More workplace romances for Karina Smirnoff -- when will a girl learn?

The former flame of both Mario Lopez (her former Dancing with the Stars partner) and Maksim Chmerkovskiy (a fellow pro on the show) is reportedly now with Aaron Carter (her new dance partner). Got it straight?

The 31-year-old Ukrainian beauty better go easy on the kid, who recently suffered a leg injury. ``I made a mistake earlier in the dress rehearsal and my knee pads kind of went up and I just fell on the bone on my knee,'' the pop singer, 21, explained Monday night.

Reports say Carter -- Backstreet Boy Nick Carter's younger brother -- isn't the reason for Smirnoff's split with Chmerkovskiy, who was incidentally just eliminated with partner Debi Mazar; the two started their thing after the breakup.

Also out the door on Dancing: Tom DeLay, whose bum feet forced the former politician to withdraw during Tuesday's elimination with Cheryl Burke. But the judges' scores and viewers' votes from Monday's show still counted, which is why Mazar and Maksim were also out.

Host Tom Bergeron invited DeLay to return for the season finale and perform the Texas two-step, the move he was expected to perform next week.

In other DWTS romance news, Star ``reports'' that spies caught former partners Derek Hough and Shannon Elizabeth cavorting at an L.A. party.

LOVE IS `RETARDED'

Guy Ritchie isn't bitter about his split with ex-wife Madonna -- not really.

A year after their divorce, the British director opens up to the November issue of Esquire, saying that he still loves the pop star and praises her work ethic.

But . . . there's always the but.

``She's a manifester, if there ever was one,'' he says. ``Madonna makes things happen. Put Madonna up against any 23-year-old, she'll outwork them, outdance them, outperform them. The woman is broad.''

Later he backpedals a bit saying, ``And, of course, here you go: I still love her.''

In the next breath: ``But she's retarded, too.''

Retarded? Is that a mature word to use? We're starting to see why Madonna said she'd rather get run over by a train than get married again.

NEW IMAGE?

Bye, bye, J.Lo. Hello, Lola. That's how Jennifer Lopez now wants to be known, so take note.

The actress/singer will soon be releasing her yet-to-be-titled album. The first release, Fresh Out the Oven, features Miami rapper Pitbull. The head-bopper hit the Web on Wednesday with such lyrics as ``We both know what we need. . . You say you want the cookie, you're gonna wait for the cookie.'' Sounds like La Lopez is in baking mode.

Pitbull talked to MTV about his collaboration with one of our newest Dolfans: ``Definitely something very, very sexy,'' he said of the Pharrell-produced track.

The video's sure to be racy. Think it will involve a kitchen?

MOVING STRAIGHT AHEAD

A week after the New York medical examiner's office announced that a celebrity DJ died after downing a lethal cocktail of cocaine and prescription drugs, MTV announced it will go ahead and air a reality series in which that DJ recruits young addicts for rehab.

The eight-episode series Gone Too Far, hosted by the late Adam Goldstein, a.k.a. DJ AM, will debut Monday.

Creepy.

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