Dancing With The Stars 12 – Karina Smirnoff To Pose For May 2011 Playboy Magazine
In a twitter post yesterday afternoon, Hugh Hefner announced Karina will be gracing the cover of Playboy Magazine in May and will make an appearance inside. This news doesn’t bother me any, but, I remember Season 9 all too well with Joanna Krupa dancing (one of my favorite celebrity dancers). At the end of the season, an issue of Playboy came out with her making an appearance in it which many claimed spoiled her chances of winning. I am not sure if that is true or not? Anyway, I hope this news won’t hurt Ralph’s chances. Do you think voters will have an issue with it and stop voting for them? If so, I think it will be a shame. (Heidi: Eh, I love Joanna and all, but that wasn’t what got her eliminated. People just liked Kelly better.)
Picture above from the Dancing With The Stars Make-up Facebook page.
I have voted for Jacoby because I honestly didn’t think he’d beat Zendaya or Kellie in...
Love Karina and all but Playboy? She’s beautiful without the exposure. LOL
Bet Maks is glad he never tied the knot with her now. LOL
Makes no difference to me, but I’m sure a group of DWTS fans will be “SHOCKED” and appalled and offended and disgusted and irate. Would they take out their “righteous indignation” at Karina on Ralph and stop voting for them? Surely, not. That would be juvenile. Oh wait, it’s DWTS fans we’re talking about…so yeah…they would.
Lucky for Hugh Hefner, probably unlucky for Karina and Ralph. Wish she had waited until after her mirrorball trophy. LOL
FYI – b/c I don’t want to get jumped on.
I was just kidding about Maks. I had an LOL after that sentence, but the comment formatter didn’t recognize it.
Karina wants to do Playboy? GOOD FOR HER. She has a beautiful body and if she wants to share it with the world, more power to her. And really, I think there’s FAR worse things she could be doing than just posing naked…she could have a sex tape (*cough*KimKardashian*cough*), be posing for Penthouse/Hustler, or doing porn. Playboy’s pretty tame and classy compared to either of those options.
As for Joanna – the Playboy pictorial may have put some people off, but I doubt it was enough to have much of an impact. Joanna left because she was pitted against a fantastic dancer (Mya), a ridiculously-popular entertainer with a HUGE fanbase (Donny), and a Cinderella-story fan-favorite (Kelly). Joanna never really stood a chance, since she just didn’t have the fanbase of Kelly or Donny or the dancing chops of Mya. And if anyone didn’t vote for her because of Playboy, then they must not have voted for Kelly Monaco, Rachel Hunter, Tia Carrere, Shanna Moakler, Willa Ford, Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson, Lisa Rinna, Pam Anderson, Shannon Elizabeth, Kim Kardashian, Brooke Burke, or Denise Richards, either. All of the above have posed – NUDE – in Playboy. Two are DWTS champions. Must not be a total deal-breaker.
I would hope this wouldn’t hurt Ralph’s chances. I think it’s kind of tacky for it to come out before the end of the season though because we all know that a lot of the DWTS fans aren’t quite as open-minded as others.
My opinion? Hey, if she wants to do it, go for it and I hope she gets a big paycheck for it.
I’m not a Karina fan at all; I really do dislike her, but it would be a shame for that to affect Ralph.
And for what it’s worth, I think what did more harm to Joanna was her bitchy presence on that AllStars show. It was really very unflattering and no matter what she did on DWTS, I could not get past that.
As for Ralph – I doubt this is gonna hurt his chances. I think people are voting – PASSIONATELY, from what I can tell – for Ralph right now, as opposed to voting for his partner. I doubt they’re gonna punish Ralph in order to boycott Karina – a few renegade fans likely will, but again, likely not enough to make an impact. Although just watch – if Ralph doesn’t win, people will blame Playboy, rather than anything else. It was public knowledge at the beginning of season 9 that Joanna was gonna be in Playboy, and she still managed to make it to the semi-finals – and yet some people still insist that it was Playboy that ruined her chances at the MBT. If it was that big of a deal-breaker, folks, she wouldn’t have made it all the way to 4th place (out of 16 couples!). *eye roll* Some people and their faulty logic…
Yeah I doubt that Playboy was the reason Joanna didn’t make the finals – she was up against two very likable and popular contestants and a great dancer. I actually liked her a lot on the show (never watched or even heard of the show All-Stars till people brought up that they didn’t like her cause of it).
