Proof that Evan Lysacek is on Season 10 of DWTS?

Season 10 has been pretty sparse in terms of rumors, with the only one that seems to be legit is Pamela Anderson appearing.

So when Evan Lysacek tweeted "Hanging with Pamela Anderson. Unreal!" it made me think the rumors of him appearing might have some truth in them.

Add the fact that Kate Gosselin is reportedly secretly hanging out in a Los Angeles hotel, do we have three high-profile celebrities (more-or-less) confirmed?

It makes sense that the producers would have a celebrity meeting the day before they meet their pros.

Only two days before we find out for sure!

FREE THE DWTS 5!

Dancing with the Stars fans were in shock at the news that the producers of the show had abducted five of the professional dancers in order to reduce the number of couples to 11 (or 12).

Stocks in Tanning Salons fell on the news.

The five dancers - Lacey Schwimmer, Jonathan Roberts, Karina Smirnoff, Dmitry Chaplin and Anna Demidova - were taken from their homes and secured in a cabin somewhere in the woods in California. In order to cover the crime the dancers' Twitter accounts were taken over by a computer program.

Fans first became suspicious when the quality of the tweets increased.

The program tweets phrases commonly used by the dancers. Examples include "Awh, isn't my dog cute", "I'm cleaning the bathroom", "I look hot in a bikini", "My wife looks hot in a bikini" and "Help! I've been abducted and I'm in a cabin in the woods".

 The fans' first reaction was to start on-line petitions and retweet them to themselves. When that didn't work a number threatened to boycott the show. The producers struck back by leaking rumors that Pamela Anderson and Kate Gosselin were due to appear which started heated discussions all over again, taking the spotlight off the abductions.

 A source with knowledge of the situation said that the cabin is very comfortable with beautiful parquet floors, a mini-mirrorball and mirrored walls. A team of hairdressers and make-up artists are in constant attendance to calm the five when they get too overwrought. Bad behavior is met with threats of having to appear on the results show.

 The producers are confident that when the celebrities are announced the fans will concentrate on that, and there will be enough shiny things on the show's premier to distract everyone from the plight of the 5.

Cafepress and Zazzle have been deluged with designs for t-shirts, and sales are through the roof. Although no one has been spotted wearing one yet.

Will this tear the show apart? Or will the viewing millions simply watch what is put in front of them? Time will tell!

NEXT WEEK'S STORY: Samantha Harris was really a robot??

Kassim Osgood to Partner Cheryl Burke in DWTS Season 10?

Are there cracks starting to appear in the DWTS producers' rumor fortifications?

Kassim Osgood, the larger-than-life wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers, tweeted:

"@CherylBurke1 is my new bestie!!!! If u could....I'd dance with THIS star!!! Stay tuned to Dancing With The Stars.... My new family!!!"

Dancing with the Stars has a thing about NFL players and Kassim would join Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Jason Taylor, Warren Sapp, Lawrence Taylor and Michael Irvin as NFL stars who have treaded (not so) lightly on the dance floor.

I suspect this would give Cheryl a good chance at the trophy. She narrowly missed taking it for the third time in season 8 with Gilles Marini.

The cast will be officially announced on Monday, March 1 during the finale of The Bachelor.

Update: I'm told Kassim had just made friends with Cheryl and others, and was expressing his feeling of "family" with them. Ah, the number of miles one can wring from a tweet...

Could Ashly DelGrosso Be On Dancing with the Stars 10?

This really is a question, not a statement.

We're waiting for the final professional on Dancing with the Stars season 10 to be announced/leaked/come out of the woodwork and I noticed that Ashly's name had been mentioned in a couple of places.

On the DWTS 10 page in Wikipedia someone said that E! News had said she was coming back, and I got a couple of hits on my website with the keyword "ashly delgrosso dwts 10".

Ashly appeared in the first three seasons,with Joey McIntire, Master P and Harry Hamlin.

This is absolute conjecture, the sources are not one might term "iron clad", but I wondered if anyone else had heard anything?

