Nicole Scherzinger: Winning Dancing With The Stars is Life-Changing

All season long, Nicole Scherzinger and her partner, Derek Hough, out-tangoed, out-quick stepped and out paso dobled the competition. During the Dancing With the Stars finale Tuesday night, the two earned the distinction of unanimous praise from all three of the judges, who called the pop singer the best dancer in the show’s history.

“I’m totally emotional,” Hough told People Magazine moments after the show ended. “Nicole and I burst out into tears backstage after our Argentine tango. We were so overwhelmed with how happy we were with what was going on tonight. Win, lose, draw we were going to be happy. But to win is phenomenal.”

“I’m kind of speechless right now,” confessed Scherzinger, who helped Hough earn his second mirror ball trophy (he captured the season six title with new co-host Brooke Burke). “I’m going to go into a room and cry. It’s not about the trophy. It’s beyond the trophy. The experience and the challenge and everything you go through — it’s a lot of life-changing experiences in three months and it’s just so intense.”

And the pair may work together again, Hough says, laughing. Scherzinger is working on a solo album and Hough “will be in the back in the videos wearing my lime green rhinestones,” she says.

Meanwhile, there were no hard feelings from talented runners-up Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya.

“We feel like we haven’t left anything on the table,” Lysacek said. “We all gave it our best shot, but Derek and Nicole were the best from day one. They inspired all of us and kept it going week after week and we’re very happy for them.”

ESPN correspondent Erin Andrews clung to partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy after the show, grateful for his friendship and support.

“I was a mess when I came here,” Andrews, the victim of a stalking scandal, said, her eyes welling with tears. “He was exactly what I needed.”

Like Lysacek, Andrews was thrilled to compete in the finale, and humbled by the experience.

“I am one of the best at what I do and you come into this and all of a sudden you’re not the best any more,” she said. “You just feel insecure, humbled, you’re getting criticized and corrected and it was a lot of medicine to swallow. And I had a lot to deal with off the ballroom floor. It was the perfect thing to happen to me.”

“And the season flew by,” Chmerkovskiy says. “It was blur, blur, blur. Scream, scream, loud noises, and the winner is Derek and Nicole! This did not feel like three months, it felt like three weeks.”

And, adds Lysacek, “I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

Who Won on the 10th "Dancing With The Stars"? We've Got Your Results.

After performing a sexy samba and a even sexier freestyle with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy on Monday night, ESPN reporter Erin Andrews found herself at the top of the leader board for the first time, tied with front-runners Nicole Scherzinger and Derek Hough.

An Olympian who has proved his worth in gold, Evan Lysacek, and his partner Anna Trebunskaya were close behind after the first night of competition on Dancing‘s two-night finale.

Tuesday night they danced again and two were eliminated, leaving one star the proud season 10 champ and owner of the coveted mirror ball trophy.

It’s Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger!

Lysacek was second and Andrews was third.

Scherzinger’s victory capped a banner year for the show. Not every program can top the ratings charts in its 10th season, but Dancing did just that, outdoing juggernaut American Idol several times thanks to a cast that included reality star Kate Gosselin, actress Pamela Anderson, pro football player Chad Ochocinco and Bachelor star Jake Pavelka.

There were the usual are-they-or-aren’t-they dating rumors that swirled around couples like Andrews and Chmerkovskiy, and Cheryl Burke and Ochocinco.

Not to mention plenty of off-the-dance-floor drama. Captured on tape were flaring tempers between pro Tony Dovolani and Gosselin, as well as tears from frustrated pros Chelsie Hightower and Trebunskaya. And no sooner had Andrews put the much-publicized peephole stalking incident behind her when another stalker surfaced and threatened her life.

But in the end it came down to talent, especially that of Pussycat Dolls vocalist Scherzinger, whom pro Jonathan Roberts calls “the best woman to ever be on the show,” and Olympic figure skating champ Lysacek, “the best guy to ever be on the show. In a way, it’s a tragedy that both Evan and Nicole were on the same season, because in any other given season either one of them would hands down be the winner.”

Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir are 'At War'

When skating rivals Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir were battling for a spot on the Olympic podium at the Vancouver Winter Games in February, Weir remarked that showdown would be a great "catfight."

The dust-up intensified this week off the ice as Olympic gold medalist Lysacek, competing on Dancing with the Stars, and Weir, a three-time U.S. Champion, traded slurs and barbs.

"We are at war," Weir said on Thursday. "My claws are out."

The latest round of mudslinging began when Lysacek suggested earlier this week that a lack of talent kept Weir off the cast of the traveling Smucker's Stars on Ice. "They only hire the best of the best to skate," Lysacek told the Indianapolis Star. "A lot of us in the skating world were really disappointed in the way he reacted, basically whining that he wasn't chosen."

