For those who are interested, the list of celebrities for the Design-A-Dance is posted.

Drew Lachey
Helio Castroneves
Kelly Monaco
Mel B.
Shawn Johnson
Gilles Marini
Joey Fatone
Kristi Yamaguchi
Sabrina Bryan

I have to say I'm stunned Kelly would volunteer for this because, despite being the season 1 winner, she is not a natural dancer.

I just cast my vote for Gilles (I still love you, Helio and Drew, but Gilles doing the Paso Doble is a no-brainer for me -- sorry, guys!)

It was a toss up between Drew, Gilles and Mel B, but I finally decided on Drew, though I wouldn't mind any of these three.

Love how all that are nominated were winners/runners-ups or fan favorites. All have HUGE fan bases, except for maybe Kelly...


Mel, Sabrina, Shawn have my votes but I would rather see Sabrina come back out of the three. I have been voting WAY more then just one time so I hope the votes count!

Sabrina has no chance, IMO. She barely made it to the halfway point her season. Up against the likes of Kristi, Gilles, and Drew? No way.

Drew, Sabrina, Mel B and Kristi already had their comeback.

I hated Joye and Helio paso, and Kelly is not a good dancer.

I'm going to vote for Gilles and Shawn.

I hope that they will choose two celebrits like they choose four pros last season.

Is it just one female pro and male pro or just one pro (depending on which celeb wins)? I was torn between Drew or Gilles since I loved both of their pasos. But I just voted for Gilles.

Are they going to reveal the celeb? Though it seems like TPTB just make up the rules as they go. Just curious because I would like to see new pairings (Jonathan and Kristi).

As far as pros are concerned, no repeats, please! Justice for Jonathan! Particularly Mark. Last night reminded me of everything that annoys me about him. Just not my cup of tea and along with the entitled vibe. Does Corky have something on the producers so we are stuck with his son? Since the SOB has been paired with two very popular celebs, the ones that were arguably automatic wins, I can see him "winning" again. Ugh, go work on your lame attempt to be John Mayer. Well that and he has every right to do it, but I also find it tacky to tweet that you want to win design a dance as a pro in week 1.

Well Sabrina has gained lots of fans since her time on the show, and I have seen lots of people on Twitter saying they are voting for her-tweens & adults, so don't count her out just yet. ;)

I do wonder if they will pick more then one celeb/pro or what. Obviously it would be fun to see the celebs dance w/ their pros again but it would be nice to change it up, and I wonder if Mark knows he has 3 of his 5 celebs nominated.

I've already decided that I'm going to vote for someone different than the person that wins had originally danced with just to mix things up, but I'm guessing that in the end, it will be the celeb with their original pro.

The dance is paso doble and we have to choose between Mel B and Gilles? That is so unfair! If it's any of the others (especially since 3 are Mark's partners and likely to get him back) I will be disappointed. I'd absolutely go for Gilles, as I'm pretty sure Tom will be out of the competition by that point so he won't be disadvantaged by Cheryl going off to practice. And if he is still in, then I won't break my heart over it! After tonight, it's possible Debi won't be around either. Grrr - such a tough choice!

Going on their past form, Drew, Gilles, Mel or Sabrina could pull off an amazing paso. Let's hope TPTB fudge the voting again.

It's all about Gilles for me. He does an amazing paso and Drew has already comeback a bunch of times. But I doubt that Gilles is going to win up against Sabrina, Mel B, Kristi or Shawn. Also if Gilles does win don't plan on watching him with Cheryl. Cheryl's never won the Design a dance.

I don't really care about seeing Gilles again, even though I know the paso is right up his alley. I'd rather see Kristi, which is stupid because the paso isn't particularly a good dance for her IMO. But still. That's what I want. Not with Mark (since he won last season...or should I say "won") or Derek (just...no...please, for the love of God, no) though. Some fresh blood would be nice.

That said, I think Gilles will win. He did almost beat Shawn after all, and the narrow loss might inspire some people to vote more, and harder.

AND ABSOLUTELY NO HELIO!

Pretty much all of them had great pasos and they got great scores.

Drew, Mel B and Sabrina got a 30.

Gilles also got a 30, but i didn't like his second paso, IMO his first paso was better, that was a 30.

Shawn and Kristi got a 29.

Joye got a 28, but it was not really good.

Kelly and Helio were horrible.


I hope that Jonathan will get a good partner next season but this is a paso doble, I don't like his latin.

There is a really good chance of Mark win again, he has three partners on the contest and I think Shawn, Kristi and even Sabrina fans will vote for him, I know that I will.

