Archives for September 2009

It was finally time for the ladies to win the "America's Best Dance Crew" trophy. On Sunday night's live season-four finale, all-girl dance crew We Are Heroes rose to the top of the dancing heap, beating out AfroBoriké to become the champions.

The Los Angeles-based team battled mixed-gender AfroBoriké for the grand prize of $100,000. After the all-female Beat Freaks narrowly lost to the all-male Quest Crew last season, We Are Heroes were proud to be the show's first female winners.

"So, we just won 'ABDC,' " dancer Ali Iannucci told MTV's Remote Control blog after the show. "The first female crew, it's like it's like we took the whole title for all the girls who came on the show, who tried to win, we did it for them. We're here. We made it. We're just flabbergasted!.

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Retired Northern Ireland jockey Richard Dunwoody has spoken of his disappointment at being the first of his group to be voted off Strictly Come Dancing.

The three times Champion Jockey said he had tried his best to learn to dance — but admitted it had been a “massive challenge”.

And he also had words of support for under-fire judge Alesha Dixon, who caused controversy when she replaced Arlene Phillips.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, Dunwoody said that while he was sad to be leaving he was also relieved to be returning to normality.

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She may not have been dancing last night, but all eyes were on new judge Alesha Dixon last night.
Her performance last week was slammed by critics but this week she seems to have been given plenty of guidance on how to up her game. Her scores were virtually identical to hardliner Craig Revel Horwood, and she gave instruction on posture, technique and how to handle the pressure to the second group of contestants, who included ex-EastEnder Natalie Cassidy, actress Laila Rouass and Hollyoaks star Ricky Whittle.

Natalie, who wore a pink and black dress to perform the tango with partner Vincent Simone, pulled out all her acting skills to give a dramatic performance of the passionate dance. Natalie, who was spotted having a goodbye kiss with Vincent in a car park after rehearsals several weeks ago, joked before the performance: 'I have to pretend to like Vincent in this dance. So that's really hard.' She scored 24 out of 40 in the dance, which gave her fourth place, which the judges branded a 'very good effort'. Alesha told her: 'What I like about you is that you've decided to take this competition by the scruff of the neck.

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Tom DeLay was elected to the House of Representatives 11 times, but if his performance on Monday's "Dancing With the Stars" is any indication, he shouldn't expect that kind of longevity on the hit ABC dancing competition.

Paired with professional partner Cheryl Burke - a two-time winner when dancing with singer Drew Lachey and football star Emmitt Smith - the former Texas Congressman known as "the Hammer" sits third from the bottom on the judges' scorecards after one night of competition, the season premiere.

He is ahead of only actor Ashley Hamilton (paired with Edyta Sliwinska) and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin (paired with Anna Demidova).

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"Dirty Dancing" made Patrick Swayze a superstar, but when he first read the script, he found it a little clean.

The actor, who died Sept. 14 of cancer, writes in his memoir, "It seemed fluffy — nothing more than a summer-camp movie." The memoir "The Time of My Life" comes out next week, AP reports.

Swayze's reaction was completely different about another future smash, "Ghost." He immediately wanted to be in it and persuaded Jerry Zucker to cast him despite the director's skepticism that Swayze could play a sensitive leading man.

Swayze also remembered working with a then-little known Tom Cruise in Francis Coppola's adaptation of the young adult classic "The Outsiders." Cruise, Swayze said, was so "self-conscious about his teeth" that he resisted magazine photo shoots

So much for ladies first. Eight celebrity male contestants took the floor Monday on the premiere of the ninth season of "Dancing With the Stars." The women make their debuts Tuesday. "Dancing With the Stars" airs Tuesday on 'A.'

"I'm a little intimidated actually," said pop star Mya after watching the men perform. "I'm glad that we sat this one out, but it's very informative how the process works. ... The judges are very hard."

