Dancing with the Stars

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

Dancing with the Stars is a dance competition show airing on ABC in the United States, and CTV/CTV Two in Canada. The show is the American version of the British television series Strictly Come Dancing. Tom Bergeron is the Emmy-winning host, with co-hosts Lisa Canning (season 1), Samantha Harris (seasons 2"9), and Brooke Burke Charvet (season 10 onwards).

The contestant pairs consist of a celebrity paired with a professional dancer. Past celebrity contestants include professional and Olympic athletes, supermodels, actors, singers, astronauts, and teen-heartthrobs. Each couple performs predetermined dances and competes against the others for judges' points and audience votes. The couple receiving the lowest combined total of judges' points and audience votes is eliminated each week until only the champion dance pair remains.

In 2012, GSN picked up rerun rights to seasons four to thirteen, but due to low ratings the network stopped airing the show after airing for three months from January 2012 to April 2012 in two different seasons aired mostly on weekends. However, the network still has rights to the show.

Season 15, which began airing in fall 2012, brought back celebrities from previous seasons.

Cast

Hosts

Key: {{colorbox}} Current hosts {{colorbox}} Previous hosts

Host	Seasons
Host	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Tom Bergeron
Brooke Burke Charvet
Drew Lachey*
Samantha Harris*
Lisa Canning

* Drew Lachey served as a temporary replacement during this time. Samantha Harris did not appear for three weeks during season five due to maternity leave.

Judging panel

The main judges are Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli, and have been for the entire series. Several former contestants have also appeared as a judge, either on a specific episode or replacing one of the main judges in their absence, including Drew Lachey, Emmitt Smith, Apolo Anton Ohno, Hélio Castroneves, Mel B, Kristi Yamaguchi, Gilles Marini and Kelly Osbourne. Other celebrities, most often those who are associated with the world of dancing, have appeared as a fourth judge or in absence of one of the main judges, including Michael Flatley, Baz Luhrmann, Donnie Burns and Paula Abdul.

Professional partners

Couples

A total of 162 celebrities have appeared in the 14 seasons of the series. For each season, the celebrities are paired with a professional partner who instructs them in the various dances each week and competes alongside them in the televised competition. A total of 31 professional partners have appeared alongside celebrities, some for only one season. The longest-tenured professional partners are Cheryl Burke and Tony Dovolani, who have each appeared in 14 seasons. For season 12, the ABC Dancing with the Stars website asked viewers to submit the names of celebrities they would like to see appear on the show in a future season.

Dance troupe and musicians

A dance troupe has appeared during the Tuesday results shows since season 12. The current (season 15) members of the troupe include Oksana Dmytrenko (season 12"present), Sasha Farber (season 13"present), Sharna Burgess (season 13"present), Henry Byalikov(season 14"present), Emma Slater(season 14"present) and Sonny Fredie Pedersen (season 15"present),. In season 12, professional partners Tony Dovolani and Lacey Schwimmer appeared with the troupe in week four due to their early elimination. In season 13, Val Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd (both new partners) appeared with the troupe due to their early elimination in week three. Former members include: Tristan MacManus (season 12), Peta Murgatroyd (season 12), Kiki Nyemchek (seasons 12"14), Nicole Volynets (season 12), Ted Volynets (seasons 12"13) and Dasha Chesnokova (season 13).

The Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers provide the music that accompanies the competitors' dances as well as the Troupe and professional dances. They also back many of the top recording artists when they are featured guests in the ballroom. The current DWTS house singers are: Carmen Carter, Darryl Phinnesse, Antonio Sol and Beverley Staunton. The current DWTS orchestra members are: Dan Higgins, Sal Lozano, Joel Peskin and Jennifer Hall, woodwinds. Rick Baptist, Chris Gray and Rob Schaer, trumpets. Andy Martin, Reggie Young and Craig Gosnell, trombones. Alyssa Park, violin. Harold Wheeler (conductor) and Tom Ranier, keyboards. Greg Poree, guitar. Trey Henry, bass. Ralph Humphrey, drums. Luis Conte and Vanessa Brown, percussion.

