3 actors and an athlete aim for 'Dancing' finals

Kirstie Alley, Ralph Macchio, Chelsea Kane and Hines Ward have cha-cha'd, tangoed, waltzed and jived their way through 10 weeks of competition on "Dancing With the Stars," but one of them will fall short of the finals.

One celebrity hoofer will be dismissed during today's episode. The remaining three will compete for the mirrorball trophy next week on the hit ABC show.

Judges' scores are combined with viewer votes to determine who is eliminated from the competition each week, and Kane scored a coup in the points department Monday: The actress and her professional partner, Mark Ballas, won the show's first "winner-take-all cha-cha," boosting their night's total by 15 points.

They come into today's episode with a leaderboard-topping 73 points.

Football star Ward and partner Kym Johnson have the second highest score, and it's a perfect one. They earned a flawless 60 points Monday for their spunky salsa and emotional Argentine tango.

Alley and her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, come into the results show in third place with 54 points, after collecting 27 points for each of their two dances Monday. Macchio and partner Karina Smirnoff are heading into the semifinal showdown in last place with 48 points.

A new "Dancing" champ will be crowned on May 24.

Source Sandy Cohen

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Posted in Chelsea Kane , Dancing w/ the Stars 2011 , Dancing With the Stars , hines ward , Kirstie Alley , Ralph Macchio , top best salsa dance 2011

Cloris Leachman: 'Light on Her Feet' Kirstie Alley Will Win 'Dancing'

Hollywood veteran Cloris Leachman is convinced Kirstie Alley will win this season's 'Dancing With the Stars,' telling me she's been pleasantly surprised at how graceful the full-figured actress has been.

"I was surprised how light she is on her feet," Cloris told me on the red carpet at the TV Land Awards on Sunday. "She's going to go much further than I went in the competition and I think she is going to win."

That's high praise from Cloris, who famously shimmied her then 82-year-old body to seventh place in the 2008 season. Three years later, the Oscar winner hasn't stopped dancing.

She glided up and down the red carpet several times before taking the stage to accept an award with her ''Facts of Life' cast, including Charlotte Rae, Geri Jewell, Mindy Cohn and Kim Fields.

Busy Cloris is currently starring as Maw Maw in the FOX series 'Raising Hope' and admitted to me she only saw the first couple of episodes of this 'Dancing' season.

So while Cloris believes Kirstie has been graceful, she may change her tune after Monday's performance when the 'Cheers' star temporarily lost her shoe during a routine with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

"I'm not doing a sitcom," Alley told TV Squad after Monday's show. "I'm actually doing a dance show. I'm tired of having to recover. I would just like to do something right. I don't feel like I'm jinxed. I just need to get my [act] together. There's something going on. Our rehearsals are swell. We're bitchin' in rehearsals."

Source Rob Shuter

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Posted in Best Dress 2011 , Cloris Leachman , Dance , dance after age 60 , dance lessons , dance salsa , dance salsacircuit , Dancing With the Stars , Kirstie Alley