Dancing with the Stars 2 (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The second season of the American edition of Dancing with the Stars premiered on the American Broadcasting Company network on January 5, 2006 and ended February 26, 2006. This season expanded to ten couples from six in the previous season.

The second season expanded each program from an hour to ninety minutes, and added an hour-long results show the following night (in the first season no couples were eliminated in the first week; the first couple was eliminated at the end of the second episode, the second couple at the end of the third episode, and so on). Two couples were declared safe in an earlier portion of the show, the remaining couples were then named off until only the bottom two were left (the last two couples had the lowest amount of votes, with the exception of week seven, where the show explicitly stated that the order of all but the eliminated couple was random).

Couples

The 10 celebrities and professional dance partners were:

Celebrity	Occupation	Professional partner	Status
Kenny Mayne	ESPN sports anchorman	Andrea Hale	Eliminated 1st on January 6th
Tatum O'Neal	Academy Awards-winning actress	Nick Kosovich	Eliminated 2nd on January 13th
Giselle Fernandez	TV journalist	Jonathan Roberts	Eliminated 3rd on January 20th
Master P	Rapper/Entrepreneur	Ashly DelGrosso	Eliminated 4th on January 27th
Tia Carrere	Actress/Model	Maksim Chmerkovskiy	Eliminated 5th on February 3rd
George Hamilton	Actor	Edyta Sliwinska	Eliminated 6th on February 10th
Lisa Rinna	Actress/TV host	Louis van Amstel	Eliminated 7th on February 17th
Stacy Keibler	Actress and Former WWE Diva	Tony Dovolani	Third Place on February 24th
Jerry Rice	NFL wide receiver	Anna Trebunskaya	Second Place on February 24th
Drew Lachey	98 Degrees member	Cheryl Burke	Winners on February 24th

The second series cast was similarly assembled to that of the first season: Both had a retired athlete (Holyfield/Rice), an ex-boy band member (McIntyre/Lachey), a model (Hunter/Carerre), a soap star (Monaco/Rinna), and a debonair older man (O'Hurley/Hamilton).

Season summary

In the second season, Drew Lachey and Stacy Keibler broke out as the early frontrunners, as both had solid early performances, and some prior dance experience: Lachey's stage performances with 98 Degrees were extensively choreographed, and Keibler had childhood dance training as well as being a professional cheerleader. Although both Keibler and Lachey were assumed to have some form of a fan base, there was no way of knowing whether 98 Degrees fans or WWE fans were responsible for their success"Drew credited the people of Cincinnati, Ohio for helping him stay in the competition. Lachey was lauded for his passion and willingness to take risks, and Keibler for her long legs and technical perfection. In regard to the judges' scoring, in nearly every week, Lachey and Keibler held the top two spots in the scoring (either first-second or tied for first). In addition, Lachey and Keibler were the only dancers in season 2 to receive a perfect score (Keibler four, Lachey three), and have three of the four "encore" performances (Lachey twice, Keibler once). In week seven, Stacy and Tony became the first couple in series history to receive two 30s (maximum judges' score) in a row. Drew and Cheryl were always among the top two highest scores and along with Jerry Rice and Anna Trebunskaya, were the only couple never chosen for the bottom two. The judges repeatedly told Keibler and Lachey that they were the best or among the best dancers in any of the international versions of the series.

Musical guests such as the Pussycat Dolls, Jesse McCartney, Natasha Bedingfield, Michael Bublé, Bill Medley, Burt Bacharach, Mary J. Blige and Barry Manilow performed while the professional dancers demonstrated various routines. In week four the results show introduced an encore of what the judges considered the previous night's best routine"twice going to Drew Lachey (the paso doble in week four and the Rumba (dance) in week seven), once to Stacy Keibler (the Samba (ballroom) in week five) and once to Rinna (the quickstep in week six).

Controversies over fan voting

Once again, fans accounted for half the vote total. This was partly responsible for the extended presence of Master P, who had the worst average of any dancer ever (as of late 2007, he remains the only dancer to receive a score under 10) and refused to wear dance shoes. In spite of harsh criticism from some of the judges, he stayed for several weeks. It was also revealed that by the fourth week of competition, Master P had logged only 20 hours of dance training (other stars had logged 100 hours by week 4). His continued presence was attributed to his strong fan base, as well as fans who saw him as the underdog or who wanted to "vote for the worst". After the surprise departure of Giselle Fernández and low scores (a total of just 8 points for his final dance, the lowest score in the history of the series) from the judges, he was finally eliminated.

Jerry Rice also benefited from the fan vote. In the closing weeks of the competition, the judges became increasingly critical of Rice (Len Goodman, at one point said, "Jerry Rice? It's more like geriatric!"), and although they acknowledged that he continued to put great effort in his performances, they felt he no longer deserved to be there. Rice and his outspoken partner Trebunskaya rebutted those criticisms, and the fan vote sided with them, ensuring Rice never placed in the bottom two (until the final three). In week seven, in a matter of some controversy, Rice advanced to the finals, and Lisa Rinna (whom the judges and some viewers felt was superior to Rice) was eliminated. However, in the final three dances, the judges began to admire Rice's effort and his scores improved, though he still lagged behind both Lachey and Keibler. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that lines for voting were open at the beginning of the show and Rice danced first in many of the episodes.

