Nerves of Mush: The pro dancers have been through elimination rounds before and know how to handle them. But for the celebrities, the suspense of Tuesday night was almost too much. "It was a little more drama that I sort of didn't anticipate," said Debi Mazar, who was in the bottom two with the night's eliminated contestant, Kathy Ireland. "I was sort of confident, like, 'Oh yeah, my fans will vote and my score wasn't so bad.' So it did raise some emotion in me." Louie Vito, who landed in the bottom three, admitted he was stressing out. "I didn't like it at all," the snowboarder said. "That would be the worst thing if they say you're name and everyone looks at you and ugh, you suck." As pro Alec Mazo said, "You never know with this competition. Someone dances well and think 'Oh, they'll be fine.' But it just goes to show you that fans need to vote for their favorite person."
Injury Update: Mazar, who strained a muscle in her neck last week, told PEOPLE she's "doing really well" and is regaining movement. "I'm just grateful I'm here to work harder for another week and learn another dance." Tom DeLay, whose foot suffered a pre-stress fracture before the season premiere, admitted he was "in a lot of pain" while performing the tango with partner Cheryl Burke Monday night. "I just hit my foot wrong and it just sent pain up me," he said. "But it's going to be alright." Pro Lacey Schwimmer is ailing from strained muscles in her hip flexor, her groin and her hip abductor. "Basically anything in my hip area is not good right now," she said. "I'm on medication to help me heal faster and I'm getting physical therapy for an hour each day ... It's very painful but ... I'm a tough chick and the show must go on."
No Rest for the Weary: Minutes after Tuesday's show, pro dancers Alec Mazo, Chelsie Hightower, Anna Trebunskaya and Maksim Chmerkovskiy were prepping their partner's for next week. In past seasons, results show night was usually the time when grabbed a long dinner with friends or family and relaxed. Not any more, Chmerkovskiy said. "We have to get a good hour in tonight." Same thing for Trebunskaya, who said, "We're going to start learning our next dance, the samba, and it's going to be happy and smiley and flamboyant and basically we're going to have to work a lot." While Hightower was working out their next dance, the rumba, in her head, her partner Vito said his evening plans were much simpler. "I'm going to get something to eat, refuel, watch a bunch of YouTube videos," he said. "Tomorrow I'll learn the rumba!"
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 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! --Monica RizzoAdam Larkey/ABC
Your Reaction