Season overview

Season	No. of stars	No. of weeks	Duration dates	Celebrity honor places
Season	No. of stars	No. of weeks	Duration dates	Winner	Second place	Third place
1) Summer 2005	6	6	6/1/05 " 7/6/05	Kelly Monaco & Alec Mazo	John O'Hurley & Charlotte Jørgensen	Joey McIntyre & Ashly DelGrosso
2) Winter 2006	10	8	1/5/06 " 2/24/06	Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke	Jerry Rice & Anna Trebunskaya	Stacy Keibler & Tony Dovolani
3) Autumn 2006	11	10	9/12/06 " 11/15/06	Emmitt Smith & Cheryl Burke	Mario Lopez & Karina Smirnoff	Joey Lawrence & Edyta ?liwi"?ska
4) Spring 2007	11	10	3/19/07 " 5/22/07	Apolo Anton Ohno & Julianne Hough	Joey Fatone & Kym Johnson	Laila Ali & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
5) Autumn 2007	12	10	9/24/07 " 11/27/07	Hélio Castroneves & Julianne Hough	Mel B & Maksim Chmerkovskiy	Marie Osmond & Jonathan Roberts
6) Spring 2008	12	10	3/17/08 " 5/20/08	Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas	Jason Taylor & Edyta ?liwi"?ska	Cristián de la Fuente & Cheryl Burke
7) Autumn 2008	13	10	9/22/08 " 11/25/08	Brooke Burke & Derek Hough	Warren Sapp & Kym Johnson	Lance Bass & Lacey Schwimmer
8) Spring 2009	13	11	3/9/09 " 5/19/09	Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas	Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke	Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani
9) Autumn 2009	16	10	9/21/09 " 11/24/09	Donny Osmond & Kym Johnson	Mýa & Dmitry Chaplin	Kelly Osbourne & Louis van Amstel
10) Spring 2010	11	10	3/22/10 " 5/25/10	Nicole Scherzinger & Derek Hough	Evan Lysacek & Anna Trebunskaya	Erin Andrews & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
11) Autumn 2010	12	10	9/20/10 " 11/23/10	Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough	Kyle Massey & Lacey Schwimmer	Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas
12) Spring 2011	11	10	3/21/11 " 5/24/11	Hines Ward & Kym Johnson	Kirstie Alley & Maksim Chmerkovskiy	Chelsea Kane & Mark Ballas
13) Autumn 2011	12	10	9/19/11 " 11/22/11	J.R. Martinez & Karina Smirnoff	Rob Kardashian & Cheryl Burke	Ricki Lake & Derek Hough
14) Spring 2012	12	10	3/19/12 " 5/22/12	Donald Driver & Peta Murgatroyd	Katherine Jenkins & Mark Ballas	William Levy & Cheryl Burke
15) Autumn 2012	13	10	9/24/12 " 11/27/12	Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani	Shawn Johnson & Derek Hough	Kelly Monaco & Val Chmerkovskiy
16) Spring 2013			3/18/13 "

Note: Season one lasted six weeks, however there was an additional week (face-off) that occurred months after the finale.

Scoring and voting procedure

In seasons one and two, only the overall ranking between competitors by the judges and the public was relevant. In season three and all subsequent seasons, the scoring system has made the exact scores relevant as well.

The scoring begins with the judges' marks. Originally, Each judge gives a numeric score from 1"10, for a total score from 3"30. The scoring changed in season 15. Now judges can give scores from 0.5-10.0, for a total score from 1.5-30.0. When multiple performances are scored, only the cumulative total counts. The contestants' "judges' shares" are calculated as the percentage of the total number of points awarded to all contestants that evening. (For example, if a team earned 20 points on a night when the judges awarded 200 points, their judges' share would be 20/200 = 10%.) 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 gets eliminated. Season eight added an occasional "dance-off," in which contestants could re-do one of their dances, in an effort to improve their judges' score. This might be discontinued due to the eliminated couple always scoring higher than or equivalent to the couple that was saved.

