Anna Trebunskaya, Sugar Ray Leonard

Carol Norris, Boone, N.C.

Matching celebs and pros to create the right chemistry on Dancing With the Stars is no random task, says Deena Katz, senior producer of the show. She has been doing it for 12 seasons.

“It’s all about height first,” Katz tells us. “Then I start matching personalities.” The goal? “Trying to make the best situation. They’re scared. They’re worried. The professional partner has to be choreographer, mentor and teacher.”

Who’s News Column Contributors: Olivia Barker, Lorena Blas, Gayle Jo Carter, Cindy Clark, Ann Oldenburg

Mark your calendars: ABC will announce the new cast of Dancing With The Stars on Monday, Aug. 30, during an episode of Bachelor Pad (8-10 p.m.). So until then, let the rumors fly! So far, NFL star Troy Aikman told TMZ he’s doing the show — and then tried to joke it off. Reality TV Magazine reports that Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice, Jersey Shore‘s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky have all talked about putting on their Dancing shoes. Today, RadarOnline is reporting that Mel Gibson‘s ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva has been in “secret negotiations” to join the cast. And DWTS judge Carrie Ann Inaba tells E! she wants Lindsay Lohan on the show. The fall season of DWTS premieres Monday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. on ABC. – Ann Oldenburg

Ryan Seacrest has been on another date with Dancing With the Stars pro Julianne Hough, says Page Six. Last month rumors heated up about the two, but Hough laughed them off, telling Ok!: “I know him from interviews. We’ve had lunch together with people – my manager, and stuff like that.” Now, Page Six says the two were “spotted out alone together” in Beverly Hills earlier this month. A rep for Hough, who’s also been linked to Dane Cook and Kings of Leon frontman Jared Followill, had no comment on “Julianne’s private life.” Hough’s ex boyfriend, singer Chuck Wicks, gave Ryan some advice earlier this month, telling a Tampa radio station: “She’s 21. You’re 40. You’ve got your hands full.” He added, “Ryan can actually be her dad, so that’s cool.” – Ann Oldenburg

Kate Gosselin will soon be back on TV in her own show. TLC will announce today that Kate’s getting her own series, Twist of Kate, featuring the Dancing With the Stars mom using fan letters from women inspired by her story as the basis for profiles of women facing their own challenges. “The fact that people really support me and want the kids and I to do well … is flattering,” she tells USA Today’s Gary Levin. “I never understood the importance of fans until we struggled and went through tough times.” Look for 12 episodes to start airing in late summer. – Ann Oldenburg

“It’s not about an obsession with fame,” Kate Gosselin tells People regarding her decision to join Dancing With The Stars. “It’s about doing what provides for my family. Period.” She adds, “If I was financially able to provide for eight kids (twins Cara and Mady, 9, and sextuplets Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel and Leah, 5) on my former salary as a nurse, I would do it…but that’s not possible…I cannot rely on the fact that Jon will be there to help support the kids, so I approach it as if I am the sole provider.” Meanwhile, Kate’s already got a new short haircut. – Ann Oldenburg

“Dude, seriously? It’s day two, and look at my heel,” said Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger, who is also a new Dancing With The Stars competitor, when she stopped by the MTV News studios yesterday. She pulled off a shoe to reveal a deep, red cut. “It’s ugly. Look at that. My feet are so beat up, after just a couple days of rehearsals, and I’m not used to these shoes. Sure, I’m used to wearing 7-inch heels with the Pussycat Dolls, but this is a different style of dancing and a ballroom shoe.” She joked about her partner, saying, “I have been paired with Mr. Derek Hough, and as soon as I can get some personality in that guy and some charisma, then I think we can go far,” she teased. “Derek and I are pretty crazy. We’re probably the goofiest cats ever. We were electric from the start.” But she’s got a lot to learn, she admits. “The first dance that we’ve been assigned is the Viennese waltz. I just learned how to say that properly — I’ve been calling it the Vietnamese waltz.” – Ann Oldenburg

Dancing
With the Stars
heads into the semi-finals tonight, and I think our friend and Stars pro Louis van Amstel with partner Kelly Osbourne has a chance to make it to the finals. Our Gayle Jo Carter got Louis on the phone to talk about how he sees this week’s competition and the potential for staying in the game till the end. Read below for their talk.

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Last week ABC announced the new line-up of Dancing With The Stars contestants, and Melissa Joan Hart — she of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch fame — is among the 16. We had interviewed Hart in July for our Who’s News page and she hinted that she’d have a big announcement a few weeks down the line, so she was good enough to get back on the phone with our intern
Vi-An Nguyen, who as a kid watched Hart in both her Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It All and in ABC’s Sabrina.