Season 10 DWTS Professionals - The Chinese Water Torture of Reality TV

(Updated to add Maks)

Pity the poor dancing pros who await to find out if they are in season 10 of Dancing with the Stars. It's a big deal to their career and pocket, plus they get constantly nagged and reminded on Twitter that they haven't confirmed yet.

Shed a tear, and then remember it's a job and it comes with the territory.

For unknown reasons (possibly because the celebrities haven't signed their contracts yet) the professionals have been told in dribs and drabs whether they are appearing. Cheryl Burke confirmed first, and the others just seem to be waiting for a call, running to Twitter after they put the phone down.

Here are the professionals that are (almost certainly) definite:

- Cheryl Burke
- Chelsie Hightower
- Edyta Slwinska
- Derek Hough
- Mark Ballas
- Tony Dovolani
- Louis van Amstel
- Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Chelsie and Louis actually tweeted they were on, and then deleted the tweets!

Assuming there are 11 couples, there are four more to go.

Also, keep your eye on Damian Whitewood from Burn The Floor. His girlfriend posted on Facebook that he would be appearing. Source: Pure DWTS

Most importantly, shed a real tear for Lacey Schwimmer and Jonathan Roberts who will not be appearing. It's a shame, but going from 16 couples to 11 means someone will be disappointed. I know that Lacey's fans, in particular, are not happy!

I keep this page updated with the latest news on which professionals are in.

Old favorite in, new favorite out at Dancing with the Stars

As reported by Pure DWTS , Cheryl Burke is in season 10 of Dancing with the Stars, and Lacey Schwimmer won't be.

They both tweeted the outcomes on Friday.

Perhaps Lacey doesn't have a suitable partner, who knows? She made a big impression when she first appeared and quickly built up a fan base. Those fans are not going to be happy!

I'm glad Cheryl is returning. A regular since season two, it wouldn't be the same without her!

I'm sure there'll be more news soon! Stay tuned!

Dancing Pros Starting to Get Restless

Not knowing who is appearing in the new season of Dancing with the Stars is hard on the fans, but even harder on the professionals!

Louis van Amstel tweeted at the end of last month that they would know if they were in the next season of the show by mid-February. Then, on Monday of this week he tweeted they would know tomorrow (Tuesday).

On Tuesday and Friday Dmitry Chaplin tweeted that he hadn't heard anything.

Today, Karina Smirnoff tweeted:

"It's Friday and still no word from production about the next season! And we are supposed to meet our celebs in 7 days! Wow"

Now Karina had already told a Miami newspaper that she was appearing in season 10, but obviously she has had no official word. And that is probably true for the others.

The only other pro to (sort of) confirm he is in season 10 is Derek Hough, who also tweeted that they would learn their partners next week.

So what does this mean? Probably that the celebrities haven't been finalized, and the producers have always said that they choose the professionals on the basis of who the celebrities are (makes sense). No time has been lost in that the pros can't really do anything until they are confirmed and know who they are dancing with. It does make the waiting harder for them though.

This has been a pretty quiet season in terms of rumors. Let's hope it heats up next week!

Buzz Aldrin to Appear on Dancing with the Stars

From the moon to the stars....

Access Hollywood has had a chat with their "source close to the show", and have come up with a couple of tidbits.

First off, The Source informed them that someone "who has walked on the moon" will be on the show. AH's favorite is Buzz Aldrin, who has appeared on many shows (The Simpsons, Jeopardy, The Price Is Right) and was second to walk on the moon. Neil Armstrong, the first, tends to avoid the spotlight. They seem to have overlooked the possibility that its someone with a drug problem who only imagined walking on the moon.

Or maybe it's a member of the band "The Police".

Anyway, it would be cool to have an astronaut on the show - a celebrity not from entertainment or sports.

The other tidbit (or should it be titbit?), is that The Source confirmed that Pamela Anderson would be appearing on the show. Quite a lot of her would be appearing actually...