Public voting is conducted via a toll-free number, the ABC web site, and, most recently, text messages; contestants can vote during and immediately after each performance show. The maximum number of votes per voter per medium is equal to the number of couples performing that night, or five votes, whichever is larger. In April 2010 it was revealed that dancer Kate Gosselin had e-mailed friends and family asking them to vote as many as ten times each. In November 2010, the Washington Post reported that online voting appeared not to require a valid email address, and accordingly that a large number of votes apparently could be cast by one person.

In several cases where ESPN coverage of Monday Night Football airs instead on an ABC affiliate in an NFL team's home market, the program is delayed to air immediately after that station's local news, and a voting window confined only to the area codes of the pre-empted market is opened up to allow affected viewers to still put their votes in for the competition, though this is on a market-by-market basis (in some markets, an alternate sister station or digital subchannel carries the program live as scheduled).

Seasons one and three featured only two celebrities in the final week instead of three.

General information

Payment

On the April 18, 2006 episode of the Howard Stern Radio Show, Stern's wife Beth said that she was guaranteed to earn $125,000 for just appearing on DWTS (in season 3) and could earn up to more than double the original sum, depending on how long she lasted on the program.

Withdrawals

The first person to withdraw from competition was Romeo in the season two. His father, Master P, took his place in the competition, being partnered with Ashly DelGrosso. However, Romeo later competed in season 12 and finished in 5th place. Romeo was partnered with Chelsie Hightower.

On week six season three, Sara Evans cited her divorce as the reason for leaving the competition. No one was eliminated that week.

Another withdrawal occurred during the run-up to season four 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 Pixar voice actor John Ratzenberger who was partnered with Edyta Sliwinska.

In season seven, Misty May-Treanor withdrew from the competition in week three, after rupturing her Achilles tendon when rehearsing her Jive with her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. She did not perform the routine at all nor was she scored for it; no one else was eliminated that week.

In season eight, Jewel and Nancy O'Dell were injured before the season even began and could not compete. Jewel was diagnosed with fractured tibias in both legs; she came back later in the season to perform "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on a results show. O'Dell suffered from a torn knee cartilage. They were replaced by Holly Madison and Melissa Rycroft who would be dancing with their partners for the rest of the season (Dmitry Chaplin and Tony Dovolani).

Tom DeLay, in season nine, withdrew in week three of competition due to a full stress fracture that had developed in both feet from an earlier pre-stress fracture in one foot. Delay was declared safe before he announced his withdrawal during the October 6, 2009 results show. Debi Mazar was still eliminated that night despite DeLay's departure.

Celebrity and professional partner injuries

Celebrities and professional partners have experienced minor injuries, or in some cases more serious, which did not affect later performances.

In season five, Marie Osmond infamously fainted after her performance in week five of the competition, after which the program immediately went into commercial; however, Osmond was able to regain composure and continued with the program. Episodes of food poisoning or the flu have caused stars like Jane Seymour to miss portions of other programs. Mark Ballas dislocated his shoulder when he came back in the finale to dance again with his eliminated partner, Sabrina Bryan.

In season six, Cristián de la Fuente suffered a ruptured tendon in his left biceps muscle during his performance on week seven. The judges critiqued him according to his performance up to the injury. He was sent to the hospital immediately and missed the end of the show. Derek Hough injured his neck in a rehearsal with Shannon Elizabeth but still performed.

In season seven, Julianne Hough was rushed to the hospital after the results show on Week 6 with increasingly severe stomach pains. She was released the same night after it was determined that it was "just a bad stomach ache". However, she was ordered to sit out the group hip-hop dance rehearsals the next day as a precaution. On the October 27 performance show, Hough announced that she had been diagnosed with endometriosis and would be having surgery on October 28 to have her appendix removed. Cody Linley, her partner, stayed to dance with Hough's temporary replacement, Edyta Sliwinska, who had been eliminated first. She returned in the semi-finals to dance with Linley and was eliminated with him that week.