Hart has had plenty of dance experience
at home. She and her husband, musician Mark Wilkerson, choreographed a “flashy, fancy and
super fun” dance to Never Tear Us Apart by INXS for their wedding. She also
taught her older son, Mason, 3, to master the 69 Boyz’ Tootsee Roll. But now
it’s time to test her homegrown talents in the big leagues. “I just hope I
don’t throw up or cry from nerves,” she told Vi-An. They also talked about Hart’s odds of winning. “People keep saying ‘Don’t do it unless you’re going to win,’” Hart says. “It
all depends on what I’m able to pull off and what the other competition is
like.” Read Hart’s thoughts on that competition below.

Photo by Frank Ockenfels

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Fifteen new Dancing With The Stars competitors were announced today — the season premiere is Sept. 21 — and I'm trying to work up some excitement. Former GOP congressman Tom DeLay? Kellie Osbourne? I can get excited about singer Macy Gray, Entourage actress Debi Mazar (maybe old friend Madonna will give her pointers), Super Bowl champion Michael Irvin, former supermodel Kathy Ireland and even svelte again Melissa Joan Hart, but Donny Osmond? Aaron Carter? What's your take? Can't wait to tune in or totally turned off? Tell us in a post below.

Is it just me or were you also surprised at Shawn Johnson's victory over Gilles Marini in Dancing With The Stars? The final show last night played out pretty much as we predicted it would and the final two couples were about a percentage point apart in the end.  Oh well, it's just dancing, right? Meanwhile, over on Fox's American Idol, tonight is the big night. Will favorite Adam Lambert emerge a winner over Kris Allen? I'm dying to know what you think on both shows. Was the right Dancing winner awarded the mirror ball? How about for Idol? Who should win? Tell me what your opinion in a post below.

Photo by Kelsey McNeal/ABC

Tonight's the night the Dancing With The Stars cheesy mirrorball goes home with a winner and it looks like it will be a showdown between sexy French actor Gilles Marini and sassy Olympian Shawn Johnson. Melissa Rycroft, who stepped in when Nancy O'Dell injured her knee, is likely to be out of the competition and sitting on the sidelines early into tonight's two-hour finale (which also features Lady Gaga.) Of course, I'm basing all that on the scores and the performances of last night and in a vacuum as far as viewer votes are concerned.  Anything can happen, as I have learned.
I've been talking with DWTS pro dancer and choreographer Louis van Amstel every week since this season began and I'll miss our Tuesday morning catch-ups. Today I asked him to pretend he is a judge and to choose who should win only on dance ability. "It should be Gilles, Shawn, Melissa — in that order," he said without hesitation. "Shawn in the last two weeks gave us more energy. She began to understand what performing is all about. Gymnastics is physical and some mental. Dancing is experiencing the emotional side of movement. She finally did that — even it was a little late. Gilles has had it from the beginning. Only two of the 10 weeks did he not kill it."
Other Olympians who made the finals, Apolo Anton Ohno and Kristi Yamaguchi, emerged winners of their seasons, respectively, and Louis says it's often the case with athletes that "they come in with such determination and dedication." But Gilles could have been an athlete, Louis says. "He's got the same determination and dedication." He's also been playing hurt. He injured a shoulder and will have surgery soon as the competition is over. Maybe the mirrorball will make it worth the wait.

Photos by Kelsey McNeal/ABC

Rodeo champion Ty Murray (seen here with partner Chelsie Hightower) was eliminated from Dancing With The Stars Tuesday night and he confessed that he was ready to be done with it. I can understand. I learned last spring when I blogged from DWTS that contestants who make it this far in the competition have worked so hard for so many weeks that when they realize they will NOT have to go to rehearsal again, it's a relief. Murray says he was happy to represent cowboys on Dancing. That he did, very well.

Photo by Kelsey NcNeal/ABC

As Dancing With The Stars gets down to the finals you might think there would be tension, backstabbing and just general unpleasantness backstage at the ballroom in Los Angeles.  Not at all, says Louis van Amstel, who has been on set the last few weeks choreographing and working with some of the non-competing dancers.
Van Amstel says that he could tell last night "the atmosphere is really really good, and there have been other seasons when the atmosphere was not that good." With Olympian Shawn Johnson, rodeo champ Ty Murray, former Bachelor contestant Melissa Rycroft and French actor Gilles Marini (pictured with partner Cheryl Burke) still left in the competition, Louis says they were all rooting for each other. "It was relaxed. No tension."
That said, tonight's elimination show is the last before next week's dance-off for the mirror ball. Louis predicts Ty Murray, a sweet and humble gentleman, will be the one to go. "Dancing-wise — it's the finals. Ty has to go," Louis says. But given last week's surprising elimination of Lil' Kim over Ty, neither Louis nor I would bet stacks of money on anyone but Gilles, who is not only a great dancer but also an actor who inhabits each role.

Photo by Kelsey McNeal/ABC

Were you as shocked as I was when  L'il Kim, shown at left with partner Derek Hough, was eliminated last night on Dancing With the Stars? All through the season, our professional dancer/predictor Louis van Amstel has said to me: "Don't underestimate the power of the audience vote." He has stressed how important it is that the celebrity dancers develop a fan base and let viewers get to know them; that they have an appealing personality to motivate votes. All of that apparently came to play Monday. (And so much for listening to me, right? I said I'd put money on Ty Murray leaving.) The humble cowboy, who has improved greatly but is no where near the dancer that L'il Kim is, was saved to dance another week even though he had the lowest scores of all the competitors. Tell me in a post below what you think: Was last night's elimination right?

