NEWSKirstie Alley Cartwheels Her Way Into 'DWTS' Finale — "It Was Exhilarating!"
May 24 2011, Published 2:24 p.m. ET
She may not have scored a perfect 10 last night on Dancing With the Stars, but Kirstie Alley cartwheeled into the hearts of judges and fans! Kelly Preston and Jennifer Grey rose to their feet with applause and the judges had nothing but praise for the Cheers star.
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Judge Bruno Tonioli explained, “Honest truth, 10 weeks ago I never would have thought of you even attempting the lifts. I love that you went for it. Romance in the beginning, sexy in the middle and gymnastics. Respect, girl!”
Although Carrie Ann Inaba mentioned some of the lifts had an "alley-oop feel," she added that Kirstie's "the new poster child for life as it should be lived at 60 years-old."
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After Kirstie danced barefoot to the freestyle which encompassed elements of the rumba and cha cha cha, Kirstie told reporters, "It was exhilarating!" Turns out, she originally wanted to do a handspring instead.
"I want to do a handspring, as I haven’t been able to do a handspring my entire life. Then at the last minute I thought do you really want to try this, this week, because they could land flat on my back, who the hell knows what I would do? I don’t even know."
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Luckily for Kirstie and her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, they didn't have any mishaps in rehearsals, mainly because he tricks her on lifts. She told reporters, "I had pulled my back so he told me to put his hands on his shoulders and I thought he was going to stretch me out, and instead he just starts flying me around. He acts like I don’t ever see it coming. He asked how high I could kick, too."
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So, as the dynamic duo heads into tonight's final elimination episode in quest of the coveted mirror ball, Kirstie mentioned she's "nervous but it is what it is." She also told OK! her dress size is unknown at the moment! "I don’t even know, I don’t know what the official one is I’ll have to official up."
Dress size aside, Kirstie's already eyeing post-DWTS plans. One includes pursuing acting on Broadway but as for the other? Some R&R in Maine. She explained, "I have a house there and there is nothing there, it’s way off and as boring as you can get. It’s so quiet."
Reporting by Amanda Champagne