DWTS Season 10 - The Waiting Continues

I (and a few thousand of my closest friends) hung around Twitter yesterday to see if any of the Dancing with the Stars professionals had heard if they were in the next season. Louis van Amstel had tweeted that they were due to learn yesterday (Tuesday) if they were in the show.

Unfortunately the DWTS pros were pretty quiet compared to normal!

We did learn that Derek is coming back - he tweeted that they would find out who their celebrity partners were next week.

Also, Brooke Burke confirmed she was a candidate for co-host, taking over from Samantha Harris, and was due to take screen tests.

The rumors on the celebrities are still pretty few and far between, with Pamela Anderson appearing to be the most likely rumor, and all the other rumors paling into insignificance (although they could still be true of course).

The (rough) timetable is:

This week - the professionals discover if they are dancing in season 10
Next week - they discover who their celebrity partners are
March 1 - the cast is officially announced
March 22 - Opening night

This has been one of the worst seasons in terms of rumors and leeks - hopefully things will start to look up!

Three candidates left to replace Samantha Harris

E! Online is reporting that the list of people to replace Samantha Harris is down to three.
 
Melissa Rycroft, Brooke Burke and Vanessa Minnillo will be taking screen tests next week.

Melissa and Brooke are previous contestants on the show, and Vanessa is stepping out with Nick Lachey, whose brother Drew is a previous winner of course.

If it doesn't work out ABC's backup plan is to rotate previous contestants in the role for this season.

I quite like the idea of trying previous DWTS contestants - it would be a cozy interview process with 20 million participants!

Who is your favorite to replace Samantha on Dancing with the Stars? Or do you want someone else?

E! Online

Dancing with the Stars Professionals Wearing Next to Nothing...

...so what's new?

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition has a Dancing with the Stars section this year. Four couples are featured from past seasons. The women professionals are wearing bikinis and their celebrity partners are wearing casual clothes - classy!

The four couples are:

Anna Trebunskaya and Chuck Liddell - Anna's gorgeous hair (which she hides too much in my opinion) makes this the classiest shoot. Chuck glowers as much as he did on the dance floor, but shows his softer side in the behind the scenes video.

Edyta Sliwinska and Lawrence Taylor - I'm pretty sure the first bikini has more material than Edyta normally wears on the dance floor. Despite having to hold a scantly-clad, attractive woman, he still managed to look as though he would rather be on the golf course!

Cheryl Burke and Maurice Greene - Cheryl poses with her partner from season seven. I've always thought they seemed like friends, although Maurice did seem to be surrepticiously glancing at certain parts of her body...

Chelsie Hightower and Ty Murray - Chelsie got Ty (rather than Louis Vito). Ty is always deadpan except when he smiles. They obviously had a lot of fun!

Obviously the professionals have no qualms about perpetuating the exploitation of sports-fanatical males who probably have trouble getting dates. Nor should they.

The photos and behind the scenes videos are available at:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010_swimsuit/dwts/

John Stamos Approached to Appear on Dancing With The Stars

In a recent interview with People Magazine, Karina Smirnoff revealed that John Stamos had been approached by the producers of Dancing with the Stars but had turned them down.

She also revealed she really wanted him to be her partner.

 “I wanted him to be my celebrity partner. He finished Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway and he has had enough time to rest.”

John told her that he needed a rest after finishing the show in November.  But she thinks that's plenty of rest!

 “I am a workaholic and think he needs to dance with me,” she tells PEOPLE. “I love 12 to 14 hour days of dancing, and I want to do it with John. He could be a great dancer.” 

John Stamos would certainly balance out the Pamela Anderson effect!

Are Models Really That Bad At Dancing?

The news that Pamela Anderson will probably be on Dancing with the Stars got me thinking.

It is generally held that models don't do that well on Dancing with the Stars so I went back and looked at how they did over the seasons.

