04:49 PM EDT 05/23/2013
Derek Hough
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Dancing with the Stars: Kellie Pickler Is Back on Top
Originally posted 04/22/2013 10:40PM
Stevie Wonder was the guest of honor Monday night on Dancing with the Stars. Between performances by the iconic singer, the eight remaining couples competed with two dances each to his hits.
Once again, Kellie Pickler and Zendaya were atop the leaderboard – and both earned 10s for their respective routines.
Zendaya and Val Chmerkovskiy's cha cha to "Do I Do" was "full of snap, crackle and pop," according to Len Goodman. Carrie Ann Inaba called the routine "perfection in motion." They earned 29 points.
Kellie and Derek Hough's quickstep to "Part-Time Lover" was "the best dance I've seen on season 16," Len said. Carrie Ann added, "Everything about it was perfect except there was some space in your hold." They also earned 29 points.
But Kellie and Derek finished slightly ahead of Zendaya and Val after the second routine, a team dance in which four couples performed at the same time.
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Kellie Pickler & Derek Hough Jam at Mark Ballas's Late-Night Concert
Originally posted 04/11/2013 06:00AM
They're pals even off the parquet!
After performing together on Dancing with the Stars this week, Kellie Pickler and pro Derek Hough enjoyed a night out with fellow DWTS pals (and Picker's husband Kyle Jacobs) at the Sayers Club in L.A.
The country star, in skinny black pants and a black sweater, spent most of her time with her hubby and a brunette friend – but then she was front and center as Mark Ballas took the stage (at 12:35 a.m.) for a seven-song concert. Pickler was spotted cheering and clapping along to the music, though by the fourth song or so, she seemed to be a bit tired and headed over to the tables where her dance partner Hough was watching the show.
Pickler caught the rest of the show at the table, sipping water from a bottle, before heading out with her hubby.
Derek Hough Amazed by Kellie Pickler's Dancing Skills
Originally posted 04/02/2013 10:50AM
Derek Hough almost took a break from Dancing with the Stars this season. Is he ever glad he changed his mind.
Hough and Kellie Pickler have been tearing up the ballroom this spring, mostly recently with a killer "Footloose" jive that snagged them the top score Monday during prom night – leaving Hough, 27, once again astonished at his partner's dancing skills.
"She's got that ability, which for me is so fun to discover," he told PEOPLE of his country-singer partner after Monday's show. "It's wonderful."
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Dancing with the Stars: Who Were King and Queen of the Prom-Themed Episode?
Originally posted 04/01/2013 10:45PM
There can only be one king and queen of any prom – and Dancing's prom-themed show was no exception. So, which couple made magical memories in the ballroom Monday night?
Derek Hough and partner Kellie Pickler reigned once again this week, according to tough judge Len Goodman, who declared the singer "queen" for their "Footloose" jive. Carrie Ann Inaba called the performance "ridiculously amazing." They earned the top score of 25 points.
Hot on their heels were early frontrunners Zendaya and partner Val Chmerkovskiy, who earned 24 points for a Viennese waltz that Bruno Tonioli called as "enchanting and charming as Venice in the moonlight."
NFL star Jacoby Jones was sexy and shirtless for an impressive, 24-point rumba with partner Karina Smirnoff. "This had a refinement," Len said. "It had quality of movement."
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Dancing with the Stars: Who's Going Home First?
Originally posted 03/26/2013 10:00PM
Following a week safe from any elimination, one couple is heading home after Tuesday night's Dancing with the Stars.
At the bottom of the leader board for two consecutive weeks were: D.L. Hughley and Cheryl Burke, Wynonna Judd and Tony Dovolani, Victor Ortiz and Lindsay Arnold and Lisa Vanderpump and Gleb Savchenko.
Read on to find out if one of these couples were the first to hang up their dancing shoes on season 16. Spoilers ahead ...
