This is good cause Alec and Kelly were the only reason I watched the last time and I couldn't take Alec dancing with someone else besides Kelly. He probably didn't want to do it cause of all the shit that went down the last time.

I amy tune in to see Ashly and Romeo but I am not voting.

Good, snarky article about this new season on Yahoo!
The writer is also wondering why no Charlotte and Alec, but hadn't heard back from their reps. I think ABC doesn't want any potential controversy where Charlotte and Alec end up in the finals again, just because they are known/liked by so much of the audience already (i.e., avoid, as much as possible, another "built-in fanbase" issue).

This could be good. George Hamilton getting a run for his money by the over-bottle-tanned pro dancers. I trained with one of these guys for a short time, and all I can say is, he didn't used to be orange.

ABC announced Wednesday that Romeo is off the show due to a basketball injury. Hip-hop mogul P. Miller (a.k.a. Master P), the father of Romeo, has been named as the replacement contestant.

Hello, just popping over from the Strictly Come Dancing thread to find out about Rachel Hunter and Evander Holyfield. It is the final of SCD3 this week and so next week sees the Christmas Special, featuring this series' finalists competing against RH and EH. Are they any good?

I'm not sure if they've been chosen because they are previous winners or if they are just celebrities that us Brits would recognise - I only know George Hamilton from your new line up for example - whereas Hunter presented a show called Make Me A Supermodel (car crash tv, btw) here, and Holyfield is probably even more well-known for his day job.

They are dancing with two of the UK professionals, not their DWtS partners, so they have only got two weeks to train, but I think they are only doing one dance each. Hunter has been paired with arrogant, "sexy" Kiwi Brendan Cole (who in the first series of SCD seduced and then dated his celeb. partner), and Holyfield is with the delightful Karen, who is probably one of the best dancer-teachers on the show.

Incidentally, today on the SCD weekday show they showed a clip of Diego Maradonna (the ex-soccer player) who is competing in the Italian version of this programme. I have no idea if it is available to view online, but I have never laughed so hard at 6pm on a Thursday. Seek it out for some holiday cheer!

Rachel Hunter was pretty good and Holyfield was pretty terrible. Neither made it to the finals. Rachel Hunter has had previous dance experience, I think. But Holyfield was really heavy footed and awkward to watch. But he was a really good sport and seemed to enjoy his time on the show. Maybe he's improved. I think the stars in the US version had a week to learn the routine.

That's so sweet that Holyfield was willing to come back and do the UK special. He seemed so disappointed when he got voted out earlier this summer.

Thanks alliebear. What I was clumsily trying to say about the training was that Hunter and Holyfield will only get to spend a couple of weeks with their partner whereas the British guys have just spent some 16 weeks with theirs. They do also have a week per dance, however.

ziglettospal, he was interviewed on the SCD sister show earlier this week, and despite being a little jet-lagged, he seemed really happy to be dancing again, and like I said before he has a good partner.

They should really show the international versions of this show in each country, we do share two judges after all - Len and Bruno, the best and worst judges respectively.

There was a brief piece on Giselle Fernandez on Access Hollywood practicing with Jonathan on tonight's show. And I learned that she's double jointed at the shoulders which kinda scared Jonathan. Heh.

Holyfield was definitely not the best dancer around, but he was so sweet and trying so hard, it was difficult not to love the big lug.

I agree. Holyfield was so cute during his jive practice that it made me feel so awful for him when Len ripped him to shreds.

I can't wait for the show to be back on!!

I wondered whether the Brits find Bruno to be as annoying as we do, especially when it comes to his fawning over the female dancers (Rachel Hunter being a prime example of this; he was so over-the-top with his praise of her dancing--which really wasn't that much to write home about--that it was downright nauseating to watch and to listen to.) Also, from what I've read on the SCD board, the Brits aren't that fond of Len, either--and we over here feel that he sometimes tends to be a bit snooty and condescending in his remarks to the dancers. Unfortunately, the clips on the BBC website only show about 30 seconds of each performance, and we don't get to hear any of the judges' comments afterwards. So, it should be interesting to see how Rachel and Evander do on the Christmas special, and I hope that the Brits will check out the clips of our show starting in January.

