Donny Osmond was involved in a nationally televised wardrobe malfunction on Monday, and it might have cost him a spot in next week's finals of "Dancing With the Stars."

Performing a tango with his partner, Kym Johnson, her shoe got caught in the hem of her dress; the two got tangled in the hem; and that sank what was already an iffy performance.

Ever the professional, Osmond managed to make light of it. First he jokingly fell to the floor — pretending to faint just as his sister, Marie, fainted at this stage of the competition two years ago. Then he explained what happened.

"You know what it was? I will be very honest with you. I saw Marie," Osmond said as Marie looked on from the front row.

With sevens from the judges — the "DWTS" equivalent of a one or two — Osmond and Johnson could not recover. Despite better scores for their samba and jitterbug, the judges have them in last place, trailing Mya and Dmitry Chaplin, Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough, and Kelly Osbourne and Louis van Amstel. When the judges scores are added to the votes cast by viewers, one of the four teams will be eliminated on Tuesday's show (8 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4).

e-mail: pierce@desnews.com