The TV Zone

... stays!
Cristian de la Fuente,the soap-laden Chilean soap star with hips, personality, dramatic (soapy) flair and a busted arm -- plus one of the front-runners till said arm decided otherwise -- will stick with the show.

A surprise? Heck, yeah. He popped his elbow so loudly Monday you could almost hear it.

(BTW, I'm surprised and amused to see some of the wire stories this morning reporting in their leads that Shannon Elizabeth got booted -- as if that's even news! Well, ya just never know.)

TMZ and "Extra" were so certain he was gone yesterday they (basically) led their Web sites with the news. My theory? Someone snookered 'em to boost ratings. (Hell hath no fury like a snookered TMZ, so watch out "DWTS.")

Anyway, here's my breathless wrap in today's paper; sorry if you've already read this:

In an edition that was masterfully padded if not paced, "DWTS" -- and de la Fuente -- declined to reveal his decision until a couple of minutes before 10. 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 Cristian was not to be outdone. With minutes to go -- and with the judges yet to reveal who the final two would be (Cristian and Cheryl Burke were in the bottom four) he explained that an 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. How will he dance? My half-baked theory: With one arm! Brilliant. I think he's a righty (the one that got hurt, I believe) so he just leads with his left. Plus -- no lifts, Cristian.

I think our boy can pull this off.