As far as Karina goes, I actually like her a lot more than I used to – and I can’t help but love her routines and most of all, her dancing. She moves better than anyone else I’ve ever seen on the show (imo). I realize that a lot of Maks fans do not like her, but I don’t hold that against her – what goes on in their relationship is whatever between two people. I choose to like them both a lot! Playboy – meh – I mean, I’ll look outta curiosity – but I don’t really like most of their spreads. Some are great and artsy, some are just dull. Of course, I’m not looking for titillation, rather interesting composition and stuff. Hopefully that will be the case with her shoot – and while I think there may be a tiny backlash in votes, if Ralph continues to be as likable as he is, the voters won’t condemn him for it (I hope!).
She posed nude for an ad for PETA.
I predict Hines Ward as champ. Excellent learner, athletic and disciplined, developing an engaging personality, not a haughty guy at all, and has a great partner-there’s a reason Julianne, Cheryl and Kym have won for their partners. I guess there are magazines not much tamer than Playboy at the supermarket checkout line, but I’m surprised DWTS didn’t have some kind of contract restriction on the pros? I want DanceTv rather than RealityTV.
Not a Karina fan at all. What she does w/her body is her business..just can’t understand why she wanted to do Playboy right before she gets married? But, the PETA ad should have been a big hint to bigger things to come. I would venture to guess ABC knew about this for awhile and I would think had an obligation to tell Ralph. I certainly think with a wife & teenage son he should have a choice about his partner. What grief is Ralph’s son gonna take about his daddy dancing with a ‘Playboy bunny’? Probably won’t be grief – he’ll be the coolest kid in town! What a twisted world!
True, Evaine, and the reason she got as far as she did was that Derek actually formed a cute partnership with her. She made it to 4th place, which is much MUCH better than I expected her to do. Paired with anyone else she likely would have been gone sooner.
I also think it’s a mistake to assume that the average DWTS viewer/voter has a clue about who’s going to be or has been in Playboy. Don’t think so.
I’m a little surprised at the timing as well, but whatever. Hopefully Ralph is informed.
I really like Karina and hope this won’t hurt her reputation. She’s one of my very favorite dancers to watch on the show and she seems really sweet and funny too.
I agree with Evaine. I’m not a fan of Karina either…don’t give a s#!t what she does with her body, but I do hope that it won’t affect Ralph as far as voting is concerned. I really do want to see him in the finals. I think it will come down to Kirstie, Ralph, and Hines. I want Kirstie to win b/c I’m a huge Maks fan, but I have a feeling it will be Hines.
random, but it looks like Ralph and Karina are doing their waltz to “A Time For Us” aka the love theme from Romeo and Juliet per Karina’s twitter video. This should be good! Classical week might not be as bad as I thought
OMG I love the music (and the film) from Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet – I listen to it almost every day! I actually prefer “What is a Youth” but it’s all wonderful – very excited to see their waltz.
Na i dont think it will hurt them all that much or at all,l still vote for them. Now if Ralph poses for playboy THEN that might push people over the edge.
Take these with a grain of salt, but 2 articles about the fall out that Karina’s posing for Playboy could have…
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00039623.html
http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/abc-may-fire-karina-smirnoff-over-recent-playboy-photo-shoot-04-08-2011
Rumors are now she’s going to be fired. But I think it’s just ABC’s way of getting some publicity for milk toast Ralph on the lilly white Disney network. He’s already stripped down in the video package and he’s a doughy as I figured he would be. Ugh.
I wish I could find the interview with Maks…..but, after their break up, I remember him saying one of their differences was about how far one should go to get attention for their career. I wonder now if this was one of their arguements if at the time she was considering doing Playboy. Does anyone else remember that interview when he said something like that?
