VIDEO: Kirstie Alley Melts Down On 'Dancing With the Stars'

Everyone who has graced ABC's hit show Dancing with the Stars talks about the intense stress that comes with the competition. Audiences saw that pressure explode on Monday night, when Kirstie Alley, this season's most talked about contender, had an emotional reaction to her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy's instruction.

The actress, 60, who received praise from the judges for being an consummate performer, had a bit of trouble during rehearsals for the jive that earned her a wide range of scores, from six to nine. Alley got emotional behind the scenes when Chmerkovskiy told her to "move her a–."

"I need a break!" she insisted before falling to the floor in a fit of dramatics and later bursting into tears. Chmerkovskiy made nice, however, and the two were cozy as ever when they performed their entertaining, if not technically flawless, jive on the show. At the end of the day, Alley is grateful for the extra nudge. "Maks puts a lot of pressure and expectations on me," she explained. "I think that's why I like him, so I have to take it up a notch. I have hugely high standards for myself and so does Maks, so when I think we've pushed ourselves as hard as we can push, we push harder." —KIMBERLY STEELE

Watch the video here: