The good people over at More have been having Debi Mazar do a blog post each week on Dancing with the Stars. Since she got kicked off, this will be Debi’s last DWTS blog post (at least on More.com). However, she made some interesting comments about Maks’ choreography:

Also, I wish we had had some show-stopping moves in our choreography, like when Chuck Liddell rips his sleeves off or Mya bends backwards or wraps her legs around her partner. I can’t do splits but my legs are limber enough to do everything else and make nice lines, and I never felt that we had the choreography where I could show that stuff off. I think America wants to see chemistry and sexiness, and I don’t think we looked like we were having any chemistry except on the tango, which was brilliant the way Maks choreographed it. I spoke to somebody and their take on it was that Maks is very purist in ballroom. He doesn’t want to do all the cutesy things that people throw into a routine because the crowd likes it.

It’s interesting that she would call the “bad boy” of ballroom dancing a “purist in ballroom.” Probably more likely that Maks didn’t feel like Debi could execute many of the moves that he wanted to do.

Debi also gave us a bit of insight into Maks’ softer side instead of how the producers of DWTS have portrayed him:

After we were eliminated, Maks was very supportive. He came over to me and said, “Deb, listen, I wouldn’t trade spending time with you through this period of my life over getting any disco-ball trophy.” What people don’t realize is that we were together for 10 weeks, 6 hours a day. A lot of that time, he was going through a very hard personal time. It made things complicated, but I was happy to be an objective person in the picture and try to be supportive of him. I think we both came out of it with something, and you can’t ask for more than that.

I must admit that I’m a real fan of Maks. I think he’s a great entertainer and is great for the show.

There’s more in Debi Mazar’s blog post about Maks and her kids dancing and about Debi’s weight loss on Dancing with the Stars.

If people know of other celebrities or professionals that are blogging about their DWTS experience, please let us know in the comments. This was good stuff.

Lots of Media, with a bit of variety too!! Well, only a little. First up, E! News from last Monday:

E! News on the eliminated couples, Melissa Jaret Winokur as the correspondent:

Chuck Liddell on Entertainment Tonight

The fallout from Aaron being a bonehead, on Extra!! Dmitry – still not good on the communication front.

More from Extra – Ashley Hamilton is the special correspondent. Paula Abdul is weird. Watch for Derek holding her in place at one point, and keep an eye on Debi Mazar’s face in the background.

Extra again – Heh, Derek says “dry humping”.

The Insider – this show has a new, panel format that I think I kinda like. Mainly because of this segment – I don’t agree with the guy who is arguing for an age limit, but I like how he seems to “win” his argument. :::crickets:::

The Washington Post is doing it’s usual hatchet job on numbers and math. Does it really matter if ratings are down if you’re beating your competition? Last I looked, DWTS was winning it’s time slot. This is kinda like saying “Obama’s approval rating is sinking!!” when he’s still well above 50% and the republicans are in the teens. Does it matter?? Anyway, shoddy reporting rant over. Here’s an excerpt of their somewhat interesting story.

the producers of “Dancing With the Stars” drop a brick on Tom DeLay’s feet when he became the show’s main story line and they saw where the ratings were heading?

DeLay resigned from “Dancing With the Stars” on Tuesday — and not a minute too soon as viewers continued to bail out in record numbers. Despite the best efforts of fellow washed-up-celebrity dancer Donny Osmond — efforts that included making out on-camera with the show’s judge Bruno Tonioli while Bruno yelled at him to “come over to the dark side!” — the popular dance competition series had turned into a medical soap opera about DeLay and his stress-fractured feet.

Every night it was on (“Dancing” airs Monday and Tuesday nights), it was:

Will Tom DeLay’s injuries prevent him from dancing?

And:

Will one or two of our stars be leaving tonight? We’ll update you on the condition of Tom DeLay when we come back.

As the Fractured DeLay Feet drama became the main story line of the new season, viewers started their exodus.

Monday’s performance show attracted the smallest audience on record for a fall edition’s third performance episode. And Tuesday’s results show suffered the smallest audience on record for any regularly scheduled episode of the program in its entire history. This is the ninth edition of “Dancing With the Stars.”

