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Anderson Cooper: Bristol Palin needs to get a real job

On Monday's "Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars," Bristol Palin burst into tears and stormed out on her partner Mark Ballas during a rehearsal session -- but Anderson Cooper calls the single mom's moment of weakness brilliant TV. "Anyone who is on a reality show knows that to get attention, you have to have a have a wardrobe malfunction, throw up, have a breakdown -- have a storyline. Bri
Anderson Cooper
Anderson CooperGus Ruelas / REUTERS file / Today

On Monday's "Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars," Bristol Palin burst into tears and stormed out on her partner Mark Ballas during a rehearsal session -- but Anderson Cooper calls the single mom's moment of weakness brilliant TV. 

"Anyone who is on a reality show knows that to get attention, you have to have a have a wardrobe malfunction, throw up, have a breakdown -- have a storyline. Bristol Palin is a genius because last night she developed a storyline that made her very sympathetic," Cooper said on Tuesday's "Anderson Live" of the 21-year-old, who tearfully argued that Ballas did not support her as much as he did previous partners Shawn Johnson and Sabrina Bryan. ("You are not even there," Palin complained, before storming out of the rehearsal space. "You didn't turn up to rehearsal! I feel like you want to go home.")

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Following her televised meltdown, Palin danced the paso doble with Ballas and earned 22.5/30 points -- their highest score yet.

As Palin celebrates her Monday night accomplishment on the dance floor, Cooper suggests that the Alaska-bred mother to Tripp, 3, reconsider documenting her life for reality TV cameras. 

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"I am thinking of starting a job fair for people . . . who just need to get jobs, [like] Lindsay Lohan, Bristol Palin. I think they just need to get jobs, stop being on TV!" mused the talk show host of Palin and troubled actress Lohan, 26.

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Bristol's mother, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, supported her oldest daughter at Monday's taping just hours after a suspicious package addressed to Bristol arrived at the "DWTS" set and prompted a police investigation. Later, Sarah took to her Facebook page to applaud Bristol's grace under added pressure.

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"Do the haters really think this will stop Bristol and Mark and the show's producers from keepin' on keepin' on? Silly critics -- after all these years of goofy antics like this we find these efforts are actually quite motivating!" Sarah  Palin wrote. "Bristol's not letting this get her down."

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