Las Vegas Weekly

April 27, 2009 · 7:12 PM

Injuries strike Dancing With the Stars front-runners

By Robin Leach

The final seven couples on Dancing With the Stars on April 21.

Photo: ABC TV

It’s a take-no-prisoners kind of night with new surprise injuries at a critical point of ABC’s top-rated Dancing With the Stars. Now it’s down to just six celebrity couples, but there’s an unexpected top-of-the-show drama.

Melissa Rycroft, who was a last-minute replacement at the start of this eighth season after being jilted on The Bachelor, is unable to dance tonight due to yet another of those injury jinxes. Melissa suffered a rib injury -- maybe a hairline fracture, according to a doctor -- during rehearsals for her jive routine with Tony Dovolani.

However, I’m predicting that the viewer votes will make it a do-or-die battle between Chuck Wicks and Ty Murray -- and their Las Vegas vixen partners Julianne Hough and Chelsie Hightower, respectively --- to see which one gets axed. But that just might depend on how front-runner Gilles Marini, the hunk from Sex and the City, performs.

Gilles has suddenly become a mystery factor, too: He’s determined to dance on despite taking cortisone shots for pain from a separated shoulder that will require surgery after his last dance. Gilles soldiers on, struggling through the lindy hop rehearsals. Maybe the judges turn a blind eye to his stiffness. Along with Melissa’s sudden rib injury, both of them might be the next to leave -- for medical treatment.

Don’t read any further if you plan on watching the tape-delayed West Coast broadcast of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and want nothing spoiled beforehand! But come back after the show to compare notes!

There’s good news, though, for DWTS fans: ABC has confirmed that the show will be renewed for yet another TV season this fall with two flights -- one in the fall and the other in the spring of 2010. Donny Osmond tells me that if he’s invited to the show, he will accept the challenge!

We’ll know the outcome from the results show tomorrow, when my longtime friend Robin Thicke, who I’ve known since he was a teenager, is the guest singing star, four days before his concert with Jennifer Hudson here at The Pearl in the Palms.

The remaining six duos are being divided into two competing teams. Team Tango, with Gilles and Cheryl Burke, Ty and Chelsie and Lil’ Kim and Derek Hough, will face off against Team Mambo starring Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas, Chuck and Julianne and Melissa and Tony. These votes will count, too!

First dance of the night earns injured Gilles and Cheryl Burke 27 out of 30 for the lindy hop and an identical score for Shawn and Ballas with their samba. That keeps them both safely near the top of the leader board. But Lil’ Kim and Derek beat them, scoring 28 for their paso doble. The lowest score of the night is given to Chelsie and Ty at 24 for their salsa.

You can tell the competition is getting tougher and fiercer because just ahead of them is Chuck and Julianne. They started out weak but have come on strong and nailed a 26 for their cha cha cha!

The rules on DWTS call for the judges to vote on the videotape from practice when a contestant is too injured to perform live, so poor Melissa and Tony received only 21, taking them to the bottom of the pack for the first time -- and that’s after she bravely continued with the injured rib. No mercy here: It’s a war! My feeling, though, is that viewers will give her the sympathy vote, which means Julianne and Chelsie will be dueling at the close of business tomorrow night!

But first, though, the team showdown, and Lacey Schwimmer returns to substitute for the injured Melissa, although she won’t be scored. Melissa, however, will get the same individual team score. Each team will start in a group routine, then peel off to perform a solo number, and then all join up as a group to finish.

Team Mambo scores 25 out of 30 probably because the girls ripped off their skirts and the men leaped on the sacred judges’ table stripping their shirts and slacks down to white tights and a black leotard! Hello!

We’ll have all those official photos from ABC here at Vegas DeLuxe tomorrow! Team Tango gets even sexier with Gilles and Ty not even bothering to start with their shirts on! They grab a 28 out of 30, and theoretically that puts Chuck and Ty in a tie!

All the scores will be tallied up and added in with the viewers’ decisions, and tomorrow night we’ll be back with another report the moment the live broadcast back to the East Coast ends to let you know who is sent home.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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