Dancing With The Stars - Celebrities and dancers pair off
Dancing With the Stars is an ABC reality show which is actually based on the British series Strictly Come Dancing. The show’s basic concept is to pair a celebrity with a professional dancer who are then scored by a panel of judges and are voted on by viewers. Week after week the pairs with the lowest scores are eliminated from Dancing With the Stars and there is eventually a pair who is voted the winner.
Season one of Dancing With the Stars premiered on June 1, 2005 and over 13 million viewers tuned in nationwide. It was the biggest summer debut for a reality show on TV in America. As the weeks went on, more viewers tuned in and it eventually rose to #1 in the ratings. The celebrities who were featured in season one of Dancing With the Stars were: Trista Rehn Sutter (from the Bachelor/Bachelorette), Evander Holyfield (pro boxer), Rachel Hunter (supermodel), Joey McIntyre (formerly of New Kids on the Block), Kelly Monaco (soap opera actress), and John O’Hurley (from Seinfeld). Kelly Monaco and her partner were the winners; however, this wasn’t without some controversy. Some viewers felt that the outcome was unfair because half of the winning points came from the judges’ votes instead of solely from the viewers. In response to this, ABC decided to have a 90-minute special, Dancing With the Stars: Dance-off, which was a rematch between Kelly Monaco with her partner, and John O’Hurley and his. This aired on September 20, 2005 and the winner, which was determined only by fan votes, was announced in a results show on September 22, 2005. In the end, John O’Hurley and his partner came out the winners.
Season two of Dancing With the Stars premiered on January 5, 2006 and this time, they would begin the competition with 10 couples instead of 6 as there were during the first season. This time, the celebrities were Kenny Wayne (ESPM sports announcer), Taturn O’Neal (actress), Giselle Fernandez (journalist), Master P (rapper), Tia Carrere (model/actress), George Hamilton (actor), Lisa Rinna (actress), Stacy Keibler (WWE wrestler), Jerry Rice (NFL) and Drew Lachey (formerly of 98 Degrees). The second season of Dancing With the Stars was 90 minutes instead of an hour and had a results show the following night. There were also live musical guests that performed such as the Pussycat Dolls, Michael Buble, Bill Medley, Mary J. Blige and Barry Manilow. Drew Lachey and his partner were considered to be strong from the very beginning of the show and eventually were deemed the winners.
The ratings for season two of Dancing With the Stars had improved from the first season, with tens of millions of viewers tuning in and sometimes beating competition such as Survivor, American Idol and the 2006 Winter Olympics.
You can search for more info on Dancing With the Stars by visiting the official site at http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancing/.