Yes, Bruno is annoying! He fawned over Zoe in the UK series just like he did with Rachel in DWTS. I think he must have a thing for tall blondes! He'll probably be even worse in the Christmas Special since they're both on it. It will be interesting to see who he favours this time.

Felt a bit sorry for Evander though, according to one of the clips shown, he only had 4 days to train with Karen, that's not much even if you are the best of dancers.

yes, yes and YES. Like maltipom said, he dribbled over Zoe (who is a tall, lissom blonde like RH) in this series to the point where I think it put people off voting for her. He witters on with his little rhymes and names and says little of real substance.

I do like Len though, he is the best judge. He can be a bit staid, but I think he is the most impartial of the four, and he judges based on ballroom standards rather than who tried the hardest or has the best pecs or nicest frocks. I don't think he is snooty though, but he is very "English" and maybe that comes across differently in the US. In the SCD weekday show he appears once a week to give a mini-dance lesson and he is an excellent teacher.

Will definitely be looking out for the US clips - it will be interesting to see the dances with little idea of who the celebs are and what their background is.

I just wanted to take a moment and thank my pals here on the DWtS thread for their emails following my accident in September. Quick update...I had hoped to be walking by Jan. 1, but the docs have pushed the start date back to Jan. 30 for now. They want to make sure the bone graft has time to fuse with the plates and all that jazz.

Topic...can't wait to see my girl Stacy Keibler compete. America is gonna love her.

Oops! Trainwreck, anyone? Poor Evander couldn't move his feet after four weeks of training.

I thought Len Goodman was the worst of the judges. He completely lost it during the dance-off; the host had to threaten to hose him and Bruno down. I'm disappointed that the same three judges are back for the second edition. There are lots of retired dancers in the US who could have done a better job. It's not like these three were household names or are going to attract more viewers.

On the upside, I think the British version had an "American Smooth" category, so maybe Len and Bruno will finally be able to accept this style.

O/T: FormerOlympian, thanks for the update. How about completing your rehab on DWTS? ;) Imagine the heartwarming story, the tearjerking ... and the votes, including from your fellow TWOPers. And if that doesn't get you moving, think about the dance partner you'll be assigned!

Great idea. And if he wants to wear his speedo, all the better.

FormerOlympian, I hope you're on the way to full recovery !!!

Maybe I'll wake up Christmas morning and find Ashley Del Grosso in my stocking.

I'm guessing you don't have a problem keeping your Christmas stocking full.

I have to say, I wasn't planning on watching this season (I found the first passably entertaining, but tuned out after Evander left), but I am so going to watch for Jerry Rice. He just looks so lost and confused on the commercials I've seen, like he has absolutely no idea what he is doing there or how to proceed. Plus, he has always seemed like a good guy and it helps to have someone ot root for.

And George Hamilton? Perfect casting.

Lisa Rinna Celebrity dancer
George Hamilton Celebrity dancer
Giselle Fernandez Celebrity dancer
P. Miller (aka Master P) Celebrity dancer
Tia Carrere Celebrity dancer
Kenny Mayne Celebrity dancer
Tatum O'Neal Celebrity dancer
Jerry Rice Celebrity dancer
Stacy Keibler Celebrity dancer
Drew Lachey Celebrity dancer

Very interesting mix of celebs this time around! I just read the bios of the ones I am unfamiliar with. Should be fun!

I love that George Hamilton, Lisa Rinna and Tatum O'Neal are in it, because I know who they are & at least two of them will add a good amount of 'camp' to the whole thing.

Next week's TV Guide has a little spotlight piece on the celebs and their pro-pardners. I'm really looking forward to this.