In season eight, after landing on a wireless microphone pack and injuring his back during a dress rehearsal, Steve-O and his partner, Lacey Schwimmer, were unable to perform live. The judges critiqued their pre-recorded dress rehearsal performance. Melissa Rycroft suffered a rib cage injury also during a rehearsal and was judged based upon her pre-recorded dress rehearsal. Before her Group Mambo, professional Lacey Schwimmer filled in for her dancing with Tony Dovolani.

In season nine, both Lacey Schwimmer and Derek Hough had the flu and could not perform with their partners (Mark Dacascos and Joanna Krupa) who ended up dancing with substitute pros (Anna Trebunskaya and Maksim Chmerkovskiy).

In season ten, Evan Lysacek broke two of his toes during rehearsal. The injury was not bad enough to affect his ability to dance and he remained in the competition. He also had a mild concussion after falling on his head while doing a lift with his partner, Anna Trebunskaya, but he remained in the competition. Mark Ballas injured his knee and his partner, Shannen Doherty, was going to be dancing with Ballas' father, Corky but she was eliminated and did not have to dance at all anymore. Mark returned on May 4 results show to dance to "Hey, Soul Sister" performed by Train.

In season 11, Jennifer Grey was recovering from cancer and tumors in her neck. This caused her great pain during the show. In week seven it was revealed that she had torn a knee tendon. On the day of the finale results show, she had a procedure done that morning due to an injury that happened during her night one of performances. She had ruptured a disk and was unsure if she was going to perform for night two of dances. She ended up performing and winning season 11.

In season 12, Ralph Macchio suffered a leg injury that affected his rehearsals for week eight. He still made it through to the semi-finals before being eliminated. Professional dancer Kym Johnson suffered a neck injury during rehearsals for her semi-finals Argentine tango while attempting a lift. She eventually recovered and went on to win season 12 with Hines Ward.

In season 13, Maksim Chmerkovskiy hurt one of his toes before rehearsal and brought in Ted Volynets from the dance troupe to prepare a Samba with Maksim's partner (Hope Solo) in week seven. While in rehearsals for week nine, J.R. Martinez suffered an ankle injury but stayed in the competition and was the last celebrity voted into the finals and ended up winning the show.

In season 14, Maria Menounos broke two ribs in an incident where her ribs hit her partner, Derek Hough's, knee. She also had a stress fracture in her feet which both didn't affect her performance. The next week she hit her chin during rehearsals when her partner dropped her on the floor. Melissa Gilbert suffered a head injury during her performance causing her to miss the end of the show and the results show the next night. They were revealed to be safe. William Levy injured his ankle but still danced a great performance. Katherine Jenkins suffered a head injury when her partner Mark Ballas kneed her on the head in rehearsals. She still danced later that evening.

In season 15, Melissa Rycroft suffered a herniated disc during her Team Freestyle rehearsal. She still danced that night. Pro Derek Hough suffered a neck injury during week six, so Mark Ballas who was Bristol Palin's partner (eliminated in week 4) filled in as Shawn Johnson's partner for week seven. Ballas was Johnson's partner in season eight it was the season they won. Kelly Monaco suffered a broken toe on her right foot while rehearsing for her week four contemporary dance with partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy. She went on to dance that night and advanced to the following week. Professional dancer Tony Dovolani suffered a back injury while rehearsing for his semi-finals Argentine tango. Dovolani was cleared to dance with partner Melissa Rycroft, and eventually ended up winning season 15.

Macy's Stars of Dance: Design a Dance

Beginning season seven, viewers had the opportunity to vote for their favorite pros (or in some cases former contestants) to dance to a style of dance as well as a song to dance to. An online contest is also usually held so viewers can submit drawings of outfits for the performance.