And yet, DeLay continued to survive to dance another week because people were voting for him, leading to ruminations that people were voting for DeLay weren’t actually suffering through his performances each week.

Goodness knows the show’s three professional dance-competition judges didn’t want him to keep returning. Each week, he was awarded either the fewest votes by the judges or the second-fewest votes.

But in “Dancing,” the judges votes are combined with “viewer” votes, and the celebrity whose overall tally is smallest gets the old heave-ho.

“As long as people out there want to keep us on the show, it doesn’t matter what the judges say,” DeLay noted cynically on Tuesday’s show.

Entertainment Tonight on Debi and Tom’s exits:

The Insider has a video about Tom Delay, and it asks the question if there should be an age limit on DWTS. Some of the text is below. Visit the site to see the video.

Dancing with the Stars’” oldest competitor of the season, Tom DeLay, resigned from the show Tuesday night due to stress fractures in both of his feet. “The Insider”’s Samantha Harris asked the stars and pros if an age limit should be imposed on the show.

Dancers responded with a unanimous, “No.” Mark Ballas said, “Dancing has no age.”

Past “Dancing” competitors have been older than DeLay and avoided injury. Louis Van Amstel recalled, “Priscilla [Presley] was 62. She did it. It was no problem.” Anna Trebunskaya posed the question, “Cloris Leachman did it for how many weeks and she was 80-something years old?”
Donny Osmond is sad to see DeLay exit the show because, he realized, “I’m now the oldest dancer.” He joked, “It doesn’t matter. I dance like a 15-year-old.”
One of the youngest competitors this season, Louis Vito, projected that, “When I’m old, I don’t want anyone telling me what to do.” He continued, “Age is a number. Who’s going to tell you that you’re old or young?”

Radar Online about Debi and Tom leaving:
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Debi Mazar Eliminated; Injured Tom DeLay Quits DWTS | RadarOnline.com

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Last night I was all kinds of weird with a little bit of fun!  Len is starting to drive me crazy….his judging and critiques are all over the place.  I wonder what he sees when the pros & celebs dance!  Whatever it may be he’s still part of the crazy judging panel that ranks/scores our precious dancers!

At least the costumes were on point!  I absolutely LOVED Chelsie’s dress and Louie’s latin hair   Natalie sparkled in her outfit and Melissa made quite the comeback from last weeks polka dots!  Debi was a little out there but out of all the outfits, that being the worst, not such a bad night!

Now on to the good, the bad, and the incredibly hot!!

THE GOOD
Mya and Dmitry are so darn cute together but I really wish they had more chemistry! I don’t know what is holding Mya back from fully committing herself to Dmitry but I hope they figure it out because her technique is AMAZING!

THE BAD
For once I’m not even tempted to put Tom Delay in this spot! But it’s Michael Irvin this week…I think he wants it but the samba got the best of him this week. He fell out of the dance a couple of times and never could recover.

THE INCREDIBLY HOT
I had to watch Chelsie and Louie’s rumba several times because it was so hot!! Now, he doesn’t have the best technique but chemistry is what sells and boy do he and Chelsie have chemistry! And the kiss in the middle of the dance…so cute I think they deserved a higher score but I’m sure they’ll surprise us again next week!!!!

Aaron and Karina have found a rather successful way to knock out the Donny publicity machine. I don’t know whether to be amused or disturbed. I have to say that I agree with those who have been saying there are too many couples such that it’s hard to focus – and it’s just not exciting. I’m getting a tad bored. I mean, no ones even talking about dancing. They’re talking about injuries (Lacey, Debi and Tom’s), supposed romances – Aaron and Chelsie or Aaron and Karina?? Right. Showmance for publicity? Beats me. :::yawn:::

Anyway, first up is EXTRA on Debi’s and Tom’s injuries, and Carrie Ann Innaba’s predictions for the season.

I totally agree with Samantha’s face when asked about Jon Gosslin on DWTS. Are you KIDDING ME??? Is this what we’re talking about? Watch this video to see Derek’s reaction to a Jon Gosslin question – hilarious. His response is as it should be. The video below is from the Insider – Sam Cam makes an appearance. Melissa – glorifying bad behavior?? Do you know how many of your costars have arrest records?? Like, SEVEN. LOL. Like I said in a previous post – stop talking, your foot keeps going into your mouth.

