A few "5 Eyewitness Morning News" viewers slammed traffic reporter Rusty Gatenby for quipping that Kirstie Alley needed to eat more salads after her "Dancing With the Stars" partner fell Monday.
Professional dancer Maks Chmerkovskiy's thigh gave out while executing a bent-knee position, causing him to fall on the floor, along with Alley. They were doing the rumba to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," during a night devoted to songs with personal meaning to the dancing celebrities. A wincing Chmerkovskiy got up and hopped around a bit but ultimately finished. The embarrassed pro dancer apologized and told media that his leg cramp had nothing to do with Alley.
"Keep in mind, it's 5:15 in the morning," said Gatenby, whose early morning work schedule means not seeing much prime-time TV. "I see highlights in the morning. Upon seeing it the first thing that popped into my head is something that's been said to me before: Hey, you need to mix in a salad, buddy. Right after I said that I thought 'Humm, that's probably not very nice to say.' I always thought it was funny" when directed at him.
He probably knew for sure it wasn't funny shortly after KSTP news director Lindsay Radford's assistant took complaint calls. "He has had to apologize himself. I didn't do it for him," said Radford, who noted, "I probably need to eat a salad, too." Me, too!
Radford didn't know how many calls were received so she couldn't confirm my tip that phone lines lit up.
"Nooo. Who's telling you this stuff?" asked Gatenby, who said he was on his way to take a run as part of his new exercise plan that began April 1. "No fooling. There were seven e-mails and so far three of them have gotten back and forgiven me."
The star of "Cheers" and "Fat Actress," Alley has openly talked weight issues with Oprah and others. The tabloids have been vicious to her. Alley got into a Twitter fight with late-night TBS show host George Lopez when he made jokes comparing her to a dancing pig. After a non-apology apology, Lopez (whose home must not be decorated with mirrors that actually capture his visage) apologized for real and was eventually forgiven by Alley.
Time to sex up T-Paw's image?