Season 7: Derek Hough and Julianne Hough dancing the Jive to "Great Balls of Fire"
Season 8: Mark Ballas, Derek Hough, Julianne Hough, and Lacey Schwimmer dancing the Quickstep to "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"
Season 9: Sabrina Bryan and Mark Ballas dancing the Paso Doble to "Eye of the Tiger"
Season 10: Joey Fatone and Melissa Rycroft dancing the Tango to "Rock and Roll All Nite"
Season 11: Cheryl Burke and Derek Hough dancing the Cha-Cha-Cha to "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"
Season 12: Cheryl Burke, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Lacey Schwimmer, and Chelsie Hightower dancing the Jive to "We Got the Beat"
Season 13: Derek Hough and Anna Trebunskaya dancing the Paso Doble to "Bad Romance"
Season 14: Chelsie Hightower and Tristan MacManus dancing the Samba to "End of Time"

Special episodes

100th episode

The show celebrated its 100th episode on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, during week eight of season six. More than 30 former cast members and pros returned, with interviews with Stacy Keibler, Lisa Rinna, Jerry Springer, Vivica A. Fox, Joey Fatone, Kenny Mayne, Sabrina Bryan, and former winners Kelly Monaco, Drew Lachey, and Apolo Anton Ohno. Other appearances, besides the season six cast, included Paula Abdul (in a video introduction), Jane Seymour, Ian Ziering, Mark Cuban, Wayne Newton, Leeza Gibbons, Harry Hamlin, Shandi Finnessey and Helio Castroneves. New routines were performed by Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough, Mel B and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and by Mario Lopez with the cast of A Chorus Line, in which he was starring on Broadway. The musical guest was country group Rascal Flatts.

Judges' top 10 dances

The Judges also presented a countdown of their choices for the top 10 perfect-scoring dances of the first five seasons. Their choices were:

No.	Celebrity	Professional	Season	Week	Dance	Place
1	Mario Lopez	Karina Smirnoff	3	9	Tango	2nd
2	Mel B	Maksim Chmerkovskiy	5	7	Paso Doble	2nd
3	Stacy Keibler	Tony Dovolani	2	8	Samba	3rd
4	Drew Lachey	Cheryl Burke	2	8	Freestyle	1st
5	Helio Castroneves	Julianne Hough	5	8	Quickstep	1st
6	Joey Fatone	Kym Johnson	4	7	Jive	2nd
7	Apolo Anton Ohno	Julianne Hough	4	9	Quickstep	1st
8	Emmitt Smith	Cheryl Burke	3	9	Cha-Cha-Cha	1st
9	Sabrina Bryan	Mark Ballas	5	4	Paso Doble	7th
10	Kelly Monaco	Alec Mazo	1	6	Freestyle	1st

200th episode

In season 11, viewers were allowed two votes per day on the DWTS website to vote for their favorite out of 30 given choices. On October 25, 2010, a countdown of the Top 10 voted for dances on the show was reported to celebrate the following week when the 200th show would be.

No.	Celebrity	Professional	Season	Week	Dance	Place
1	Drew Lachey	Cheryl Burke	2	8	Freestyle	1st
2	Gilles Marini	Cheryl Burke	8	4	Argentine Tango	2nd
3	Apolo Anton Ohno	Julianne Hough	4	5	Samba	1st
4	Nicole Scherzinger	Derek Hough	10	8	Paso Doble	1st
5	Mel B	Maksim Chmerkovskiy	5	7	Paso Doble	2nd
6	Joanna Krupa	Derek Hough	9	8	Paso Doble	4th
7	Apolo Anton Ohno	Julianne Hough	4	10	Freestyle	1st
8	Helio Castroneves	Julianne Hough	5	8	Quickstep	1st
9	Donny Osmond	Kym Johnson	9	10	Argentine Tango	1st
10	Shawn Johnson	Mark Ballas	8	11	Freestyle	1st

On the actual 200th show, several dances were performed again on the show and six of the past fan favorites came back to judge; Helio Castroneves, Emmitt Smith, Drew Lachey, Kelly Osbourne, Gilles Marini, Mel B, and more. The couples re-created their most memorable routines on the 200th episode; Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Ohno served as team captains for the team dances. Yamaguchi's team consisted of Rick & Cheryl, Kyle & Lacey and Bristol & Mark, while Brandy & Maksim, Jennifer & Derek and Kurt & Anna were on Ohno's team. On the results show of November 2, some awards were given out to past celebrity contestants and professionals.