Extra again – Kelly Osbourne was pretty upset after her last dance. Steve O as special correspondent.

Mark Dacascos and his wife talk to EXTRA:

Selena Gomez on DWTS, and Kathy gets the boot. Chelsie “rejects” Aaron Carter. Shawn Johnson is the Special Correspondent for E! News:

People’s TV Watch- DWTS What You Didn’t See – funny excerpt:

Team Spirit: Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke strolled into the ballroom Tuesday night. Seated in the front row, Rourke was there to cheer on pal Chuck Liddell. “He’s a friend of mine,” Liddell said. “I hope he had a good time here. I think he’s going to try to make it back in one of these times to see me dance.” The other big excitement in the ballroom happened before the show began. As he often does, warm-up entertainer Corey Almeida invited audience members to do some dancing of their own on the ballroom floor. Nearly 100 people jumped at the opportunity. When The Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” came on, Michael Irvin,Tony Dovolani, Schwimmer and Chmerkovskiy helped him lead the masses. Now that’s team spirit!

Annie at Entertainment Weekly gets snarky.

Meanwhile, Tom and Sam announced Debi Mazar and Maks as the other of the ”bottom two” couples. What?! They so rarely announce the real bottom two that this seems suspicious. But you can’t argue with the English language (unless Bruno is speaking it), so yeah, Tom DeLay is officially more popular with the DWTS audience than Debi and Maksi. Louie Vito and Chelsie, by the way, were announced as ”in jeopardy” along with Debi/Maks and Kathy/Tony, but that was just for show; they could be anywhere in the pack.

For this week’s encore: Surprise! Baz picked Mya and Dmitry’s jive. I thought for sure ABC would want to trot out the Muppets again. In fact, I think to level the playing field next week, one Muppet should descend the technicolor staircase with each couple except Aaron and Karina. The Swedish Chef for Mark, Big Bird for Joanna, a disapproving Sam the Eagle for Tom DeLay. Definitely Janice for Louie, as they seem to share a similar ”Far out!” vibe. And so on.

Two random but noteworthy points from last night: First, Tom’s improvised joke that ”Kym and Samantha kind of look like sexy Chia Pets, just a little” didn’t seem to go over as well on Planet Mirrorballus as it did on my sofa. Second, I’m so glad famous wrestler Mickey Rourke, who was in the audience to cheer on his fighter buddy Chuck Liddell, decided to don an open shirt and sparkly cap in an effort to seamlessly assimilate into the ballroom culture.

Interview with Baz Luhrmann. Cool dude.

Couple of Vids from George Pennachio at the ABC Affiliate in LA – this guy gives good interview. If you want to see them all, visit ABC7.com!

Cute video from The Insider with nearly the whole cast saying goodbye to Kathy Ireland – Hate this site because they don’t have embed codes, only links. Pooh.
Video: Dancers Say Goodbye to Kathy Ireland at The Insider

Derek and Cheryl went to the Skybar last night for an event called Fresh Faces of Fashion (after Derek and Cheryl were at Coco de Ville with Maks, Mya, and Dmitry) – ET interviewed both:

ET with a large percentage of the cast:

Backstage with Sabrina Bryan:

Kathy couldn’t dance well, but she’s a classy lady:

This one seems to stop abruptly for me, but I thought it was cool.

Access Hollywood with Aaron, Karina, Donny and Kym, and Ashley and Edyta:

Excerpts from People Online - Monday’s DWTS: What You Didn’t See:

Buff Daddy: While most people drop weight on Dancing, pro Tony Dovolani has been packing on the pounds — nearly 20 — since the end of season 8 in May. Dovolani, whose twins turned one earlier this month, tells PEOPLE he’s in training for a role in the upcoming independent film Pumping Up. Shooting stars in December and Dovolani has been working out every day. “I eat like a horse, five or six times a day, and I drink protein shakes, I eat protein bars,” he says. “Right now I’m 192. Usually I’m at 175.” In the movie, Dovolani plays “a character getting ready for a bodybuilding competition. He’s an Italian guy from Queens.”