Wow, I went to the website and was surprised to see that Lisa Rinna is the hottest one there, lol! I love Lisa and all, but I thought Tatum was looking better than that...I'm hoping it's just the dress because it looks like she's aged a lot in the past couple years.

George Hamilton is so strange, I love this guy! I'm pulling for the strange people this year so it's him, Lisa Rinna and Master P for me! :-P

I wonder how they're going to get Master P in those dance outfits. I don't see it happening..

Jerry Rice and his partner just look so cute!

Louis cut the ponytail!

I don't see Master P in the outfits either - poor Ashley.

Tatum looks like Bette Midler.

I think I'm pulling for Jerry Rice, Kenny Maine, Drew, and of course George. My George Hamilton love knows no bounds. No favorites among the women yet.

OOH.
Drew Lachey is gonna be on the show?

I so had a crush on him when he was in 98 Degrees.

...

What?

I saw some pictures of Drew & Cheryl and they look sooo cute! This is going to be fun to watch!

oooh, I can't wait for this. I'm rooting for Drew but mostly because I'd like to see the Lachey family make a comeback in 2006.

My money is on Tia Carerra and Lisa Rinna trying to do a "soxy off" in their dancing styles. Also - can we talk about how Rinna's profile highlights her "exotic looks"? I am so sure.

There's a preview vid up at TV Guide Online here. It's all (or most) of the couples rehearsing. What I took away from it? I'm really going to love Jerry Rice and Jonathan is just cuter than ever.

As a fellow Baltimore native, wrestling fan and a guy I'm pulling for Stacy Keibler all the way. She was actually a year ahead of me throughout grade school and her all girls-high school was partnered with my all boys high school. I'm not claiming to have any special friendship and I doubt she even knows who I am. Its just one of those things where you can remember someone when you're in a relatively small school, plus she was involved in performing back then with dancing and maybe even acting, so you certainly heard her name on a very local level.

Bias aside, I figure she's got a pretty good shot. She at least has some kind of dance training, and based on looks alone she should get a sizeable part of the male vote. I know there are a few other female celebrities involved who might compete in the looks department, but by everything I've seen and heard she comes off as a genuinely nice and likeable person, the prototypical girl next door. I'm not sure if the other women involved can pull that off.

One more thing; she's the only one involved who's already got an in-built fan base and pr machine behind her due to her WWE involvement. The company is already plugging her involvement and the further she goes the more intense its going to get. She's the only one involved who can pull in lots of votes simply by being there; she's bound to pull in votes from teenage boys who otherwise wouldn't be caught dead watching this type of show.

I love the new rehearsal footage.

I was really impressed with Drew and Giselle. It looks like a really good crop of celebs this time.

Stacy is the Rachel Hunter of this year. Bruno had better get the drool cup ready.

Long time lurker and very occasional poster...

I am so disapointed that Romeo is not going to be competing, he and Ashly were the couple I was looking forward to the most (they're both so damn cute). Master P just doesn't look that into it...

I just watched that preview vid on the TVGUIDE site and was wondering if the blonde with pink shirt was the wrestler girl everyone is talking about. If so I'm a little shocked! I was expecting Chyna Doll, but she looks like a normal girl. I can't see her getting bodyslammed or anything like that. BTW, I am right in saying she's a wrestler right? I just see WWE attatched to her name a lot.

All the teams looked pretty interesting especially Drew Lachey and Lisa Rinna. I will be rooting for these two, along with George Hamilton and Master P!

A blurb from today's Variety:



ETA: Some info on Samantha Harris:

Bio
Photo

BrainyBlonde, that's excellent news! I'm not familiar with Samantha Harris, but she's got to be an improvement over the unfortunate Ms. Canning. (I mean she couldn't be worse, could she?)

KNOTS LANDING, Stacy is a wrestler in the sense that she's involved with the wrestling business but she's really not a wrestler in the sense that she's getting in the ring and being bodyslammed,etc. Her "matches" are usually of the pillow fight variety (yes, I'm serious); some of the female wrestlers are actually pretty hot and can wrestle well like Trish Stratus but Stacy's role is confined more to her looks and personality.