Harsh Words Exchanged

The flamboyant Weir claims the show didn't hire him because he didn't fit the tour's "family-friendly" profile – a charge Stars on Ice denies. Weir also went on the attack against Lysacek, calling him a "slore" – an apparent combination of "slut" and "whore" – on the The Wendy Williams Show on Wednesday.

Then on Thursday in New York, where he announced their "war," Weir added, "I've never whined. I wasn't the one who falls dancing and gets a concussion and breaks toes and has hip replacement surgeries. If anyone whines, it's definitely Evan. He's done that his whole career, and I've never said anything about it just because there was no need."

Weir, who is opening the season for Ice Theatre of New York at Chelsea Piers, added, "I have no respect for Evan Lysacek." He is encouraging fans not to vote for his rival on Dancing with the Stars.

But there may a truce on the horizon. In a statement to People Magazine, Lysacek says he wants to end the feud, even though Weir had said hurtful things. Extending an olive branch, he's calling Weir "an accomplished and talented skater" and wishing him well at his New York show.

"I let my personal feelings cloud my judgment in how I answered a journalist's question about Stars on Ice and Johnny that I should never have answered," says Lysacek. "I should have known better."

Evan Lysacek Fine After Concussion

Evan Lysacek — who already broke his toes — once again suffered an injury this week when he got a concussion during rehearsal.

Was falling on his neck bad as it sounded on TV? “It was twice as loud in real life,” he says. “When you have an accident like that, you get scared when you hear that noise. I thought, ‘Oh no, I have to skate tonight.’”

But he did and later he flew back to Los Angeles for more rehearsals. He still has headaches, but otherwise he’s fine — except for that low score of 21 on Monday night.

“We were disappointed,” he explains. “But I think they were expecting more from us. So we have to go back to the drawing board.”

OUT Interview: Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson Reveals Crush on Evan Lysacek

Jesse Tyler Ferguson is on the cover of the new issue of OUT magazine.

The gifted out star plays one-half of a gay couple raising a child on the hit ABC comedy Modern Family.

Here are some portions of his interview with OUT:

Each week Ferguson feels the pressures of playing a gay character, and although he has always been out in his privates life, until recently he remained hesitant about opening up about his sexuality publicly. “I just didn’t feel like it was doing [The Class] character any service, so I lived my life the way I had been living,” Ferguson says. “I just wasn’t doing it in the pages of Out or The New York Times. But with this show, it was never a question about quote unquote staying in the closet—which I’ve never been in.”.”

Although he has never been “in” in his personal life, Ferguson knows the responsibility he, and the show, has in introducing a gay family to Middle America. “We’re introducing this gay couple in a very safe way, and maybe that’s why right off the bat we’re not showing full-on make-out scenes, and we’re not showing them in bed together [initially]. But a lot of the people who are a little leery of ‘that gay couple,’ especially a gay couple raising a baby, are seeing this very normal grounding, loving pair. So we’re sneaking into so many Middle American living rooms, maybe more than any gay couple ever has before.”

Off the screen Ferguson has obsessions of his own, includin

g Ellen DeGeneres and American Idol, and the Winter Olympics catalyzed a not-so-secret crush on ice skater Evan Lysacek. Ferguson declares, “I’m not hiding it. I hear he lives in L.A. too, so it’s just a matter of time before we meet. Although I don’t know if he’s gay.… He’s a brilliant skater, and he’s also really handsome, and he seems like a really sweet guy, so I swoon when I see him.… I need to get out of the 20-year-old age bracket. Like, I have crushes on all of the Jonas Brothers. I assume that’s OK?"

You can read the entire story on the new OUT magazine available at newstands or by clicking here.

Evan Lysacek’s Dancing with the Stars Blog: Doing the Quickstep on Broken Toes

Olympic skating star Evan Lysacek is blogging for People Magazine about competing on Dancing With the Stars — a competition that will be all the tougher now that he’s broken two toes!

Here are his thoughts on last week’s surprise elimination and how he’ll do the quickstep in pain.

It’s been quite the week. First of all, I have to tell you how hard it was to see Shannen Doherty and Mark Ballas eliminated last Tuesday. We all knew going into this show that the nature of a results show is saying goodbye to one couple. But it was a lot more difficult than any of us imagined. It was not fun at all.