Scaredy Cats: The show’s opening number was quite the grand entrance as the eight male pros descended from the ceiling on scaffolding. “I was scared wreckless,” Alec Mazo confesses. Even tough guy Maksim Chmerkovskiy couldn’t wait to get his feet firmly on the ground. “I did not like that at all, and Mark [Ballas] was shaking and rocking the [scaffolding],” Chmerkovskiy says. “I am so glad that is over. Never again.”

Excerpts from People Online – Tuesday’s DWTS: What You didn’t See:

Snack Attack: Since it was ladies’ night on the dance floor, the men were able to relax and watch the show. Sitting side-by-side, snowboarder Louis Vito and football pro Michael Irvin shared a bag of gummy worms. Even former politician Tom DeLay was spotted dropping a worm into his mouth. At one point, all the guys were munching on something. “Candy, gummy worms and peanut M&Ms, and cookies and Altoids,” says Vito of his evening snacks. “It’s like watching a movie. How can you watch a movie without something to eat?”

Say What?: The Grammy-award winning singer Macy Gray had everyone on their toes, even the producers. After her first turn on the dance floor, Gray was asked how she felt. “I feel like I just busted my cherry.” While viewers struggled to figure out what she said, the audience roared with laughter. Tom DeLay was spotted wiping away tears from laughing so hard. A source added that backstage was no different: “Everyone was laughing, from the designers to production assistants!”

MSNBC Talks about Ladies Night:

Natalie Coughlin isn’t quite a household name, but as an Olympic medalist in swimming, she’s at least athletic — and she’s paired with Alec Mazo, who’s been looking for a good partner ever since winning with Kelly Monaco in the first season of the show. Alec first worked to cure her of her tendency to grimace angrily while competing, then went on to teach her the salsa. At times, Natalie seemed to have the hang of it, but her hips aren’t quite built for Latin dancing just yet. She’s coordinated and athletic, but she still tends to look like she’s working a little too hard.

Singer Macy Gray is dancing with the lovely and frequently challenged Jonathan Roberts (who handled Marie Osmond’s fainting spell and Heather Mills’ missing leg), and it’s pretty clear that this is not the year things get easier for him. Roberts called Macy “a little bit eccentric” from the beginning, and indeed, she seemed as out of her element as anyone the show has ever featured. Macy managed to walk around the floor in time with the music when it came time for her “Viennese waltz,” but that was about it. Carrie Ann called the performance “beautiful in its own bizarre way,” which was clearly the strongest praise she could muster.

Model Joanna Krupa and past winner Derek Hough look like a great team when they’re standing in line waiting for the show to start — so how do they look in motion? In spite of wearing what appear to be pants made from Big Bird pelts, Joanna looked good dancing. Hers was the first salsa that looked genuinely sexy (her model appearance, of course, doesn’t hurt), and she definitely looks like a competitor to watch.

Last up was Louis van Amstel and Kelly Osbourne, who’s a naturally sympathetic figure, given her wacky family and her obvious insecurities about her looks, weight, and whether she’s got any sex appeal at all. In fact, Kelly explained that it was her eagerness to try something more feminine that led her to the show. Her natural fear that she’d be hopelessly clumsy did not come true at all: she turned out to have a lovely smile, plenty of grace, and much more natural ability than anyone (especially Kelly herself) expected. Looking like a likely fan favorite because she’s both talented and an underdog of sorts, Kelly hugged her wildly excited and weepy famous parents and received very nice praise from the judges. It was an obviously genuine moment, and precisely the kind of thing that keeps people tuning in to the show.

Picking up from where I left things last night….I will never get it all, but I’ll try to hit the high points for ya’ll (Country Music night at the local sports bar with wireless ).

Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel on Ellen!

Aaron Carter on Bonnie Hunt – you know, I sorta like this kid.

Extra on DWTS Men, September 22, 2009

EW.com has a article I can relate to – it starts out with comments on the male pros.

