Dancing with the Stars 6 (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Dancing with the Stars is a Primetime Emmy Award-nominated and People's Choice Award winning reality show airing on American Broadcasting Company in the United States. The show is based on the United Kingdom BBC Television series Strictly Come Dancing and is part of BBC Worldwide's international Dancing with the Stars franchise.
Its sixth season began on March 17, 2008 and its seventh season is scheduled to begin around September 2008 as part of ABC's fall line-up.
Description
The show pairs a celebrity with a professional ballroom dancer. The professional dancer is responsible for teaching the celebrity how to perform specific dances, which the pair perform live on the show each week. The dancers are scored by a panel of three professional dance judges. Additionally, viewers of the program may vote by phone, text message, or online methods. The team which receives the lowest total score (a combination of the judges' scores and viewer votes) each week is eliminated from the competition.
Dancing with the Stars is hosted by Emmy Award-winning game show host and TV personality, Tom Bergeron, and E! reporter Samantha Harris (who joined the show in season 2). For the first three weeks of the competition of season 5, season 2 celebrity champion Drew Lachey co-hosted with Bergeron while Harris was on maternity leave.
The panel of judges consists of Len Goodman (head judge), Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli. Harold Wheeler is the musical director. The announcements for the show's titles ("Live from Hollywood, This is "Dancing With the Stars") and introductions for the dances and judges' scores were recorded in the United Kingdom by Alan Dedicoat.
Dancing with the Stars is broadcast live from CBS Television City in Los Angeles in Studio 46.
The first three seasons were not aired in the UK. BBC One aired Season 4 on Sunday afternoons from Sunday, July 152007. On September 282007, UKTV Gold began airing Season 5.
BBC America began to air Season 2 of the U.S. series on January 6, 2008, combining performance and results shows into 2-hour episodes. However, it was reported that many viewers of BBC America were unhappy with the decision, mainly due to the fact that the channel was showing repeats of an American-produced program, despite the BBC's involvement with the show.
The following are the dances performed by couples on Dancing with the Stars. In addition, each couple in the final round performs a dance of any style or combination of styles of their choosing, called "freestyle".
The show's first season is not ranked because it aired in the summer of 2005. If it had aired during the official 2004-2005 season and received the same numbers, it would have ranked #11, in place of Two and a Half Men.
The September 20, 2005 drew 10.9 million viewers, while the results show two nights later drew just over 10.4 million.
Dancing With The Stars was the most-watched Thursday night program on American Broadcasting Company since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2000 and the most-watched Thursday 8 p.m. series on American Broadcasting Company since Mork & Mindy in 1979. In its second season, it attracted high viewing numbers similar to those of its timeslot competitor, CBS' Survivor: Panama.
The first part of the series' second season aired on February 23, 2006. The other programs airing opposite Dancing With The Stars (14.8 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.) were: the Figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics on NBC (17.7 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.), an episode of CBS' Survivor: Panama (14.8 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.), and a results show during the fifth season of FOX's American Idol (23.5 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9:02 p.m.).
North American Tour
On the October 25, 2006, results show, Dancing with the Stars " The Tour was announced. Produced by ABC and Anschutz Entertainment Group, the live-action tour features celebrities and professional dancers from U.S. seasons 1-3. The tour through 38 arena venues started in San Diego, California on December 19, 2006, and ended in Atlantic City, New Jersey on February 11, 2007. The pairs performing in the tour were:
Mel B.; front runner for season five, turned down the tour due to her Spice Girl Reunion Tour commentment.
It was revealed that after a few shows, Cheryl Burke had to withdraw from the tour. It was thought that something had happened to her appendix and she would not be able to continue in the tour.
