late father would have been proud of her. And she's not sorry about any of it. "I really wanted to break out of this shell," she says. "It was a personal goal of mine. And if the judges ripped us, my attitude is, I did the best that I could do." — Deborah Starr Seibel

Vote now in our Power Rankings poll and check back later in the week to see where your favorites measure up in our Power Rankings gallery.

WARNING: This post contains spoilers regarding the outcome of Tuesday's Dancing with the Stars results show.

In a week that saw all the contestants struggle through a shorter-than-usual preparation time — and, sadly, it showed — there were three couples whose lackluster routines could have earned them a ticket home. (Decorum prevents me from identifying them, but one of them can really cook and one is really old.)

It was a close call, if you ask me, but ultimately Kim Kardashian got the ax on Tuesday's Dancing with the Stars. The "reality TV star" never quite found her inner ballroom diva, despite the careful ministrations of partner Mark Ballas and, on Monday's show, Robin Antin, the founder of the Pussycat Dolls. Her strategic use of Sir-Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" on the Sept. 23 show seemed to be a surefire strategy to capture the perv vote, but her booty work was deemed not-licious. (Read the full recap of the episode here.)

Which means that Rocco DiSpirito and Cloris Leachman, who must have been the next two bottom vote-getters, will return next week. Now that you've seen this week's paso dobles and rumbas, it's time for you to pick who you think has the moves to win. Vote now in our Power Rankings poll! — Mickey O'Connor

Week one, the Dancing contestants were getting out their debut jitters, but come last night's week two performance, you can really see they kicked things up a notch (or ten). As far as highlights go, Lance's dance floor make-out session with his female partner definitely made an impression on the audience (but not exactly a positive one on the judges). Check out more highlights from last night's episode now!

Dancing with the Stars was infiltrated Monday night by some of its stiffest dance competition: three heavyweights from Fox's So You Think You Can Dance.

Sitting ringside was So You Think You Can Dance creator, executive producer and head judge Nigel Lythgoe, who has always made a point of praising Dancing with the Stars on the air. In another section of the ballroom sat So You Think judge Adam Shankman, who also directed the feature film Hairspray. And three seats down from Shankman sat the show's Season 2 winner, swing dancer Benji Schwimmer.

"They all came to support me," says new pro Lacey Schwimmer, who was a fan favorite during So You Think's Season 3. Lacey really needed their support. Because even though she and her star, 'NSync's Lance Bass, have racked up three solid scores for their cha cha cha, quick-step and paso doble, they're had their wrists slapped repeatedly by head judge Len Goodman for not doing traditional steps. "He's really got it in for them," says Shankman. "And it's ridiculous, because the audience loves them. And they're the only ones out there who look like they're really having fun. Everyone else has these smiles plastered on their faces, but Lance and Lacey are the real thing."

"I think Adam said, 'Fire Len!'" says Bass after the show, laughing. "He would say that," says Lacey. "But it was great to have him and Nigel here, it was like a little reunion for me."

Still, having such influential support from the stands didn't stop Goodman from chastising the couple yet again. "I know your game and I know your brain!" said Goodman after their paso doble. "And it doesn't work, my old sausage." He may have finally put a dent in Lacey's determination to put a rock & roll edge into her ballroom choreography. "We're gonna be who we are," she says. "But if the judges really want us to be traditional, we'll pull it out of somewhere. We'll find it."

"We play characters when we dance," says Bass. "And this is not the time to play it safe. But if we stay on the show, maybe next week, we'll do a completely traditional ballroom dance. We'll give them exactly what they want. We can do that, and we'll prove that we can do that." — Deborah Starr Seibel

Vote for your favorite Dancing pair in our latest poll!

Plus, see where your favorites stand so far in our Power Rankings gallery and watch clips of the show in our Online Video Guide.

Dancing with the Stars won’t have McGinley to kick around anymore, but it doesn’t matter. The damage has been done.

Ted did not deserve to go Wednesday night. He wasn't the worst dancer. He and his partner didn’t get the lowest score. Perhaps the producers sensed the effect Ted has on any prime time show and tried to escape.

Dancing with the Stars has drifted into Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-level over-exposure on ABC. Is there a night that this show isn’t on? And the “stars” that those great-looking dancers get down with are resurrecting their careers, not showcasing them. As contestants aspire to be the next Mario Lopez or Joey Fatone, the glamour of the show has begun to fade. Even my boss at my day job has lost interest, and he was a die-hard fan.

Look at this season’s competition…. Kim Kardashian? Jeffrey Ross? The show has reached the point where the dancers are bigger celebrities than their “star” partners.

And then there’s Ted. Ted is the best because he continues to be cast in network television shows in spite of his “jump the shark” track record. Happy Days. The Love Boat. Sports Night. Hope & Faith. The list goes on and on.

