A Kirstie Alley kiss was Tom Bergeron’s surprising gift for winning television’s highest honor at the 64th annual Emmy Awards on Sunday, as the ecstatic contestant couldn’t help planting a kiss on the host to show her appreciation.
The kiss took place on Monday’s premiere of the Dancing With the Stars all-star season. Kirstie Alley’s kiss came after she finished a foxtrot with partner Maks Chmerkovskiy. As the partners finished their dance, Kirstie approached Tom Bergeron and gave him a big kiss in appreciation for his Emmy win as the show’s host.
“That’s for your Emmy!” Alley exclaimed, then left to get her scores from judges Bruno Tonioli, Len Goodman and Carrie Ann Inaba.
The Kirstie Alley kiss wasn’t the only part of the show that caught viewers’ attention. The judges cut into her for her dance technique, especially her carriage, the Star-Ledger reported. The judges, who are stricter on the contestants in this all-star season, are also using half points in scoring in order to get more nuanced feedback. Alley earned scores of 6.5, 6.5 and 6.
“Lift up your rib cage. Lift it up,” judge Len Goodman told her. “The quality of movement wasn’t superb.”
Alley and Chmerkovskiy may have a tough time remaining on the show past Tuesday night’s results show, Us Weekly noted. Their 19 out of a possible 30 points for their dance. Though they weren’t the lowest score — that spot went to Pamela Anderson and Tristan MacManus, who scored only a 17 for their cha-cha — the performance will put Kirstie Alley in jeopardy of leaving.
The early front-runners for the show are Season 3 champion Emmitt Smith and partner Cheryl Burke, who scored a 24 out of 30 and accolades from the three judges.
Did you catch the premiere of Dancing With the Stars? What did you think of the Kirstie Alley kiss?