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Sideshow: Clinton took a pass on 'Dancing With the Stars'

Dancing With the Stars, which premiered Monday, lost out on one of the greatest two-step men in history: Bill Clinton. The former leader of the free world tells Rachael Ray on a segment of her show set to air Tuesday that he was offered a spot on DWTS, but turned it down.

Former President Bill Clinton talks about the state of the country and his Clinton Global Initiative organization on the "Today" show, Monday, Sept. 19, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)
Former President Bill Clinton talks about the state of the country and his Clinton Global Initiative organization on the "Today" show, Monday, Sept. 19, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)Read more

Dancing With the Stars, which premiered Monday, lost out on one of the greatest two-step men in history: Bill Clinton. The former leader of the free world tells Rachael Ray on a segment of her show set to air Tuesday that he was offered a spot on DWTS, but turned it down.

"I told them I didn't have the time to train for it," says Clinton. "You know you actually go out there and you train, you really work at it. So I had to pass. But I think it's a hoot. And I have a 92-year-old mother-in-law who watches it religiously  ." Clinton's best move? "It's amazing you [ask] . . . because just last night, [wife] Hillary said to me 'You know, when I'm not secretary of state anymore, we should go take dancing lessons.' So we'll start with the tango." The former prez, who turned 65 last month, is in great shape for it: He tells Ray that to control his cholesterol level, he's gone on a virtually vegan, no-meat diet. "About once a year I have one bite of steak," he says, "and I don't want it anymore."

Ne-Yo engaged, expecting baby

R&B crooner Ne-Yo (Shaffer Chimere Smith Jr.), 31, has proposed to his Atlanta boutique-owner gf, Monyetta Shaw, who is expecting the couple's second baby, says Us Weekly. Their daughter, Madilyn Grace, was born in November.

Nudie Mila Kunis pics? No way!

Hollywood's latest (potential? possible? actual?) Sizzling It Couple, Jila (that'd be Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis), did not engage in torrid acts of X-rated sexting, as widely reported last week. They so didn't send each other filthy prose and nude photos that the rumored Friends With Benefits costarring friends with benefits have released an official statement: "The insistence that there is any inappropriate correspondence between the two parties is entirely false." It's a joint statement, dude, which means they're totally together, right?

Alec Baldwin: I don't hate Fox!

"Raven-haired [and] suavely handsome" 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin (as movie site IMDB.com describes him) didn't skip Fox's Emmy Awards on Sunday to protest the network's decision to cut his hacker-gate joke.

He told reporters Monday that he spent the evening at Tony Bennett's 85th birthday bash in New York. (Wouldn't you have?) Reports claimed Baldwin boycotted the Fox show because it cut his opening skit about the ongoing hackergate scandal involving Fox owner Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp media empire.

"Fox did kill my NewsCorp hacking joke. Which [stinks] bc I think it would have made them look better," Baldwin later tweeted. "A little."

You can catch Baldwin on SNL (See related story on Page 5).

A January baby in September

January Jones, 33, who spent the entire 132 minutes of X-Men: First Class in a flirty white bikini, also missed the Emmys. But she's got a doctor's note: The Mad Men beauty spent the weekend cuddling with newly minted baby Xander Dane. JJ has yet to reveal the baby's dad.

Jennifer Carroll: A sexy single chef

Jennifer Carroll of 10 Arts shook up the city's restaurant scene in mid-August by telling staff at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel that she was stepping down as chef de cuisine. Her final day will be in early October.

Carroll said that she is leaving to pursue another opportunity - chef-owner of a 60-to-80-seat restaurant - but declined to say whether she had a location or a deal in place. She said she would serve a "middle-of-the-road" menu, like her tasting menus at 10 Arts. ("Nothing over $26. Approachable.")  One place we know she'll visit: The pages of the Philadelphia Daily News. On Tuesday, she will be featured in the paper's "Sexy Singles" feature.

- Michael Klein

The traffic files: Kate Plus 88

No news is too small when it concerns Philly heroine Kate Gosselin. In the latest, the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era reports that the now-unemployed veteran reality star has pleaded guilty by mail to speeding - going 88 miles per hour in a 65 m.p.h. zone. She paid a $174 fine stemming from a traffic stop Aug. 9 in Brecknock Township, Lancaster County. Kate told police she was racing home to her children.

An 'Entourage' movie? Sure!

So says Mark Wahlberg, executive producer of HBO's Entourage, which ended its run this year after 96 episodes. "Yeah, for sure. You saw the way it ended. After the credits, Jeremy Piven's character is in Italy with his wife and he gets a big phone call," Wahlberg tells Extra. "I think that's obviously going to cause a lot of tension within his relationship. . . . We've been talking about the movie nonstop. That's the goal."

Today in EntBiz news

The Wall Street Journal reports that former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel, 71, is being wooed by NBC to join its new prime-time Rock Center With Brian Williams. (It's a 60 Minutes-esque news mag.) Koppel is being offered a part-time gig and will get less airtime than contributors Harry Smith, Meredith Vieira, and Kate Snow

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American viewers really do dig Fox News. A lot. Polling firm Poll Position, which was founded by former CNN exec Eason Jordan, on Monday said Murdoch's cabler came out on top in a national poll that asked 1,180 fine, upstanding citizens which TV news network they thought was the best. Fox garnered 36 percent of the vote. CNN was at No. 2, with 28 percent, while MSNBC was third, with 17 percent.

Sunday night's tragic, Michael Vick-hurtin' Eagles game (the Atlanta Falcons won, 35-31) on NBC drew more viewers than those backslapping ('n' backstabbing?) narcissists at Fox's Emmy Awards, report USA Today and the New York Times. The Emmys were watched by 12.4 mil viewers - a smidgen up from the record low 12.3 mil they posted in 1990 and 2008. Final numbers aren't in yet for the football game.