‘Dancing With the Stars’ recap: We’ve Got Males
It’s season 9 (yes, really) of Dancing With the Stars, and the boys are back in town! I’ll get to last night’s competing men in a moment; first we need to focus on the eight swashbuckling stallions who have returned to Crazytown, U.S.A. Our beautiful male pros were back and ready to make loving eye contact with the camera in a rousing opening number. Maks even did a seductive eyebrow check for our viewing pleasure. They were both still there, as were all 500 billion hairs in Derek’s mop when he checked on its existence after the dance’s final flourish. Such fun! Excuse me, though: Who is this tall blonde lady who got to be the melted cheese in a Tony/Maks flatbread sandwich? I had no idea the season 9 premiere would feature the winner of a contest based on my ultimate fantasy.

That lucky lady was Tony’s wife – so she’s officially VERY lucky.

Is everyone ready to run down the first performances of the season 9 men? I feel like we should all submit photos of ourselves in mid-air, while attempting to execute fabulously contorted leaps, as a sign of solidarity before we proceed in this season’s DWTS recap journey together. Oh, well. Too much work. Here we go…

Ok! Magazine on the Women of DWTS!

Kelly Osbourne stole the show on Tuesday night’s Dancing with the Stars with a Viennese waltz that visibly moved her mother Sharon and rock legend father Ozzy Osbourne. But it was model Joanna Krupa who took the surprising first place on the hit ABC reality show’s ladies’ night — and singer Mya also looks like she’ll be a standout on the dance floor for weeks to come.
While Macy Gray had everyone scratching their heads with her censored post-dance comment, Kelly thrilled the crowd with her graceful Viennese waltz with partner Louis Van Amstel, for which she received a score of 23. The reality star cried for joy, as did her mother Sharon, who gushed to friends after the show, “it’s like she’s a young woman, not a young girl anymore. It was gorgeous!”

Backstage, Kelly told OK!, “I’m so happy, I can’t even tell you. I feel incredible. When you work so hard at something—and it’s not just about the dancing — you have to be feminine, figure out what the dance means to you. That, in itself, is really hard for me and Louis has taught me so much.

“I was crying before I went onstage and then I pulled it together,” she confided. “Then I went, you can only do the best you can do… It made me cry to share that with my mom and dad.”

Meanwhile, Joanna and pro Derek Hough couldn’t be more thrilled backstage after landing on top of the leader board with a sizzling salsa that received a 24 score and an impressive 10-point foxtrot relay. “I’m shocked. I feel like this is a dream. I really wanted to break the ‘model curse,’“ Joanna said, referring to the fact that models have never done well on DWTS. “Just because you’re a model doesn’t mean you’re stiff and can’t move.” Joanna added to OK! that she loved her flamboyant yellow salsa pants that Derek picked.

Maks, Maks, Maks – you’re going to have people accusing me of a bias against you again, when you do it to yourself every time. :::sigh::: I will point all complainers to the extremely complimentary things I said about Maks’ choreography of the summer tour.

Entourage actress Debi Mazar, who earned a 16 for her salsa and a 6 for her relay foxtrot, told OK! “I had a really good time. My nerves were hard on me.” Partner Maks Chmerkovskiy commented, “we did a lot better in practice but the first week is very tough.”

According to Access Hollywood, Donny says NO to Ballroom training….but then he kinda sorta retracts it. You be the judge. I still call him a ringer. This one has more than just Donny – like Kelly, for example.

I went though my Tivo and pulled off that which was recorded, and then I surfed the net. No surprise, I got lots of stuff. First up, Melissa Rycroft’s story on GMA Monday morning.

The Local (LA) ABC Affiliate’s George Patacki (sp?):

Paparazzi Henry is on the case once again. This time he gets Tom Bergeron, in addition to several dancers. LOVE Tom. We also get Lacey, Melissa Joan Hart, Corky and Mark Ballas, Louis V, Chelsie and Aaron, among others.

E! News from 9-22-09 – the feature lots of different people, but of course Donny is always prominent. Shawn Johnson is their correspondent – very cute.

Entertainment Tonight – warning, they are using Marie all season as their representative. And of course they relentlessly pimp Donny. That whole “donny ripped out Kim’s extensions” thing – I wonder if that is where Derek got the hair?

All the celebs briefly, but a really cute bit with Debi Mazar and Maks (and Adrien Grenier from Entourage – hubba hubba).

There’s tons more – I’ll post it tomorrow.