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Kellie Pickler Heats Up the Competition on Dancing with the Stars
Originally posted 03/25/2013 10:30PM
It's only the second week of competition but Monday's episode of Dancing with the Stars was tense and emotional. That's because season 16's 12 celebrities are just a day away from the first elimination.
But Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough, the last couple to perform Monday, pulled out all the stops for their contemporary jazz routine, which earned 26 points.
"You are a dancer!" judge Carrie Ann Inaba said. "That was friggin' amazing!"
"Last week was a spark," Len Goodman added. "This week was a fire."
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Julianne Hough: I Was Physically Abused as a Child
Originally posted 01/02/2013 04:45PM
When Julianne Hough was 10 years old, she lived in London, away from her parents in Utah, studying dance.
That's when the abuse began, she says.
"I was abused, mentally, physically, everything," she says in Cosmopolitan's February issue, on newsstands Jan. 8.
While attending the prestigious Italia Conti Academy of Arts, she says the adults around her took advantage of her being without parental supervision: "I was 10 years old looking like I was 28, being a very sensual dancer."
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You'll Never Guess Who Snooki Partied with This Week
Originally posted 12/20/2012 06:00AM
Oh, what a night!
New mom Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi enjoyed a night out without baby Lorenzo Tuesday, linking up with Jersey Shore costar Deena Cortese to toast the end of their show at West Hollywood hotspot Bootsy Bellows. But the ladies had some random company, in the form of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards and her friend, Faye Resnick.
The foursome – there with a few other pals – arrived around 11:50 p.m. and went to the club's VIP room before hitting the dance floor – hard. The group busted moves to songs like James Brown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" while sipping vodka cocktails (Richards abstained from alcohol).
Once Cortese spotted club owner David Arquette, she told him, "You need to take a picture with the two meatballs. You're the sausage!" So the actor obliged, posing for a shot with Cortese and Polizzi, later seeking them out to entertain them with his Keith Richards marionette.
Resnick and Richards left around 12:30 a.m., at which time Dancing with the Stars pro Derek Hough came over to the Jersey Shore stars to say hello – just as Cortese took a tumble backward and broke a few glasses at her table.
At 1 a.m., Cortese and Polizzi left the VIP room and headed for the main part of the club to enjoy some house music, and ran into Glee star Amber Riley, who joined them at a table for a bit.
Meanwhile, Julianne Hough arrived around 1:15 a.m. (sans boyfriend Ryan Seacrest) and immediately hit the dance floor, grooving to the Spice Girls's "Wannabe" and AC/DC's "Back in Black." But when the DJ spun Dion's classic "Runaround Sue," Derek joined Julianne on the dance floor and the two broke out into a full-on choreographed routine. The dance floor cleared as people cheered them on – especially when Derek fell into the splits (more than once!). Julianne left not long after, around 1:40 a.m., and Cortese and Polizzi slipped out a few minutes (and cocktails) later. – Jennifer Garcia
Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani Thank Fans for Dancing with the Stars Win
Originally posted 11/28/2012 01:15PM
We have a winner!
Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani won the mirror-ball trophy on Dancing with the Stars Monday night in the culmination of a challenging all-stars season.
"It's unbelievable," Rycroft told PEOPLE after the show. "I don't know why we kept underestimating ourselves. I don't know why we kept thinking, 'It's not us, it's not us.' And it was us."
Dovolani, who's never won in 14 previous seasons on the show, was elated on a night when his reasons for celebrating extended far beyond the DWTS ballroom.
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Dancing with the Stars Crowns Melissa Rycroft All-Star Winner
Originally posted 11/27/2012 10:50PM
There's a new leading lady!
The first all-female finale of Dancing with the Stars featured all-stars Shawn Johnson, Kelly Monaco and Melissa Rycroft in a fierce battle Tuesday night for the mirror ball trophy.
After taking big risks in Monday night's performance show, the stars and their pro partners – Derek Hough, Val Chmerkovskiy and Tony Dovolani – performed "instant dances."
With the competitors getting their dance-style instructions less than an hour before hitting the floor, the field was whittled down to two couples.
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