Tom, Samantha and crew might have been feeling a bit cocky when they put Ted into the mix. The show was hot. The ratings were good. Why not tempt fate? We’ll pair him with a lesser known dance partner, just in case. We don’t want him around for too long.

Blood was in the water when Ted was announced as a participant, and as soon as he took his first twirl on the dance floor, the shark had been jumped.

Ted will persevere. But Carrie Ann, Len and Bruno should find some life jackets. Fast.

Do you think Dancing is in danger of "jumping the shark"? — Jon Hein, founder of JumptheShark.com

"This should be an Olympic sport," says Ted McGinley, the second dancer voted off the toughest first week in the history of Dancing with the Stars. "And those of us who don't have the training should stay away." McGinley has developed a great respect for the rigors of ballroom after the month he spent preparing for the show. "My mind was always saying, 'Yes, I can do this.' But my feet were saying, 'No.'"

In fact, after his third day of rehearsals, McGinley had a mini-meltdown and contemplated bowing out. He would be lucky, he thought, to master two different dances — the foxtrot and the mambo — in a month. But after that? "I thought we were going to have to learn two more dances for the second week of competition as well, and I just knew I wouldn't be able to do that. Inna (Brayer, his pro partner), said, 'Relax. There's two dances the first week, then one the second.'"

Sadly, there will be no third dance for McGinley, who considers himself one of the luckiest actors on the planet. He's been on two hit sitcoms (Happy Days and Married… with Children), a hit drama (The Love Boat), and now, a top reality show. "On Happy Days I was green," he says. "I'd never looked at a script. I remember thinking, 'I'm going to go on stage in front of millions of people — just like this — and I thought, oh my God, am I really doing this?' But it's those great questions that make you feel alive."

He said yes to Dancing mainly because his wife is crazy about the show and made him do it. "I've had a lot of requests from reality shows lately," he says, and then jokes, "people must think I'm near death. I've said no to them all." But from this one, he takes away one the best compliments he's ever gotten from judge Bruno Tonioli. "He said I looked like Cary Grant," says McGinley. "Even if they kicked me out, they called me Cary Grant on national television." — Deborah Starr Seibel

Who's Dancing best? Vote now for your favorite in our Power Rankings Poll!

WARNING: This post contains spoilers regarding the outcome of Wednesday's Dancing with the Stars results show.

After a busy first week on the "biggest" season of Dancing with the Stars ever (and boy did they not let us forget just how huge it was), another couple saw their parquet days cut short. (Read the full recap of the episode here.)

Ted McGinley, despite earning middle-of-the pack scores and praise from head judge Len Goodman, apparently didn't dance his way into the heart of the America as he joined Jeffrey Ross as the first victims of the competition's first week. The Married…with Children and Hope & Faith star (and the patron saint of JumptheShark.com) was visibly disappointed by his early exit, but said he hopes he made a "few of the guys on the couch with a beer chuckle."

Meanwhile, two of the judges' least-favorite dancers, Cloris Leachman and Kim Kardashian, lived to quickstep another day. Now that you've seen all the stars dance, it's time for you to pick who you think has the moves to win. Vote now in our Power Rankings poll!

Do you think America got it right, or are you sad to see Ted go?

Kim Kardashian wants to use Dancing with the Stars to shape up and slim down — but keep her sexy curves — before she has babies.

The reality star shares details on her experiences on Dancing, as well as her fitness and family plans in OK! Magazine.

When asked how she prepared for the rigorous training on Dancing, she said, "Knowing that I was going to do this, I started heavily working out in the gym all summer. My boyfriend (NFL star Reggie Bush) taught me lots of weight training exercises that I didn't do before."

Kardashian admits that she's using her time on the show to tone up so she can look good on vacation in her swimsuit, but says losing her curves is not in the cards.

She tells OK!, "I don't even think that's really possible. I'm going to probably have kids soon, so I want to have the perfect body before then. It'll be harder to get in shape afterward, so why not do it now."

What do you think about the curvaceous Kardashian's admission that she wants to have kids soon? (We hope Reggie is in on that info). — Erin Fox

Related
• DWTS scratches its first pair
• Check out our in-depth recap of Dancing with the Stars
• Who is at the top of our DWTS power rankings?

He lifted his black sparkle eye-patch and the left eye looked terribly swollen, as if he'd been crying. But Comedy Central roastmaster Jeffrey Ross, who suffered a painful scratched cornea during Monday's dress rehearsals, wasn't shedding tears about being the first dancer eliminated from Dancing with the Stars.

