Dancing with the Stars, Season VIII

Cafe Society
1

The lineup for Season VIII, starting March 9th, has been announced.

Highlights:

Pop star of yore – not a boy-bander this time, but the lovely Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Gos. Also Jewel (see below).

Rap star (a first for this category, I think?) – Lil’ Kim

Country singer – Chuck Wicks, who is Julianne Hough’s boyfriend. Yes, they’re being partnered. (I thought Julianne was taking the season off?)

Tabloid hottie – Denise Richards

Hottie, male – Gilles Marini

Attractive menopausal woman – Nancy O’Dell

Jock, NFL – Lawrence Taylor

Jock, male, other – Rodeo star Ty Murray; who, in an interesting first, is married to another competitor, Jewel

Jock, female – Gymnast Shawn Johnson

Comic relief – David Allan Grier, Steve-O

Tycoon – Steve Wozniak

More detailed bios here.

(And, BTW, there’s a third couple as well – pros Maks and Karina are now engaged.)

2

Maks and Karina are engaged? I like Maks and think he’s a good guy. I hope they do well together.

I’d heard several weeks ago that Donny Osmond was going to be on. I guess not.

Wasn’t Master P a rapper?

Bring on the spandex and fake tan!

StG

3

Oh, right, Master P – you can see why I would have blocked that from my memory. :smiley:

Yeah, Karina kicked Mario Lopez to the curb last year sometime, and she and Maks announced their engagement a couple of months ago. I hope she’s not just rebounding, because I’m a Maks fan too. (As are the vast majority of heterosexual women who watch the show, I think. :wink: )

And I’m delighted that the Donny Osmond rumor proved to be a red herring. Do you think he ever will do the show? I’m guessing not, but I’m not sure why I think that – perhaps because Marie did so well. Though their competition thing is part schtick, I think it is also part real.

4

Do gymnasts typically take ballet or is that just figure skaters?
Woz plays Segway polo - not sure if he can do anything athletic much less dance (figuring out the minimum number of chips to implement some taks now THATS a different story)

Brian

5

Easy win for Denise. After all, she is both a starship pilot *and *a nuclear physicist. Ain’t nothing she can’t do, put her mind to it.

6

Wasn’t Karina’s other Mario a rapper, too?

Here’s a partner lineup I saw on a ballroom dance board - not sure where the info came from.

Belinda Carlisle & Alec Mazo
David Alan Grier & Kym Johnson
Jewel & Jonathan Roberts
Shawn Johnson & Derek Hough
Lil’ Kim & Mark Ballas
Gilles Marini & Lacey Schwimmer
Ty Murray & Karina Smirnoff
Steve-O & Chelsie Hightower
Nancy O’Dell & Tony Dovolani
Denise Richards & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Lawrence Taylor & Cheryl Burke
Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough
Steve Wozniak & Edyta Sliwinska

7

Ah, shit, Lacey’s back? I was hoping she’d be a one-season aberration.

And Chelsie Hightower – do we know her?

8

The name rings a bell with me, but I am a So You Think You Can Dance fan, not a DWTS one.

Looking her up…yup. She was partnered with Mark on season four of SYTYCD. I think she was the cute little blond who did really well in those quirky pieces Mark (the tall, quirky brunette) seemed to inspire.

9

Someone’s giving Steve-O another chance to mug for the camera? Damn. His 15 minutes were up some time ago.

I don’t normally mind the Jackass boys - hell, I often find them hilarious and wish them well - except for that guy.

10

Ah, right, okay. I am a huge SYTYCD fan, but I will say I hope she does better than Lacey on understanding what her role is as a pro on DWTS.

11

OK, apparently whoever posted the list I reposted before was talking out of their ass. Here are the official pairings:

Belinda Carlisle - Jonathan Roberts
David Alan Grier - Kym Johnson
Jewel - Dmitry Chaplin
Shawn Johnson - Mark Ballas
Lil’ Kim - Derek Hough
Gilles Marini - Cheryl Burke
Ty Murray - Chelsie Hightower
Steve-O - Lacey Schwimmer
Nancy O’Dell - Tony Dovolani
Denise Richards - Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Lawrence Taylor - Edyta Sliwinska
Chuck Wicks - Julianne Hough
Steve Wozniak- Karina Smirnoff

The Woz and Karina - that sounds like a match made in heaven. :rolleyes:

12

I notice Tony got Nancy O’Dell – not too surprising.

13

I’ve never watched the show, but I might just to see Steve-O try to give his partner an UFIA. That guy’s a serious wreck.

14

I wouldn’t try it with Lacey - I think you’d bring back a bleeding stump.

15

But he’s paired with Lacey! Which means that we can get both off my screen quickly with a minimum of fuss.

How does Tony always end up with the “Attractive Menopausal Woman”?

16

Jewel is out - too bad.

17

I was all set to make a Master P joke, but they seem to have lined up a replacement already. Yikes, though – less than a week to practice? I wonder if they’ll give her some kind of “you’re not allowed to vote her out, she’s a trouper for stepping in at the last minute” guarantee?

18

And now this article says that Nancy O’Dell is out, too. They’re dropping like flies, and the competition hasn’t even started yet!

19

Jesus. Are they overtraining the celebs? Maybe they should bring back Corky Balas – he did a good job of moving Cloris Leachman around the floor in a way that made it look like she was dancing.

20

At least you can tell that the stars and the pros take it seriously!