Second Series finale

Week seven saw two dances per couple. The judges' scores for week seven were combined for a total possible score of 60. Lachey and Burke garnered perfect scores and much acclaim, especially for their cowboy-inspired freestyle. Jerry Rice and partner Anna Trebunskaya garnered a score of 26 for the reprise of their foxtrot and 27 for their disco-inspired free routine, edging Keibler and Dovolani's free dance by a single point. Keibler, on the other hand, received praise for her jive, but criticism for an underwhelming Saturday Night Fever-esque freestyle. In the final round, Keibler and Dovolani had to choreograph a new samba routine as their final dance of the season. Keibler blamed her performance on an ankle injury, but proved unbreakable to the end with a perfect score (despite the fact she took third place). Following the finale, when asked if Stacy deserved just third place, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli concurred: Stacy should have at least been honored as the runner-up.

The two scores from the week-eight finale were combined with the score from the final show for a total possible score of 90. All of the previously eliminated contestants were on hand for the second series finale. Keibler received a 30 and Rice and Lachey a 27 for their final dances. However, in a decision that surprised some viewers, Keibler was the first performer to be eliminated. Even Kenny Mayne, who had been the first overall to be eliminated, was critical of Keibler's elimination, blurting out as he was interviewed by Bergeron, "Well, we just eliminated a girl with a perfect score!"

Because of the complex scoring system, many viewers suspected that the only way Jerry Rice could have won was if he had been in the final two with Keibler.

Indeed, at the end of the finale, Lachey and Burke won what he had jokingly termed the "ugly" trophy, with Rice playfully attempting to steal the prize as the closing credits rolled.

Season two improved upon the ratings performance of the first season, generating tens of millions of viewers and holding its own against or beating such competition as Survivor: Exile Island, American Idol, and the 2006 Winter Olympics. The finale brought in an audience of 27 million viewers.

Judges' Scoring summary

Red numbers indicate the teams with the lowest score for each week

Green numbers indicate the teams with the highest score for each week

Gold backgrounds indicate the teams that were in the bottom two with the eliminated team

Turquoise backgrounds indicate the teams that were last and eliminated

Yellow backgrounds indicates the winning team

Magenta backgrounds indicates the runner-up team.

Orange backgrounds indicates the third place team.

Couple	Place	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Drew & Cheryl	1	24	27	27	28	27	30	26+29=55	30+30+27=87
Jerry & Anna	2	21	23	19	24	23	23	20+21=41	26+27+27=80
Stacy & Tony	3	22	29	27	26	30	30	27+28=55	30+26+30=86
Lisa & Louis	4	19	20	25	26	25	27	26+27=53
George & Edyta	5	18	22	22	21	24	23
Tia & Maksim	6	20	22	26	25	22
P & Ashly	7	12	16	14	8
Giselle & Jonathan	8	23	24	22
Tatum & Nick	9	23	17
Kenny & Andrea	10	13

Perfect Tens

Team	Total No. of Tens	Week	Judge(s) who gave a ten	Dance Performed	Score
Stacy/Tony	15
		2	Len Goodman & Bruno Tonioli	Rumba	29
		5	Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, & Bruno Tonioli	Samba	30
		6	Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, & Bruno Tonioli	Jive	30
		7	Bruno Tonioli	Cha-Cha-Cha	28
		8	Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, & Bruno Tonioli	Jive	30
			Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, & Bruno Tonioli	Samba	30
Drew/Cheryl	12
		4	Bruno Tonioli	Paso Doble	28
		6	Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, & Bruno Tonioli	Tango	30
		7	Carrie Ann Inaba & Bruno Tonioli	Rumba	29
		8	Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, & Bruno Tonioli	Paso Doble	30
			Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, & Bruno Tonioli	Freestyle	30

Dance Chart

Couple	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8 & Finals
Drew & Cheryl	Cha-Cha-Cha	Quickstep	Jive	Paso Doble	Samba	Tango	Foxtrot, Rumba	Paso Doble, Freestyle, Jive
Jerry & Anna	Cha-Cha-Cha	Quickstep	Jive	Foxtot	Samba	Paso Doble	Tango, Rumba	Foxtrot, Freestyle, Cha-Cha-Cha
Stacy & Tony	Waltz	Rumba	Tango	Foxtrot	Samba	Jive	Quickstep, Cha-Cha-Cha	Jive, Freestyle, Samba
Lisa & Louis	Waltz	Rumba	Jive	Paso Doble	Samba	Quickstep	Foxtrot, Cha-Cha-Cha
George & Edyta	Cha-Cha-Cha	Quickstep	Tango	Paso Doble	Samba	Rumba
Tia & Maksim	Waltz	Rumba	Tango	Foxtrot	Samba
Master P & Ashley	Cha-Cha-Cha	Quickstep	Jive	Paso Doble
Giselle & Jonathan	Waltz	Rumba	Tango
Tatum & Nick	Waltz	Rumba
Kenny & Andrea	Cha-Cha-Cha

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