I'm voting Drew. He's the only one I like out of the whole list.

I wouldn't underestimate Kelly Monaco. She has the soap fans to back her up if they so choose, and they are serious about voting in weekly magazine polls, let alone something like this.

That said, I'm voting for Helio. My all-time favorite star, so I can't not vote for him. :)

Is Mark lobbying for Kristi? From his tweet last night:

This is an interesting group that has been brought together. There are 5 returning champions, 3 runners-up, and Sabrina. Where did she place in her season? 5th? 6th? It seems kind of random that she'd be included here.

That said - I'm Gilles all the way.

I'm giving my votes to Mel. I love her & definitely want to see her back! I also have to give a few votes to Drew since he's from my hometown. But Mel B all the way!

Yep from Mark's Tweets, seems like he wants to come back & dance with Kristi. Well they already did in Season 7, plus from what I have read online most of his fans are voting for Shawn and/or Sabrina.

I wonder if they are going to announce the winning celeb, or just keep it a secret.

Me thinks he is trying to sway the votes against Sabrina because of personal issues between them; whose to say he is going to be the professional picked..

That would be so much fun. I would love to see all of them dance again. I kind of wish they would do an all star version and make it a team thing or something like that.

They should just scrap the Design-a Dance and do just an All Star season to give us a DTWS refresher. New celebs sometimes get tiring and I think it would be amazing to see old favorites come back and compete. Could yuo imagine a show where the low score is 26/27?

That would have me tuning in every week.

Man. I'd be excited to see any of them return, with the exception of Kelly and Helio (and possibly Shawn). I'm going to laugh if Sabrina and Mark have to dance together, though I have a feeling it will come down between Gilles and Drew.

I don't think he has a chance in hell, but I voted for Joey. I can't help it...my inner twelve-year-old insisted. :)

I voted a few times for Gilles. I kind of wondered if some of the females will split the vote, especially as three were paired with Mark. Won't their fanbases overlap? I guess you could say the same of Gilles and Drew, but their seasons were so far apart that I don't think it's an issue.

I love Drew, but didn't vote for him just because I honestly don't expect him to win. He was extremely popular for sure, but he's also not necessarily fresh in viewers minds. Especially if there are viewers watching who didn't watch back in S2. Plus he's gotten to come back a few times and beyond that dance on several tours.

Plus I feel like it would mean so much to Gilles. He'd probably get all weepy and it would be funny.

The only ones I have zero desire to see are Helio and Kelly. I have nothing against Kelly, but she doesn't have much talent. The rest I can at least expect to put on a decent showing.

Maybe they'll actually pick the highest vote getting female and male? I could totally see the show pulling that. Kristi and Gilles? That would work.

It'll be interesting to see how they work it. Unless the producers make an effort to change something in the voting, I can't see any of the celebrities coming back with anyone other than their original partners. Fans buy into the couple, their chemistry and their story. Half the fun of Mel & Maks was watching them make fun of each other and have a laugh. Mark is apparently a really popular pro anyway, so he'd almost certainly be picked if Kristi, Shawn or Sabrina came back. While Cheryl might not win a separate pro vote, Gilles and Drew were popular partnerships for her. I just find it unlikely that people would choose to separate couples, and even if they did, that enough of a consensus would form around which new pro to choose to make a difference.

I am putting all of my votes behind Gilles, especially how it ended last season. Other than that, I wouldn't mind Kristi but she and Mark came back already. Mark has mentioned Kristi in one of his tweets, saying how he was looking back at pics of his partnership with Kristi and how amazing it was. Clearly, he is pushing for Kristi.

Didn't Tom say the dance would be the Paso Doble to "Eye of the Tiger"? I wish they'd chosen something different, as I'll likely automatically compare it to the season 4 pro dance.

The list of songs for the design dance was really weird, they had Sabrina and Mark paso song there too, I like "Eye of the Tiger" but I agree that will be hard not to compare with the pro dance from season 4.

I replace Shawn's paso song for Eye of the tiger, i will try to do with some of the others celebs pasos:

Shawn and Mark paso to Eye of the tiger

It doesn't surprise me at all. There was a great hue and cry when she was eliminated, and viewers, judges and cast alike believed she was "robbed". I would vote for her if not for the tension between her and Mark. As it stands, I don't want to see the "awkward" that might result.

I'm torn between Drew and Gilles for the men. Mel B absolutely gets my vote for the women (it would have been a toss-up between her and Sabrina, but see above.)