Photo courtesy of ABC

Our friend Louis van Amstel is back this week and, in fact, was backstage at Dancing With The Stars Monday night so he really got a feel for what’s going on. As the show gets down to the final weeks, everyone is getting tired — the professionals and the celebrities — and it’s starting to affect the performances, even of the front-runners.

Louis, a DWTS pro who danced with Lisa Rinna and Priscilla Presley in previous seasons, has made no secret of his enthusiasm for L’il Kim, and he still believes she’ll be in the final three. But he noticed that she wasn’t engaged in the first half of her salsa last night; her partner, Derek Hough, was noticeably quiet backstage and Louis says that’s so not Derek. “He usually goes without stopping.”
Actor Gilles Marini, another “wonderful guy” who came out of the gate blazing hot was “nothing special” last night. “Next week in the semi finals he has to put some soul into it. To win he needs to give (the dance) more,”
Meanwhile, cowboy Ty Murray has been rising to the challenges steadily and “working his ass off to show improvement,” according to Louis, performed an above average tango but it’s not likely to save him from elimination tonight. Of course, he IS popular and the voting audience could end up making a difference, but that seems unlikely. If I were betting tonight, I’d bet on Ty getting the boot — and being as humble and warm and charming in his leave-taking as he has been throughout the season — a season he expected to do with his wife, Jewel, but because of her injury, he had to go alone.

Dancer Louis van Amstel always reminds me that Dancing With The Stars is about more than the dancing and last night's elimination proved him right again. Country singer Chuck Wicks and his real-life girlfriend Julianne Hough were eliminated on a week when contestant Melissa Rycroft had the lowest scores and couldn't perform because of injury. Blog and message board posters are abuzz this morning about whether this elimination was fair, but I keep thinking about what Louis says: it's important for the celebrities to develop a DWTS following, to let their personalities come through to attract a base of fans who will vote to keep them on. Fan votes must have helped Rycroft, who is paired with the very likable Tony Dovolani and Ty Murray, the rodeo champ paired with Chelsie Hightower, in the running for the mirror ball trophy. Don't cry for Chuck and Julianne, however. She's now a successful country singer too, so the duo is heading back to a life they love and while Chuck says they'll probably still dance, it won't be ballroom.

Photo by Kelsey McNeal/ABC

Louis van Amstel, the Dancing With The Stars pro who weighs in on the weekly competition each Tuesday, is traveling with another show this week so we won't have his insightful commentary.  Regardless, one of the stars will go home tonight — who will it be? Though at first blush it might seem that cowboy Ty Murray (pictured with partner Chelsie Hightower), who works hard, competes well and exudes gentlemanly charm, is the logical choice (the others remaining are just better dancers), it's possible Melissa Rycroft will be eliminated — and not only because she was injured and had to be judged on rehearsal tape Monday. Judging only by some of the DWTS related online communities, Ty seems to be the guy with fans. And fans vote. What do you think? Who will stay and who will go? Tell me in a post below.

Photo by Kelsey McNeal/ABC

It's easier to watch the Dancing With The Stars elimination show when the celebrity who will get the hook actually wants to go.  That was the case last night when former football player Lawrence Taylor, 50, said good bye after seven weeks in the competition. Host Tom Bergeron noted Taylor's big smile and his partner, Edyta Sliwinska, who worked hard to keep him in the contest, revealed Taylor — who lost 15 pounds and says he's in the best shape of his life — can't wait to get back to the golf course.

Photo by Kelsey McNeal/ABC

My favorite headline of the many written on today's Dancing With The Stars elimination stories: "Steve-O gets the Heave-Ho." And, yes, it was Steve-O, Jackass star, and his partner Lacey Schwimmer who were eliminated from the competition Tuesday night.  The couple had consistently low scores and Steve-O never really loosened up to get into any dance he did. It's too bad because he and Lacey were a well-matched pair —  pro dancer Louis van Amstel called them the best match of any season — and it was fun to see him work so hard. Oh well, onward to next week. Who will get the boot next? Share your thoughts in the posts below.

Photo by Kelsey McNeal/ABC

Looking at performances strictly from a dancer's point of view — and that's what we do here every Tuesday with Louis van Amstel  — Dancing With The Stars contestants Chuck Wicks, Ty Murray and Steve-O (at right, with partner Lacey Schwimmer) are in jeopardy for tonight's elimination show.
I love talking to Louis, a pro dancer still attached to DWTS, each Tuesday morning because he never fails to bring new perspective and he makes me think again about the dances I viewed Monday night. Louis has faced those judges and heard their remarks about his work, so he understands the pressures and the rules of the contestant. Click on read more to find out what he has to say this week.

Photos by Kelsey McNeal/ABC

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