Kirstie Alley’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Disappointment; Plus, Will Maks Return Next Season?

Kirstie Alley and professional dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy took second place on Tuesday night’s “Dancing with the Stars” finale – losing out to Hines Wards and Kym Johnson – and the 60-year-old actress says that although she does feel she “won” on a personal level, it was hard to watch the mirrorball trophy slip through her grasp after getting so close.

“I don’t feel like I won what I wanted to win, but I feel like I won something. That’s a good way to put it,” she told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush backstage after Tuesday’s show. “Look — I’m competitive, I wanted to win. I know how hard we worked; I know what [Maks] had to begin with. There [are] transformations and there [are] transformations. This is a huge transformation in so many more ways than you saw in our packages.

“[Maks] got somebody that was sort of, you know broken in a way — like a broken spirit,” she added. “And he had to do what he had to do to wake my ass up.”

Despite their disappointment, a grateful Kirstie was determined to deliver a message to her loyal fans.

“I want to say something to the fans because we have extraordinary fans, and I know that you stuck by us through thick and thin and through up and down and through everything that we went through, you are extraordinary,” Kirstie said. “I am so thankful to have the fan base that I have because I’ve had them for years, and they are dedicated… You guys rock and you guys are bad ass! And I love you, thank you.”

As for Maks, the 31-year-old charmer said working with Kirstie will be hard to top – so hard, in fact, that’s he’s not sure if he’ll return to the hit show for Season 13.

“It’ll be a long and hard thought,” he told Billy when asked if he’ll return for yet another run. “But, you know, I have a lot of people that won’t make me let me make the wrong decision.”