ETA - While I am sure that he did enjoy working with Kristi very much, I think Mark's tweets in support of Kristi are more about encouraging his fans *not* to vote for Sabrina.

I think Mark's fans would already know not to vote for Sabrina. It's Kristi vs Shawn, and Mark is nudging his fans towards Kristi with his tweet IMO. I don't know if Mark will win the design-a-dance, but I think Kristi will because like spanana, I actually am more than half expecting the show to go the two-winning couples route. One male celeb, one female. Gilles and Kristi.

Maksim's latest tweet:

I hope Maksim realizes that even if Mel B won, he isn't necessarily the pro that would be her partner.

Yeah, but you can see why he would assume that. I was just wondering, how embarrassing would it be for the pro if they were NOT chosen to dance with their original celeb partner? Basically America saying - 'yeah this so-called popular partnership? We really liked them, not you'. That's possibly reading a bit much into it, but it would have to sting a little.

Did they say whether or not they'd announce the celebrity after they were chosen? I guess I assumed they wouldn't, but...hmmm. I think it would be more fun if America didn't know and were surprised with a new pairing.

I really would like to see Sabrina return, she has said on her Twitter she has no problem returning to dance with Mark clearly any awkwardness is on his part. I find it a little odd that Mark is so invested in which celebrity gets picked, if he is selected he will just have to be professional and do his job.

It may be he just has a favorite partner and it just happens to be Kristi. Julianne, for example, has always said that her favorite partner has been Apolo.

I think it would be interesting if the celebrity wasn't partnered with the original pro. The new pro wouldn't be handicapped by preconceptions of the celebrity so I'd like to see what new eyes would do with the skills the celebrity brings to the table. It also would be interesting to see a pairing the show would never do, like Jonathan with Mel B. It might shake the show out of its preconceived notions of who to pair with who.

My opinion on the celebrities:

Kelly Monaco
I admired her perservance in the face of sometimes brutal criticism but I don't want to see her dance again. The only performance Kelly did well was the Samba performance where she had the wardrobe malfunction. Her mind was consumed with keeping her top in place so she let her body take over. All her other performances were fairly painful. But Kelly rocked the costumes. Also, Kelly has just been put into a frontburner story line so she may have a hard time squeezing in the necessary rehearsal time - they highlighted that in one of her rehearsal packages.

Mel B.
Is she still doing the Las Vegas show? If so, shades of when Mel B didn't have time to rehearse because she was preparing for the Spice Girls tour. If not, I'd like to see what another pro would do with her.

Gilles Marini
I'd like to see what Gilles could do when he's not handicapped by the shoulder injury.

Drew Lachey
I actually didn't like the "Thriller" Paso so I'd like to see what Drew could do with a less gimmmicky song. On the other hand, I see a problem with pairing Drew with a pro since he's short, although with a Paso, height might not be as bad a problem as with some other dance styles.

I'm not interested in seeing Sabrina, Shawn, Helio, Joey, and, sadly, Kristi dance the Paso Doble again.

With my luck, Helio will win. But then, no Julianne ... who will be the whirling dervish, dancing around him?

No, her run ended in June.



No way would I want Mel partnered with anyone other than Maks. And I can't imagine she would have agreed to have her name on the ballot if there was any chance she had to dance with anyone OTHER than her friend, Maks.



I don't think that'd be interesting at all. Although they don't always get it right, there are good reasons why celebs are paired with certain pros. Mel B and Jonathon would just be wrong, for reasons I don't have time to list.

Well, unless Maksim's name is the only one on the ballot, there IS a chance she could be paired with another pro. Just sayin'.

I'm not counting on this ballot to be on the up and up, if you know what I mean. Last year's two couple result was a farce. I expect there to be the same kind of backroom manipulation again this time. If Mel's vote trends well, I like her chances of getting Maks because the producers will make it happen some way or another.

Those who voted for Mel in Season 5, voted for Maks, too. They loved the partnership. They loved M&M. If they vote for her again in Design A Dance, they're voting to see her dance with Maks again - not Jonathon, Mark, Derek, Dmitry or Tony. Just Maks, and only Maks. Just sayin' ;)

Yes I want Mel back to dance but only w/ Maks because I LOVED their partnership, and it would be weird to see her w/ anyone else.
The only celeb that would look good dancing with another pro would be Sabrina and/or Kristi. IMO.

Personally I would be happy with anyone back except for Kelly or Helio, but I am hoping for Sabrina or Mel B.

