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De la Fuente stays on 'Dancing,' despite injury

BY VERNE GAY | verne.gay@newsday.com

April 30, 2008

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He stays!

Cristián de la Fuente, the Chilean soap star and one of the front-runners of "Dancing With the Stars" who - well you know what happened Monday, right? (hint: arm) - will remain with the show, he said last night.

A surprise? Heck yeah. He popped his elbow so loudly during a dance routine with partner Cheryl Burke on Monday it was almost audible to viewers at home. Later, both (usually reliable) TMZ and "Extra" confidentially predicted he'd pull out before yesterday's show - making him the first certifiable casualty of "DWTS."

But not so fast. In an edition last night that was masterfully padded if not paced, "DWTS" - and de la Fuente - declined to reveal his decision until a couple of minutes before 10 p.m. Oh, they were tricky, those "DWTS" producers: It seemed as if he'd go. Then stay. Then go. "It'd be a tragedy down the boulevard of broken dreams if he can't continue," said a faux-mournful and indefatigably maudlin, Len Goodman, in the purplest of purple phrases of the night.

But Cristián was not to be outdone. With minutes to go - and with the judges yet to reveal who the final two would be, he explained that a MRI had revealed that his tendon was ruptured and surgery was required. But "I just talked to my doctor five minutes ago, and said, if he can delay the surgery and if people voted for us, I'd like to be there and not give up."

Seconds later, he and Burke won a reprieve, and will return next week. (Shannon Elizabeth got the boot.)

And so ends the biggest little drama in "DWTS" history. Until next week anyway.

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