DWTS Season 11, Week 6 – Media Weekend Edition

Gearing up for the show Monday, here are some media things hitting the news this weekend. First, we have Rick and Cheryl on ET showing you their pre-rehearsal rituals and a sneak peak into their quickstep coming up.

Special thanks to PureDWTS fan Carlos for this link and video from Zap2it with Rick disclosing just a tiny hint of what’s to come of their team dance.

“Our team is Kristi Yamaguchi’s team,” Rick tells us, “and we’ll be performing the cha cha to her freestyle with Mark Ballas, the Michael Jackson performance…”

Anna has given us just a tiny hint of her and Kurt’s tango on her Facebook page. Here’s a pic she posted. lol

Here is Bristol and Mark on Access Hollywood. The interviewer focuses a lot on her mother, Sarah. I wish they wouldn’t do that. Shouldn’t they just focus on Bristol and not make this about her Mom always?

Maks has his new blog posted at TV Guide of his and Brandy’s dance last week, the elimination, and the new challenges which face them this week. Here is a take.

As you saw in the package, she felt the pressure to stay on top. She cried, like, four times. I think everybody expresses themselves differently. I realized that when she cries, it’s not necessarily my fault. It was good for her and something she needed to do to let her emotions out. I don’t want her to bottle everything up. I want her to feel good and to feel confident. Unfortunately, the show is such that you have to do it even when you don’t feel confident. When we, the pros, start to push, it’s because we know what the end result will be and should be, but the celebrities don’t, so they get really frustrated. Everybody expresses it differently. I just felt really bad because she didn’t need to beat herself up. She’s doing great and she can relax a little, but she’s very responsible and focused. We didn’t have time to sit down and talk it out after she came back in. I felt like it would be better for her if we didn’t say anything. So we just went right back to dancing and she was hitting every mark. We’re working hard and are doing our best. We want to do great every week so that there’s as much consistency to it as possible and everybody can see that we’re not a one-time deal.

Last week was also tough since Audrina and Tony left. It was terribly unfortunate since they have been doing great and I think had a real shot at the final. I’m not just saying that because Tony is my best friend — they were doing well and had one of the best scores of the night. But, you know, as we’ve seen before, these things happen. You just never know how people are going to vote and how the math all works out. That’s why it’s important for everyone to vote for their favorites. Don’t rely on the judges’ scores.

Next week is the 200th episode and it’s Icon Week. Everyone has to redo a famous routine of a past couple. We have Gilles and Cheryl’s foxtrot. I’m not using the same choreography, but just the style and the idea. It’s not about the doing the same steps. What was successful in their routine was Gilles’ interpretation, so we have to take that and put a feminine twist to it.

Then we have the group cha-cha. We’re on Apolo’s team. We’re still finishing up the choreography. I’ll tell you — we’re absolutely exhausted from our first rehearsal. We did it immediately after the show Tuesday. I am wiped this week! I think we’re going to have a good time. Jennifer and Kurt are on our team. I think the one advantage that the other team has is that Bristol and Kyle have already done the cha-cha, but I don’t think it’ll make that much of a difference. It helps, but it’s not like they’re doing the same routines. We all bring something different and exciting to the table, so now we have to highlight everyone’s strengths.

Here is a new Access Hollywood interview with them as well. RIGHT ON for what Maks said on CARRIE ANNE!!

Also and lastly, for you Maks lovers out there, don’t miss him on Celebrity Ghost Stories tonight on the Bio Channel at 8:00pm ET. Here is what the Examiner reported on him and this special Halloween episode. What a fascinating story this is….

As a teenager, Dancing With the Stars’ Maksim Chmerkovskiy was a standout dancer in the youth circuit. After crashing into a pole in a sledding accident, his doctor told him that dancing would never again be a possibility and that the best he could hope for was to walk with a cane. Chmerkovskiy spent three months getting physical therapy in the hospital, often from a woman named Maria who manipulated his shattered leg in strange and powerful ways.

Despite his doctor’s dire predictions, Chmerkovskiy recovered and is now recognized world-wide for his dancing talent on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Chmerkovskiy invited Maria to the premiere of DWTS, and when she didn’t show up he went to the hospital to look for her. But the hospital insisted that there was no record of the Maria he remembered. Later, Chmerkovskiy and his mother went through some old photographs and came across a picture of his long deceased great grandmother. He recognized her immediately as the ‘Maria’ that helped to heal his leg.

Ok, that is for now! Thanks for reading always!! Have a safe Halloween weekend everyone!xxx 😉