Troy Aikman in Dancing With The Stars Season 11!

Update:  Apparently Troy was having a little joke.  "heavens no" was the reply when asked by the Dallas Morning News.

He later tweeted "I will not be on DWTS...interferes with American Idol auditions"

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The highly successful quarterback and TV analyst Troy Aikman let it slip that he is appearing in the next season of Dancing with the Stars.

Leaving Red O restaurant in LA he told TMZ that he was signed up for the show.

Troy's long time team mate Emmitt Smith won the competition in season 3.

There have been a number of football players who have all lasted well into the competition - notably Smith, Jason Taylor and Warren Sapp.

Here's a link to the video: http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=6aba6446-bc2a-433e-aa87-44dcd18aeedb

Tony Dovolani Wants to Win!

Fan favorite (well, mine anyway), Tony Dovolani, tells People that he wants a more able partner next season.

"I enjoyed every bit of last season — well, most of it, I mean.  Next season I would like to have a more able partner, someone who doesn’t have so many distractions in their life. The producers know how I feel.” 

Aside from the implied criticism of Kate Gosselin, it made me wonder if Tony has been hard done by in previous seasons.  Here's how he's done to date:

Season 2: Stacey Keibler, 3rd
Season 3: Sara Evans, withdrew
Season 4: Leeza Gibbons, 9th
Season 5: Jane Seymour, 6th
Season 6: Marissa Jaret Winokour, 4th
Season 7: Susan Lucci, 6th
Season 8: Melisa Rycroft (substitute for Nancy O'Dell), 3rd
Season 9: Kathy Ireland, 14th
Season 10: Kate Gosselin, 8th

Compared to some of the others I don't think he has such bad partners.  But he definitely hasn't had the partners Derek and Mark have enjoyed.  I'd also say that Jonathan Roberts has been treated worse.

The thing that sticks out for me is that he almost always seems to get women in their 30s or older.  Beautiful, middle-aged women are wonderful but they are less likely to win DWTS (except Brooke Burke, I guess!).  He hasn't had a Mya, Nicole Scherzinger, Shawn Johnson or Sabrina Bryan.  I guess the producers have decided he is a good fit for older women.

What do you think?  Should Tony get a bright young thing next season?

DWTS Professional Dancers - Season 11 Odds

We don't know the celebrities nor professionals that will appear in season 11 but bookmakers are still willing to take your money!

Here are the odds for the professional dancers to win season 11:

Derek Hough     +600
Julianne Hough     +650
Mark Ballas     +650
Maksim Chmerkovskiy     +750
Cheryl Burke     +800
Chelsie Hightower     +900
Lacey Schwimmer     +1000
Dmitry Chaplin     +1200
Kym Johnson     +1400
Alec Mazo     +1600
Anna Trebunskaya     +1600
Edyta Sliwinska     +1600
Karina Smirnoff     +1600
Damien Whitewood     +2500
Louis van Amstel     +2800
Tony Dovolani     +2800
Anna Demidova     +3000
Jonathan Roberts     +3000
Ashly DelGrosso     +3500
Elena Grinenko     +5000
Fabian Sanchez     +5000
Inna Brayer     +5000
Jesse DeSoto     +5000
Andrea Hale     +6600
Brian Fortuna     +6600
Charlotte Jorgensen     +6600
Nick Kosovich     +8000
Corky Ballas     +10000

(If you put $100 on Derek Hough, and he won, you would receive $600 back plus your original $100).

There are a couple of dancers that don't make sense to me.  For instance Louis van Amtel has higher odds than Damian Whitewood.  Damien is a fine dancer, but Louis has proved he can get the most out his partner, and if he gets a good one...

Tony Dovolani is another example - he always seems to get "average" celebrities, if he got someone with a chance, his own fans could make the difference.

I got these odds from http://www.usaplayers.com/gambling-news/5888/entertainment/dancing-with-the-stars-11-already-getting-action-at-online-sportsbooks.

Back in the Saddle

I've been decompressing since the exciting and intense season 10.

I do think having less couples was a huge improvement - you could get to know them better.

ABC have announced that the new season will start on September 20, presumably at 8pm. So get ready for celebrity and professional rumors to abound!