I have to wonder if Karina was already planning on not returning to DWTS when she signed on for Playboy. She’s got an upcoming wedding and a brand-new dance studio to attend to, and has been on DWTS for several seasons (and quite a few “dud” partners) now…maybe she’s thinking like Edyta and wanting to move on with her life. If so, threats of firing probably aren’t going to mean much to her if that’s what the TPTB are threatening to do over her Playboy appearance. And I daresay ABC would look a little hypocritical letting a pro go for doing it after actively seeking out celebs that have done it – ridiculous double standard there. They can, however, choose to “sit her out” for a season or two if she sticks around – kinda like they did with Lacey for season 10, and almost season 11. Lacey was particularly vocal in her dislike of Nicole during season 10, and then coincidentally they initially “didn’t have a partner” for her in season 11…it was by luck that Edyta dropped out at the last minute, creating the need for another female pro. However, if their goal is to punish Karina for this, then I hope she just says “Sayonara!” to the show – she, like Edyta, is far too talented to waste time dealing with silly reality tv politics.
For what it’s worth, I heard on the radio this morning that ABC’s displeasure was due to the timing (i.e., because she’s on the current DWTS season). Maybe if she had chosen to do it in the “off-season,” it wouldn’t be creating such a stir?
I doubt very much she will be fired – that’s wack. Particularly if it’s not outlined in her contract what she can and can’t do.
ABC will have on ex-con’s (Lil’Kim), people who are likely going to do jail time in the future (Tom Delay), who had a child at age 18, out of wedlock and whose mother is the most polarizing figure in American Politics (Bristol), recently clean drug addicts (Steve O)…the list goes on of wack ass choices they make when it comes to “celebrities” they ask on the show. Yet, you expect me to believe they get their panties in a twist over Karina showing her gorgeous body in Playboy?? Particularly after Edyta, Karina and various other female pros are wearing next to nothing on national TV every single week? Seriously? If that is even remotely true (which I doubt) then this country’s got some seriously screwed up priorties and hangups.
Exactly, Heidi! While im not a fan of ANYTHING playboy I think this is being blown out of proportion. Karina is an excellent dancer and i remember Karina saying something as if she loves doing Dancing With The Stars so I would think that if the producers have her, she’ll be back.
None of the others were doing things “concurrent” to their season on dwts, this is a contestant peeling in a titty mag and it’s to get the male audience to tune in and vote. Has the show come to stripping for votes? Guys take off their shirts, do women have to show their vag?
“peeling in a titty mag”? Well, that’s one way to put it, I guess…
@Mary – I don’t think it’s fair to say the show as whole is moving in that direction – appearing in Playboy is clearly Karina’s personal choice, and I very much doubt she’s not being coerced by TPTB to get naked for votes. Not that it would really help – the major viewing demographic of DWTS is middle-aged women, and I’m not so sure too many of them subscribe to Playboy. And I doubt Karina appearing in Playboy is going to entice too many men to sit through 3 hours of schlock a week in order to catch a glimpse of clothed Karina.
As an aside to everyone – let’s try not to get too coarse with the language. We do have younger readers here, so let’s try to avoid using the t-word…”breasts” is a bit less offensive.
All right “breasts” and private areas has never been shown previously by a pro on the show. Does this now up the ante for other pros to have to do the same? What about the dancers who will find this morally reprehensible? This is a current contestant, not something in somebody’s colorful past. The show is very much pandering for a male audience if they are courting Playboy in this way.
Mary, If the show is “courting Playboy” for votes, then it’s the most backwards, pointless exercise I’ve ever seen. How you’re making the syllogism that nudity in Playboy = more viewers on a show where everyone’s clothed is beyond me. No man I know (at least not the ones who already watch the show) is going to waste 3 hours of their lives a week to see a woman fully clothed just because they saw her nude in Playboy. It’s a bit of a step back.
And once again, you’re acting as if the show itself is to blame for this – as if TPTB are FORCING Karina to do this, which is also ridiculous. “Does this now up the ante for other pros to do the same?” I dunno, Mary, did having all the celebs on the show who’ve also done Playboy “up the ante” for all the other ladies to follow suit? Cloris, honey, you better start hitting the gym, because it’s time to get naked! As for dancers who find it “morally reprehensible” – TOUGH. It doesn’t affect them. But if they’re so upset by it, then they can quit. No one’s got a gun to their head, just like no one has a gun to Karina’s head making her pose.