Score Statistics
Perfect 30s
Judges have awarded perfect 30 out of 30 to couples on the following occasions:
Best combined three dance score: Kristi Yamaguchi (90)
Worst combined three dance score: Jason Taylor (81)
Best combined two dance score: Kristi Yamaguchi (60)
Worst combined two dance score: Marie Osmond (46)
Best individual score: Mario Lopez, Emmitt Smith, Laila Ali, Joey Fatone, Apolo Anton Ohno, Melanie Brown, Helio Castroneves, Kristi Yamaguchi, Jason Taylor (30)
Champion with Most Time getting High Score of the week: Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas (8)
Champion with Least Time getting High Score of the week:Kelly Monaco & Alec Mazo (2)
Runner Up Statistics
Runner-up with higher average than the champion for the season: John & Charlotte (25), Mario Lopez & Karina (27.6), Mel B & Maks(27.6)
Only runner up to have not received 10s:Jerry Rice
Finalist Statistics
Finalist with equivalent average as the champion for the season: Stacy & Tony (27.7)
Season Statistics
Only season to have a contestant do the same dance style 3 times: Season 6, Kristi Yamaguchi, Jive
Season with the least amount of contestants recieving 30s: Season 1 and Season 6 (2 contestants)
Season with the most amount of injuries and illness: Season 5 Marie Osmond, Jane Seymour and Mark Ballas, Season 6 Karina Smirnoff, Derek Hough(2), Cristián de la Fuente and Kristi Yamaguchi
General Information
Edyta Sliwinska is the only professional that has been on the show for every season. Cheryl Burke and Tony Dovolani have been on the show since season two, and Jonathan Roberts has been on each season except for season three.
Scoring and voting procedure
Starting in Season 3, the procedure for eliminating couples changed. Previously, only the overall ranking between competitors by the judges and the public was relevant. Starting in Season 3, the differential is now relevant.
The scoring begins with the judges' marks. Each judge gives a 1 to 10 score, allowing for a highest score of 30, and a lowest score of three (though the lowest individual score ever given was a 2- Season 2, Master P, Paso Doble, and the lowest combined score was an 8). With multiple performances, the scores would all be added at the end of the program. The scores for all competitors are added together and each contestant's "judge share" is determined by dividing their score by the sum of all the scores combined and recorded as a percentage. This percentage is then added to the percentage of North American votes received by each contestant. The bottom two couples are identified in the results show, and the couple with the lowest combined total is eliminated.
Public voting is conducted via a toll-free number, the ABC web site, and, most recently, text messages. Voters can place up to the number of couples performing that night to a minium of 5 votes per medium during and immediately after each performance show.
Withdrawals
Sara Evans in the third season was the first and only celebrity to withdraw from the competition, while in progress. She cited her divorce as the reason for leaving the competition. As a result, her professional partner, Tony Dovolani also became the first professional dancer to withdraw from the competition.
Another withdrawal occurred during the run-up to Season 4, on February 28 when Vincent Pastore withdrew from the competition after only one week of training. Pastore said he did not realize how much work was needed during a ten-week period, and that he was not up to the physical demands of the show. He was replaced on March 2 by actor John Ratzenberger who was partnered with Edyta Sliwinska.
Relationships
Over the seasons there have only been two confirmed relationships between a professional dancer and their celebrity partner. These were Season 3's Mario Lopez and Karina Smirnoff and Season 5's Sabrina Bryan and Mark Ballas.
There have been several rumored, but not confirmed, relationships over the seasons. Because of the closeness that comes from spending so many hours working with each other, it is easy to confuse a close friendship, or a "brother-sister" type relationship, with an actual romantic relationship. Julianne Hough has been part of two speculated romances, one with Apolo Anton Ohno in Season 4, and one with Helio Castroneves in Season 5, both have which been denied by the contestants and Julianne. They have been given "fan names" that are Apolianne and Helianne, respectively. The Helio romance rumor most likely came from the end of their infamous quickstep, where Helio kissed Julianne on the lips. Also, two-time champion Cheryl Burke and season 3's Joey Lawrence's brother Matthew Lawrence are said to have been dating. Recently, People magazine posted a picture of Season 6's Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough kissing on a beach. There has been much speculation about this couple getting together soon, especially with Shannon's remark on a results show about how they would've kissed on the show if they had gotten the encore.