I do wonder if they are going to announce the winning celeb(s) on Tuesday or keep it a secret.

Word to that!

Mel and Maks are still great friends. They had amazing chemistry and a beautiful friendship that still exists today. I too agree that Mel would not want to dance with anyone else than Maks - M&M team! I am sure Gilles feels the same way about Cheryl and I agree. If Gilles wins, I don't see anything interesting about having him dance with anyone other than Cheryl.

Totally agree, I think if the original pro was not paired with the original celeb, I think it would be a slap in the face. Maybe I'm just sensitive, but I would be really offended if that was the case with me!

My own view is the chances of Mel winning are very slim since Maks himself is struggling to stay in the competition for the second season in a row - and this time with a much more palatable partner than Denise, and so much lame competition still in the mix! Thirteen other couples and still - bottom 2? Writing off any shot of Mel's, IMO, since she's attached to a pro who is having fan vote issues at the moment (and I do suspect some of his wider fan support has fallen off). Especially since she was in bottom 2 herself.

Love Gilles but only if he dances with Cheryl, and I'm not sure Cheryl is favored by those who are likely to robo vote (that's the wonder triplets, plus Lacey sometimes). These marginal side voting contests are disregarded by a lot of the general audience, I think, leaving the way clear for super focused fans.

Considering that Mark has 3 of his partners listed..... His chances to win are much higher.

I don't know; I don't think that TPTB will announce beforehand which celebrity has won, just like they didn't announce which pros had won in previous seasons. It was basically a surprise right up until the dance itself was performed. I wouldn't be surprised if the celebrities will be told to keep it under wraps if they win. So, it's not like this will be a situation where we'll go, "Oh hey, looks like Mel B. won the DAD contest! That means I have to vote for Maks!" You're just voting for the celeb you like the most, and then you vote for the pro you like the most. Two separate polls.

Of course, knowing our propensity for stalking -- er, following -- these people on Twitter, we might be able to deduce the celeb who has won ahead of time...

But celebs won't know until the pro is chosen either.

??? I don't understand. Is there an article that states that the celeb won't know who has won until after the pro vote has been tabulated? Because the celebrity vote is going on right now, but the pro vote won't go on until next week, IIRC. I figure that TPTB might let the celebrity know that he or she has won ahead of time, so the celeb would know before the pro has been picked. ETA: Just to clarify, I am talking about figuring out which celebrity has won the DAD, not which pro.

As a side note, I agree with the poster who said that it's likely we'll have the top male and female celebrities in the DAD. So it'll probably be Gilles and Kristi. Dancing with... Lacey and Derek? If it comes down to a true 'popular' vote, those would be the ones who would probably win, IMO. I'm going based on what the results were in previous seasons. Lacey wasn't technically the top vote-getting female pro last season -- that was most likely Julianne -- but the younger Hough ain't around this season.

Debi doesn't have the identified fanbase support that some of the other lame competition you speak of has. She is a bit of an obscure celeb rather than a household name. I would go as far to see that out of the 16 celebs, she definitely came in with one of the lower fanbases. Combine a low fanbase with average scores and a B2 is quite plausible. If she were partnered with say Jonathon, Tony, Alec, Louis, etc...it would be no different. Derek and to a lesser degree Mark do have those fans that power vote. I question Mark's a bit because his fans certainly didn't keep Kim K in. That is my view. For example, Michael Irvin was a Dallas Cowboy football player, Chuck has his UFC fans, Natalie an Olympic swimmer, etc... But anyway - enough of that.

Yes - Mel was in the bottom 2 once when she happened to be in the middle of the pack in judges scores and I believe it woke her fanbase up and she did end up in the finals. She would not have got there without massive fan support. Based upon the logic of being in the bottom 2, Sabrina left in week 5 I believe. Is she being written off as well? I think she has a very good chance to win. She twitters about it several times daily and her teen following is all geared up and voting for her even though she was an early elimination. So, nope, IMO...the fact that Mel was once in the B2 means absolutely nothing. Especially when she went on to be in the F2.

To be honest, if we are able to know who won before voting for the pros, no matter who won I will vote for their original partner.

I don't wanna see Gilles or Drew dancing with anyone but Cheryl.

I don't wanna see Mel dancing with anyone but Maks.

I don't wanna see Kristi or Shawn dancing with anyone but Mark.

Could you guys imagine if Shawn won and Maks did?

The height alone wouldn't be a good match.

I have a feeling if they announce say Shawn or Kristi as the winner, people will want to vote for Mark to keep the original pairing.