Cristian stays; Shannon gets the 'Dancing' boot

With mere minutes to go in the results show, Cristian de la Fuente finally revealed the extent of his Monday night arm injury: a ruptured tendon. Though his doctors said it will require surgery to repair, de la Fuente said he is delaying the surgery, especially after he and partner Cheryl Burke were saved to dance another week.

As predicted here, Shannon Elizabeth was voted off, after ending up in the “bottom two” alongside Marissa Jaret Winokur and her partner Tony Dovolani. Go figure. Marissa had her best night so far on Monday with two exceptional dances. Again, it comes down to fan base and she just may not have enough fans out there to carry her past next week. Too bad. She’s shown more spirit and dedication and spunk than most of the other celebs this season.

In a downright “this really stinks” move, the judges acquiesced to the competitors’ constant whining and bitching by announcing that starting next week, the dancers may include one “lift” per dance as long as it’s integral to the dance they are performing. Lifts are a big no-no in professional ballroom competitions, and have been the bane of many a contestant in every season of “Dancing” including this one (Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska were penalized Monday night for using a lift, by accident, in their routine). Why not make the rule change effective next season? How would lifts have affected the judging up to this point? Would it have helped competitors now long gone? Would it have changed the current standings on the leader board?

And what was with Samantha Harris’ Medusa-like ‘do? Clearly a case of big hair gone wild.

And let’s hear it for Def Leppard, who turned in two electrifying performances, first with “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” and later with “Nine Lives ” off their new CD (released today) “Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.” Totally surreal moment but totally cool. They sounded great!