I split them into two types:

• "Fashion" models that primarily do Vogue-type assignments where the key thing is the clothes they are wearing
• "Topless" models that primarily take their clothes off so people can see them and not the clothes

I defined it as either what they are best known for, or where they started out. Some actresses do modeling (as do dance professionals!) but I discarded those. I came up with the following results:

Fashion
Rachel Hunter (Season 1)         4 of 6
Paulina Porizkova (Season 4) 11 of 11
Josie Maran (Season 5)         12 of 12
Kathy Ireland (Season 9)         15 of 16

Topless
Kelly Monaco (Season 1)         1 of 6
Brooke Burke (Season 7)         1 of 12
Holly Madison (Season 8)         11 of 13
Joanna Krupa (Season 9)         4 of 16

Some notes:

• I left out Priscilla Presley (it was a long time ago) and Shannon Elizabeth (she really is an actress)
• Kelly Monaco is an established actress, but is (in)famous for sending naked pictures of herself to Playboy to get a job. She was successful.
• I left out the men - Albert Reed is a fashion model (came 11 of 12 in season 5) and Gilles Marini, while not technically a model, is always taking his clothes off and came second in season 8.  Plus Cameron Mathison appeared in Playgirl, and came 5th of 12 in season 5.

So what does this mean?

Well, apart from Holly Madison (who you could argue might have done better if she had more time to prepare) the Topless models have been very successful.  Kelly and Brooke won the whole thing and Joanna acquitted herself pretty well.

The fashion models all left pretty early, and surprisingly seemed to feel upcomfortable on the dance floor.  I would have thought a catwalk would have been pretty scary and the dance floor a breeze!

Perhaps one needs a certain body-type to be successful at dancing and topless models normally have that (perhaps males are attracted to body-types that are good for dancing?).  Or maybe fashion models have a body-type that is not condusive to dancing - long limbs, willowy.

What do you think?  Am I making it up?  Or does the fact you flash your bits mean you've got a higher chance of being a better dancer?  Or perhaps men only turn out to vote for those ladies?

If I'm right, Pamela Anderson is going to walk it!

Pamela Anderson Bouncing onto Dancing with the Stars?

According to an exclusive by Radar Online, Pamela Anderson has signed up for season 10 of Dancing with the Stars!

A source told them that they have agreed terms and the deal is done!

“Pam is thrilled and so is the show,” the source said. “She really wanted to do the show and the show thought it was a great idea.”

This move would certainly attract male viewers, but would also be controversial as well.  "Topless" models have done well in the past with Kelly Monaco winning season one and Brooke Burke season seven.

Whoever her professional partner will be, he will need long arms...

Who Thought Dancing Could Be So Funny?

I was tweeting with Colin from www.dancingwiththequotes.com and I noticed his book "Dancing With The Quotes: 1000 Humorous Quotations on T.V. Dance Shows".

I thought, "What a marvellous idea for a book!"

It covers not only Dancing with the Stars but also Strictly Come Dancing, So You Think You Can Dance and a number of other dance shows around the world.

I haven't read it yet, but I'm certainly going to!

Here are some of the quotes (from the description):

• "The trouble was there was only one recognizable step: the Shadow Botafogos ... and that's a Samba step!" ...on Billy Ray Cyrus' Waltz
• "Una palabra caliente! Seriously, you could see the steam coming off her legs." ...on Mya's Lambada
• "Not so sure about this train-engineer getup ... but all the better for Donny to ogle Kym's caboose, we guess!" ...on Donny Osmond's Jitterbug

I don't know if it has my favorite Len quote: "[The waltz had] more rise and fall than a bride's nightie."

Do you have any favorite DWTS quotes?

DWTS Cast to be announced March 1

ABC has announced that the cast of season 10 of Dancing with the Stars will be announced on Monday, March 1.

Tom Bergeron will appear throughout the two hour finale of The Bachelor (8pm EST), announcing the new cast.  Each star's
name will be posted on-line as soon as they come out of Tom's mouth.

Given that Louis van Amstel said he expected to know if he was in the next season mid-February, that gives the opportunity for lots of gossip and guessing leading up to the announcement!

It will be interesting to see if Paula Abdul is featured in the announcements - as a contestant, co-host or judge!