Short version:
Heather Mills – !!!
Laila Ali
Billy Ray Cyrus
Clyde Drexler
Joey Fatone
Shandi Finnessey (former Miss USA)
Leeza Gibbons
Apolo Anton Ohno
Vincent Pastore
Paulina Porizkova
Ian Ziering
OK, the only names I recognize on that list are Clyde “The Glide” Drexler and Billy Ray Cyrus. And Muhammed Ali’s daughter. Guess I’m unhip. 
Heather Mills is that evil golddigging bitch – excuse me, that one-legged evil golddigging bitch – who’s in the process of getting divorced from Paul McCartney.
May I assume you know who he is? 
Oh, you don’t have to be unhip not to recognize these names…believe me, I’m embarrassed that I DO recognize most of them.
The first one on the list is Mrs. Paul McCartney. Will be interesting to see if she can regain any goodwill from the public after this divorce debacle. (And not to be crude, but I know she says she has great prosthetics for her missing leg…but are they good enough to do ballroom dancing on?!? Yikes!)
Ahhh…well, if they’d called her Ms. Paul McCartney, I’d know who she was. Even one legged, I’d rather see her dance than Yoko…
Presumably dancing to such hits as Lean on Me and You Spin Me Round.
Oh dear, I predict a lot of “one-legged ballroom dancer” jokes. Er, not from me, of course.
Otherwise, they’ve certainly outdone themselves in the minor-league stars department this time around. I ashamed to say I’ve at least seen most of the names before, even if I don’t necessarily remember what makes them ‘stars’.
Well, I didn’t know most of them. But Ian Zeiring! 
Is Joey Fatone the chunky one who was in My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Because I like that guy.
He looks so much like my older brother that it’s startling. My mom always liked him on 90210 because of it. She loves Dancing with the Stars, and I know she will get a kick out of seeing Ian again.
That’s him.
Dunno if this helps, but here is what I know of some of the others:
Joey Fatone - member of N’Sync
Leeza Gibbons - Former Entertainment Tonight anchor and she had her own daytime talk show for a while.
Apolo Anton Ohno - Olympic speed skater
Paulina Porizkova - supermodel (very big in the late 80’s early 90’s) and actress
Ian Ziering - the guy with curly blond hair from 90210
It’s funny, with the success of the show I would expect the stars to be ‘bigger’ names each season, but this seems like a step down from last season in terms of name recognition.
Heather Mills - hopefully she gets voted off ASAP, I wonder if the audience will Boo?
Laila Ali - Obviously Muhammed Ali’s daughter
Billy Ray - he of “Achy Breaky Heart” and “Doc” fame
Clyde - not sure?
Joey Fatone - was he a Backstreet Boy or an NSync or something?
Leeza Gibbons - Used to host Entertainment Tonight
Apolo - Not sure
Vincent Pastore - Not sure?
Paulina - A beautiful former model - she was in “Her Alibi” with Tom Selleck
Ian Ziering - From 90210
Is that right?
Who are the others?
Sad as it is to say, I actually got kind of excited to see him on this list. He’s always seemed fun to me.
He won a couple of gold medals, as I recall.
Paulina P. is also married to Ric Ocasek, and has been for 20 years or so. Will we see him in the audience, a la Harry Hamlin? Will she cha-cha to “Drive”?
Clyde Drexler is an NBA Hall of Famer.
Vincent Pastore was “Big Pussy” on The Sopranos .
Oh, wow, I might watch now. 
I’d heard of Apolo Anton Ohno (big skating disappointment), and vaguely of Leeza Gibbons. The name Heather Mills sounded familiar, but I didn’t know who she was until I read Mrs. Paul McCartney. I thought Paulina P. was that tennis/model chick. Oh, and I’ve heard of Billy Ray Cyrus, because I live in Nashville.
StG
Anna Kournikova?
I watch a lot of game shows on GSN, so I’m familiar with Shandi Finnessey. She cohosts Lingo with Chuck Woolery, and has been one of the hosts for GSN’s late night show Playmania (which is splitting into two different shows–she’ll still be hosting one of them.)
I also know who Heather, Laila, Billy Ray, Ian, Leeza, and Paulina are. I’m vaguely familiar with the others, except for Apolo, whom I’d never heard of till now.
Last season was the first time I’d watched DWTS, and only about seven weeks into the show then. After I’d heard how well Emmitt was doing, I just HAD to watch (what a hottie HE was–steam kept coming from my TV set!). I didn’t know how much fun it was till then, but now I’m looking forward to this season and plan to watch from the beginning!
:eek:
You’ve got some pretty high standards.
He has 2 gold medals, and 5 total. He’s the best short track speed skater the US has ever produced, and one of the best in the world.
I don’t think he’s a disappointment by anyone’s standards, much less a “big” one. He crashed out of one of his big events this year, but that’s not uncommon for short track. It was someone else’s fault.