Eh, Samantha Harris. I'm not feeling it. Although, I was one of the, uh, two? people who liked Lisa so what do I know.

What I liked about the TVGuide clip was it was about the dancers and not the judges. It was a good clip.

Holy Jesus. Ashley D prolly did something evil in her past life, because some bad karma had just come her way. Damn, Master P looks like he can bulldoze the poor girl. My bets are she won't last as long this season. Tsk, tsk.

So much eye candy. Tia's partner? Drew? And Jonathan? Forget the steps and show me some pecs.

There are five clips on the TV.com homepage today. They're just little soundbites with George/Edyta, Giselle/Jonathan, Kenny/Andrea, Jerry/Anna, & Drew/Cheryl.

She can wrestle, although she's probably considered more diva than wrestler. There are Stacy matches all over the net. Here is what came up just on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/results.php?search=...s=Search+Videos

Her match with Major Guns when she was in WCW is probably considered her best performance in-ring wise. Stacy's signature move is when she whips her foe into the turn buckle and then uses her long legs to choke out her opponent.

I can't wait to see the show this week. George Hamilton is perfect casting...who thinks he will win the popular vote? I'm pretty sure he's had plenty of dancing practice before this!

Lisa Canning is canned as co-host. Her replacement is Samantha Harris from E!

New co-host cutting in on next 'Stars'

Thank goodness, she was dreadful. Why did she have to read cards when talking to the dancers after each peformance? Its 30 seconds of material - memorize!

Yeah, Stacey's a wrestler in the loosest sense of the word. She's gotten better than she was (she recently had a decent match against Jillian Hall on the WWE's online Velocity show) but she's still far from good. I despise her in the WWE, because I like women wrestlers that can actually wrestle. But the wrestling fan in me is forcing me to support her on DWTS. Plus, she's a hometown girl.

Re Lisa Canning:



And it wasn't like she had to memorize Hamlet. All she had to do was learn to say three things:

"Gee, the judges were really hard on you. How do you FEEL?"

"Gee, the judges really liked you. How do you FEEL?"

If she got stuck, she could always fall back on:

"Gee, how do you FEEL?"

Yep, I'm definitely alone in the Lisa not-hate.

'Dancing with the Stars' is back in form - USA Today

I recently read a wrestling columnist say that he couldn't see wrestling fans crossing over for Stacy or fans of this show crossing over to wrestling, but I'm definitely only watching this show for her. I myself don't like Stacy in the WWE because her character is so inconsistent, but that's a fault of the writers, not her.

I think Stacy has crossover appeal. Most viewers will be stunned when they see just how long her legs are tonight. I've met Stacy and she is a sweet young lady and it will show through on camera.

At this point, she's also the favorite for the oddsmakers. PinnacleSports.com, an online betting site, has 2/1 odds on Stacy taking the crown, although I'm a bit worried that Lisa Rinna may get the same soap fan support that helped Kelly Monaco win last year. Below is a link to the odds on a couple of the contestants. Scroll down to the "Notes from All Over" section.

DWtS Odds

A head's up for any West Coasters: There's a DWtS segment about an hour and twenty minutes into Good Morning America today. It showed rehearsal footage of all the stars w/their partners on set and there were some interviews. The ladies, especially Stacy, Giselle, and Lisa, looked fantastic! The guy who did the interviews said that he thinks Stacy will be the breakout star of this series. Based on what I saw in this segment, I think that unless Master P has a serious fan base who'll throw him a lot of votes, he'll be the first one out. The poor guy cannot move and has no rhythm. ESPN guy, Kenny Mayne (?), looked weak as well, although he had a good attitude. Drew Lachey has potential.

I'm ridiculously excited about tonight's premiere! 11 hours and counting . . .

Word to that!
Mmmm. Drew.