Mark is a really close friend of mine — maybe one of my best buddies out here. And Shannen is such a great person. She’s what this show is all about. The improvement she made from week one to week two was astonishing. I’m not sure people know what a tough time they had during rehearsals leading up to Monday night’s show. Mark had to go the hospital because he badly injured his knee. While he was being treated, Shannen had to learn the routine with a different partner right up until Monday night. Somehow Mark was able to rally and the two of them knocked out a great performance. We were all blown away by how she rose to the occasion. I hope she knows that we are all extremely proud of how well she performed on the show.

The next day Anna and I began rehearsing for our next dance, the quickstep. I felt a bit of an ache, and then a throbbing pain in my left foot. I got it checked out and was told two of my toes were broken. I’ve had much worse injuries that I’ve had to skate with and compete with, so I’m not too concerned. The tricky thing is that I’m rehearsing by day for Dancing With the Stars, and then every weekend I’m performing with Stars on Ice. This past weekend the tour kicked off in Florida. I had to grin and bear it when I was out there on the ice, but I love to skate.

Being on the road with Anna was so much fun. For the past six weeks I’ve been immersed in her world. Now I was able to finally show her in person where I thrive. The ice is home for me and the audiences on the road were amazing. The fans in every city we went to were so warm and enthusiastic. I have had the privilege of representing our country for years as a competitive figure skater. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my Olympic win than this tour. I’ve discovered there’s a considerable amount of crossover with skating fans and Dancing fans. It’s nice to hear that people are appreciating how hard the dancing is. They tell me how much fun they are having watching the show and that means the world to me. I love that the genuine fun we’re having comes across to the audience watching at home.

Once Anna and I got back to Los Angeles, we went straight to the studio for the camera blocking and run-through of our routine. I think this week viewers are going to see a lot of terrific dancing from all of the couples. I really, really love the quickstep. As for my toes, I’m not worried. I will tape them up and hit the floor with the same 100 percent effort I give in training. I will not let them steal my thunder! A little pain won’t keep me off the ice, nor will it keep me off the dance floor. –Evan Lysacek

Reality TV Stars Kate Gosselin & Jake Pavelka to Compete on Dancing with the Stars

Not only did America see Dallas pilot Jake Pavelka make a final decision on Monday night’s Bachelor season finale, but it was revealed that he and ten other celebrities — including Shannen Doherty and Pamela Anderson — have signed on to compete on season 10 of Dancing with the Stars.

“It’s fitting that in our landmark tenth season we’ve got many of the stars we’ve been chasing since season one to agree to take part,” Dancing executive producer Conrad Green said. “This has the potential to be the most memorable cast we’ve ever had.”

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, reality star Kate Gosselin, Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek, and actresses Doherty and Anderson highlight the eclectic cast. Also readying to boogie in the ballroom are Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger, soap star Aiden Turner, NFL star Chad Ochocinco, ESPN’s Erin Andrews, and actress-comedian Niecy Nash.

Bachelor spoilers ahead!

Dancing with the Star host Tom Bergeron and former Bachelor and Dancing contestant Melissa Rycroft revealed the cast throughout the Bachelor finale and the After The Final Rose special that aired Monday night on ABC.

Tom Bergeron's new co-host, now that Samanth Harris has left the show, has not been revealed. Rycroft is one of the leading candidates for the co-staring role. No word yet as to when we will find out who will be Bergeron's co-host.

Pavelka, who got engaged to 23-year-old Vienna Girardi on the finale, told People magazine last October, “I’m a huge salsa dancer.” But can he rumba?

Fans will find out when the new Dancing season kicks off March 22nd on ABC.

5 Things to Know About Olympic Gold Medal Winning Skater, Evan Lysacek

Evan Lysacek has turned into one of the stars of the Vancouver Olympics. On Thursday, the 2009 World Champion took the gold in men's figure skating. Here are five things you don't know about the athlete:

1. Lysacek, 24, has always been a self-described "daredevil." He says, "I loved to go fast" – and he always has. At about age 6, he sped on his bike down a hill near his home in Naperville, Ill., fell and needed stitches to the head. He started skating at 8.

2. He used to date Tanith Belbin, part of the U.S. Olympic ice dancing team. She's rooming in Vancouver with Lysacek's rival Johnny Weir. When rooms were chosen, "it came down to me, Evan and Johnny," says Belbin with a laugh. "Do the math – Johnny and I got the suite.”

3. He loves clubbing in L.A. with pals like Nicole Richie and Rachel Zoe.

4. His mom, Tanya, is in Vancouver but gets too nervous to watch her son in person. Instead, she cheers from in front of a TV back at the Procter & Gamble house set up for athletes' family members.

5. For fun, Lysacek worships the sun – check out that tan – and likes to surf. As for his post-skating career? He's taking acting classes. "I've always been obsessed with movies," he says.