VOTE: Which guy will go home first?
Aaron Carter came out on top, earning 32 points out of 40 for his two dances. The 21-year-old singer credited his professional partner, Karina Smirnoff, with keeping him calm before their opening performance.

"She took the pressure off of me completely for this," he said. "She was holding it all in and keeping it from me.""I was freaking out," Smirnoff said later. Ashley Hamilton (son of George Hamilton), who tied NFL star Michael Irvin for the night's lowest score of 19, said focusing on Irvin's nerves distracted him from his own.

"I had to talk him off the ledge," Hamilton said. "He was more scared than I was, and he helped me not be so nervous.

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The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards are days away, but Hollywood is already gearing up for Sunday's awards. Here's a look at what's already going on around Tinseltown:

GOING GREEN
Rex Lee from "Entourage" and Sofia Milos from "CSI: Miami" were among the folks who grabbed environmentally sound swag Friday afternoon at the Eco-Emmys Celebrity Green Gifting and Wellness Chateau at a lavish private home in Hancock Park. Most popular pickup? Eco-friendly hair products.
Poolside manicure and pedicures were a big hit, too. Mark Saul and Gloria Garayua from "Grey's Anatomy" and "Wizards of Waverly Place" writer-producer Todd J. Greenwald also stopped by the gift event benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure, i am that, Arx Pacifica, spcaLA and Green Wish.

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Popular reality TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" has made peace with America's gay community by putting a same-sex Latin ballroom couple into a new round of competition and appointing an openly gay judge.

Producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe caused a furor in May when he told another gay couple he thought their samba routine would "probably alienate" a lot of the show's five million viewers.

Lythgoe later wrote a Twitter message saying he was "not a fan of 'Brokeback' Ballroom," alluding to the 2007 gay romance film "Brokeback Mountain." His message prompted a call for action by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a meeting with Lythgoe and executives at the Fox network, as well as an apology.

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Safety measures be damned. The new season of Dancing With the Stars hasn't started yet, but already the injury count is one two and holding. Kathy Ireland received seven stitches in her leg when a day at the beach turned into a day at the emergency room.

The accident happened on Sunday, when the former model took partner Tony Dovolani's advice to "go out and have fun" on what may should she prove to be any good at this dancing thing have been her last free day for quite some time.

Unfortunately, she failed to heed the latter half of his advice, which Dovolani also told her children: "Make sure she doesn't do anything to injure herself."
Here's what went down...

Ireland decided to take her son Erik surfing in Santa Barbara. During a wave run, the 46-year-old former Sports Illustrated swimsuit fixture bashed the board against the side of her leg, splitting it open.
As luck would have it, she managed to keep her treatment in the family. Her husband, Greg Olsen, is an ER doctor in Santa Barbara. He happened to be on duty at the time and stitched up Ireland himself.
While the injury probably won't help Ireland, her rep said it is not expected to hurt her, with the model (like the previously injured Tom DeLay) still set to participate in Monday's premiere.

The stress of preparing for his Dancing With the Stars debut is starting to get to Tom DeLay.
Or to his feet at least.

The ex-congressman revealed via Twitter today that he has sustained a pre-stress fracture in his foot which appears to be a relief for the 62-year-old Texan.

"Old age is catching up to me, may have a stress fracture in my foot. no worries, it'll take more than that to keep me off the dance floor!" DeLay wrote around noon.

Two hours later, he followed up with, "No stress fracture! It is a pre-stress fracture. I live for another day."DeLay's partner, two-time winner and last year's runner-up, Cheryl Burke, is either thrilled and relieved or has vowed to step harder on his foot next time.

Just judging by Dancing's track record, you could probably guess that this season's walking wounded will include more than DeLay. Sure enough, nimble Iron Chef America chairman Mark Dacascos, who's dancing with Lacey Schwimmer, bruised the sole of his foot while demonstrating his martial-arts mastery to his partner. Let's keep our eyes on the disco ball, guys.