Valerie Harper is the older star – new subcategory, “dying before our eyes.”
Snooki and Jack Osbourne are the reality stars.
Bill Nye, the “Science Guy”
“Pretty Little Liars” actor Brant Daugherty
former NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson
singer and actress Christina Milian
actress Elizabeth Berkley (of the infamous "Showgirls)
“High School Musical” actor Corbin Bleu
“Glee” actress Amber Riley
country comic Bill Engvall
“King of Queens” actress (and, until very recently, Scientologist) Leah Remini.
Holy shit.
I bailed last season, but – yikes, they pulled me back in.
They didn’t give Derek a ringer this season? That’s amazing. Tony usually gets the heavier ladies. It’ll be interesting to see how Derek handles not having someone that is very fit.
heres the pro pairings
Amber Riley …Derek Hough
Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi …Sasha Farber
Brant Daugherty …Peta Murgatroyd
Leah Remini …Tony Dovolani
Corbin Bleu …Karina Smirnoff
Christina Milian …Mark Ballas
Valerie Harper …Tristan MacManus
Bill Nye …Tyne Stecklein
Keyshawn Johnson …Sharna Burgess
Elizabeth Berkley …Val Chmerkovskiy
Bill Engval …Emma Slater
Jack Osbourne … Cheryl Burke
Tony usually gets older ladies – Leah seems about right.
And I look forward to seeing what Derek can do with Amber.
This could turn out to be a pretty entertaining season!
Why does Tristan always get the geezers?
Is it just me ( 
), or is there less eye-candy, either gender, this season?
There’s some ringers this season. Elizabeth Berkley trained as a teenager to be a professional dancer and performed ballet. Corbin Bleu has a lot of dance training too and it’s more recent than Berkley.
Valerie Harper was a Broadway dancer/chorus girl before she started acting. But her age and illness will be a tough obstacle. I’m hoping she does ok and has fun doing the show.
Thirding the “Derek didn’t get a ringer” comment. There aren’t any female athletes this season.
You know, I think ballroom dancing would be a great Olympic sport. Considering how popular the dancing shows are all over the world, I think it would be great. I’d consider kicking weightlifting off for ballroom.
StG
Took me a while to pick out the Disney Star for this season. I didn’t see anyone I recognized, so I went to ABC’s page and read up on who’s who. Still don’t recognize him, but at least I know who is Disney this season.
Derek has had non-ringers (Lil Kim, Ricki Lake, several models who couldn’t dance). He’s just a really good choreographer and knows what works with his partners & the audience.
Tony & Tristan do almost always get the “women of a certain age” and that streak has continued.
As a Seattleite, I will be pulling for Bill Nye.
We’ll have to see if Nye has any chemistry on the dance floor.
Is this a sign that Glee is over?
Can’t wait for it to start.
There is Peta Murgatroyd…then everyone else.
Picked wrong Glee and PLL actor:
Glee: Jenna Uskowitz
PLL: Shay Mitchell
Noticed I have to root for Jack Osborne! Are you f-ing kidding me!
I hope Valarie can dance a few weeks and enjoy herself. It should help that her medication requires her to take Tuesday and Wednesday morning’s off from rehearsal. She is up in her seventies and her body needs that break.
Anna Trebunskaya is having a baby. Congratulations!
She’s divorced from Jonathan Roberts – and the name of the father is conspicuous by it absence. Hm.
Corbin’s the ringer’s ringer this season. He danced as a headliner on Macy’s Stars of Dance, back in 2011 you know the part of the show where they used to highlight excellence in dance on the Tuesday results show?
Yeah, it’s been a longer time for some of the others, except Christina Milian who in addition to being the annoying hostess on the Voice, is a singer and hip hop dancer looking to get an audience.
As far as Amber is concerned, yeah she’s a heavyweight in terms of fanbase, definitely a fanbase ringer. So even if Derek can’t lift her, she’ll be around a long time.
Man. This is going to be the angst of the season. Is Valerie well enough to dance each and every week?? I’m sorry, I just think the show is really scuzzy for casting her for ratings. If Valerie wanted to come on and do a special dance or whatever, I’m all for it. A triumph. But this is a competition. At what point do we root for dancing over the cancer fight?
I like Valerie and hope her stamina keeps up, but I do wish Tristan would get someone that would keep him in the game longer. He’s a favorite of mine.
Can’t wait for it to start.
Just realized that Gleb isn’t coming back. I really wanted to see him again with a better celeb. 
Tristan spoke out well against a really ugly personal attack. Good for him!
This is just part of his response to a nasty Irish columnist, "ABC hits new low with ‘cancer dancer’ Valerie Harper .