"For me, it was never about the competition, it was about the dancing," says Ross, who signed up for the show to honor the great comedians of the '50s and '60s who could sing, dance and tell jokes. "Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett... they were great entertainers," says Ross. "This was my tribute to them."

But signing up was also his way of making a life transformation. This isn't the first freak accident that has stopped Ross in his tracks. Five years ago, on a Christmas Eve outing with his nephews to a Washington state ice rink, he broke his left hip trying to avoid a little girl who had fallen in front of him. That hip is now held together by three titanium pins. "That's why I walk funny," he says. Ross was also recently diagnosed with high cholesterol and high blood pressure. "So when I got a call asking me, 'Do you want to do Dancing with the Stars?' it was like a call from the heavens, a chance to get back into shape."

And over the past month, he has. "My left hip is a lot stronger now," he says. "My shoulders are stronger. And I probably lost 15 pounds."

Not only that, but his partner, Edyta Sliwinska, reports that the pair will probably get the chance to perform the dance number they had prepared for Tuesday, the quick step, during this week's second elimination show. "Production said we can do it since we worked on it for all those weeks," says Sliwinska.

Sliwinska says she's proud of her partner, who was advised not to dance after his cornea injury. But she had a feeling in her gut that their dancing days were numbered. "I know how this competition works and I know how wonderful all the other couples are," she says. "But it's all right. Jeffrey put great effort into learning to dance, and he had the courage to go out there and dance with an injury." — Deborah Starr Seibel

For a full rundown of the episode, read our recap!

Here's what we know after the seventh season premiere of Dancing with the Stars: It's going to be a wild ride.

Never in the show's history have two dancers had to be carted off to the hospital for mishaps during opening-night dress rehearsal. Pro Edyta Sliwinska twirled and hit comedian Jeffrey Ross in the left eye with her fingernail, leaving him with a painful scratched cornea. And pro Karina Smirnoff landed on the outside edge her high heel, resulting in a sprained right ankle.

They both got meds for pain relief and soldiered on. But it was two other dancers — two unlikely dancers — who stole the spotlight and won standing ovations: venerable actress Cloris Leachman, who did the fox trot as if she were in her own little world, and 300-pound NFL bruiser Warren Sapp, who had the crowd buzzing about "the next Emmitt Smith."

"I was thinking crazy thoughts before I went out there," says Sapp, who told his pro partner, Kym Johnson, that he was afraid he was going to fall down the glittering staircase during his grand entrance. "I just told him that if he did, it would make great television," says Johnson.

Leachman wowed the crowd with her agility, and then tried to ratchet up her score by showing judge Bruno Tonioli a little leg. Host Tom Bergeron looked a little shell-shocked during the commercial break, telling Kim Kardashian's stepfather, Olympian Bruce Jenner, who was sitting ringside: "I didn't think she was going to put her leg on the desk."

"I was just carried away by the music," says Leachman after the show. Her pro partner, Corky Ballas, says he wants to get the old gal moving even more tomorrow night. "I want her to cover more ground," says Ballas, who tried to conduct a professional interview while Leachman flirted with him. "He's not interested in me and I don't know why," she says. "I don't mind, but I'm curious." She turns to Ballas. "Why aren't you interested in me?" she demands. "Because," he says, "I want to remain a mystery." Smart man. — Deborah Starr Seibel

Related
• Check out our in-depth recap of Dancing with the Stars
• Who is at the top of our DWTS power rankings?

With the kickoff to Dancing with the Stars' seventh season nearly upon us, we thought we'd take a look at how the competitors are shaping up in your eyes.

Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor jumped out as the early favorite. (It's worthwhile to note that fellow Olympian and Season 6 champ Kristi Yamaguchi topped our pre-season poll last year before running away with the competition.)

But it's never wise to count out the appeal of the soap stars, especially when you're dealing with an icon like Susan Lucci, who trails May-Treanor by only 10 percent. Former boy bander Lance Bass rounds out the Top 3.

The full results break down like this:

30% Misty May-Treanor
20% Susan Lucci
10% Lance Bass
8% Cloris Leachman
8% Maurice Greene
4% Brooke Burke
4% Kim Kardashian
4% Cody Linley
3% Ted McGinley
2% Toni Braxton
1% Rocco DiSpirito
1% Warren Sapp
0% Jeff Ross

Our readers' predictions seem to be in line with the oddsmakers at BetOnline.com, with a couple notable exceptions. While May-Treanor is the odds-on favorite there as well, Toni Braxton, who performed poorly in our vote is running a close second with 3-to-1 odds. And while 82-year-old Cloris Leachman is a longshot in the gambler's eyes (50-to-1 odds), she's actually running toward the top of the pack in our poll.

What do you think of these early results? Do you think the fan favorites might stumble when they actually hit the parquet?