Woah, calm down. Nobody’s forcing anything. But I just talked to a person close to the show over at ABC and absolutely they want the male audience, so they are not going to do anything but let Karina have her time in the mag, they like this fabricated controversy because it will give Karina and Ralph more attention and more votes without having to improve his “spatula hands” .
Oh and as far as men watching? To paraphase a producer “millions of men watched Baywatch” and that’s exactly what they’re trying to do with cross promoting Playboy brand and ABC.
Speaking of colorful pasts…I was wondering how long it would be before you lost your cool, Andie…I mean, Mary. Watch yourself.
“Cross promoting Playboy and ABC”? Highly, highly doubt it. For a network that prides itself on being “family friendly” and with an extra G-rated affiliate that also bears its name (ABC Family), I don’t see any reason why any of the higher-ups would want their name associated with Playboy.
Funny how your “friend over at ABC” all of a sudden materialized to help support your claim. All this talk of a “fabricated controversy” is nonsensical – the show is doing just fine without some “fake-angry-cause-some-chick-is-doing-Playboy” ploy.
Oh, Court, I’m sure there are plenty of people at the ABC boards claiming to be close to the show…kinda like our part time sound guy who claimed such intimate knowledge of the show. Hey, wait…THAT’S where he turned up!
Now… just thinking…. Hef said the May issue, yes? Will that not come out in May? After the show is over?
What a tempest in a teapot! She’s got a gorgeous body and if she’s okay with showing it off, dear Lord, let her! It doesn’t change my opinion of her one way or the other.
She’s been a non-fave of mine since very, very early on in the show’s run.
Well, what fun would it be if we had a day or two sans righteous indignation, Evaine? I mean REALLY!!
Now, I wonder if we can get a two page spread of Derek and Maks with nothing more than little hand towels for Playgirl? “The Men of DWTS!!” I wanna see this 10 pounds of muscle that Derek says he gained. I don’t think Playgirl goes all nude, does it? Not that Derek would do it anyway…probably not Maks either. But a girl can dream.
Maks has done underwear shoots. Mark, Tony and Louis too. Derek kept his jeans on.
And I can’t find the darned link now…
Oh girl, I’ve seen those pictures – Derek’s mormon birth re-asserting itself. Damn!
*LOL* They were still all extremely sexy. ( well, except for Maks’ porn stache and the less said about that the better!)
I think that Playboy publishes a month ahead – that is, the May issue will come out sometime this month. So if Karina is in there, it could come out while she and Ralph are still dancing.
But having said that, Evaine is spot on. This is a tempest in a teapot.
Depends on if he said it “comes out in May” which means it would be the June issue, or if he said “it’s the May issue” which means it would be coming out any day now. But I was under the impression that she hadn’t shot it yet?
Uh, yeah, you shouldn’t have reminded me about the porn stache, Evaine. You just ruined the pictures in my head.
Personally, I like the shirtless pictures of Derek running in Runyon canyon much better than his from that photo shoot. All those pics were too photoshopped or posed or something.
Oh, those were nice, Heidi. I much prefer Maks’ from that too.
If she wants to do playboy its not a big. Lots of celebs have done it. On a bigger note, I am shocked Hugh Hefner knows how to use twitter. Dude is a entertainment and entrepaural (definately spelt wrong) icon.
Hef’s tweet (above) said “May issue” for what it’s worth. I guess that’s why he’s a legend and a gazillionaire – he stays current.
From http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20480781,00.html :
“Karina Smirnoff will be the first pro on Dancing with the Stars to pose nude in Playboy, but the news didn’t come as a surprise to her bosses.
Despite reports that producers angrily felt she hurt the program’s image, a source close to the show says, “They did know ahead of time and they still gave her one of the best pairings.”"
Heidi: “Now, I wonder if we can get a two page spread of Derek and Maks with nothing more than little hand towels for Playgirl? “The Men of DWTS!!” I wanna see this 10 pounds of muscle that Derek says he gained. I don’t think Playgirl goes all nude, does it? Not that Derek would do it anyway…probably not Maks either. But a girl can dream.”
Oh, I like the driection this post has taken.
(lol)
Clothes on; clothes off-I mean, wax on; wax off. I guess this season was going too sweetly for ABC, needed something like this???
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