Category	Winner
Most Dramatic Moment	Marie Osmond
Best, Worst Dancer	Kenny Mayne
Biggest Dancer Transformation	Louis van Amstel

Tributes

In seasons nine and ten, three tribute performances have been done in honour of some people. The first was a tribute to recently-deceased actor Patrick Swayze, on Sept 23, 2009. "She's Like the Wind" from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (originally written by Swayze for his film Grandview USA), "Unchained Melody" from his film Ghost, and "(I've had) the Time of my Life" from Dirty Dancing were performed by select professional dancers of the Show.

On October 20, 2009, a tribute was done for singer and dancer, Michael Jackson. "I Want You Back", "Man in the Mirror" and "Thriller" were performed"?the first two by select professional dancers of the show, and all coming together for "Thriller".

In season ten, Professional Haitian dancers performed as a tribute to victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on March 30, 2010. One of the male dancers had lost his son in the rubble. They were dancing to "Dance Like This" by Wyclef Jean.

Highest-scoring celebrities

The scores presented below represent the best overall accumulative average scores the celebrity gained each season.

Season	Place	Celebrity	Professional	Average score
6	1	Kristi Yamaguchi	Mark Ballas	28.33
8	2	Gilles Marini	Cheryl Burke	28.10
15	1	Melissa Rycroft	Tony Dovolani	28.00
15	2	Shawn Johnson	Derek Hough	27.93
14	2	Katherine Jenkins	Mark Ballas	27.86
2	1	Drew Lachey	Cheryl Burke	27.73
2	3	Stacy Keibler	Tony Dovolani	27.73
3	2	Mario Lopez	Karina Smirnoff	27.60
5	2	Mel B	Maksim Chmerkovskiy	27.60
15	6	Gilles Marini	Peta Murgatroyd	27.55

Number of perfect 30s

Despite not making the Top 10 list, Jennifer Grey and her partner Derek Hough hold the record of the most perfect 30s in a season, with a total of six. They won season 11 and maintained an average score of 27.2. The scores presented below represent the perfect 30s which the celebrities gained in their original season. The All-Stars season is counted separately.

Celebrities

# of 30s	Season	Place	Celebrity
6	11	Champion	Jennifer Grey
5	4 4 5 8 All-Stars	Champion Runner-up Runner-up Runner-up Champion	Apolo Anton Ohno Joey Fatone Mel B Gilles Marini Melissa Rycroft
4	2 4 5 6 9 10 12 13 14 All-Stars	3rd place 3rd place Champion Champion Runner-up Champion Champion Champion 3rd place Runner-up	Stacy Keibler Laila Ali Helio Castroneves Kristi Yamaguchi Mýa Nicole Scherzinger Hines Ward J.R. Martinez William Levy Shawn Johnson
3	2 3 3 7 8 12 14	Champion Champion Runner-up Champion Champion 3rd place Runner-up	Drew Lachey Emmitt Smith Mario Lopez Brooke Burke Shawn Johnson Chelsea Kane Katherine Jenkins
2	8 9 10 13 13 14 14 All-Stars	3rd place Champion Runner-up 3rd place Runner-up 4th place Champion 5th place	Melissa Rycroft Donny Osmond Evan Lysacek Ricki Lake Rob Kardashian Maria Menounos Donald Driver Apolo Anton Ohno
1	1 1 2 4 5 5 6 11 12 All-Stars All-Stars	Champion Runner-up 3rd place 4th place 7th place 4th place Runner-up 4th place Runner-up 8th place 4th place	Kelly Monaco John O'Hurley Joey Lawrence Ian Ziering Sabrina Bryan Jennie Garth Jason Taylor Brandy Kirstie Alley Sabrina Bryan Emmitt Smith

Professionals

22: Derek Hough
19: Cheryl Burke
15: Mark Ballas
11: Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Kym Johnson, Tony Dovolani
9: Julianne Hough, Karina Smirnoff
4: Dmitry Chaplin
2: Anna Trebunskaya, Edyta Sliwinska, Peta Murgatroyd
1: Alec Mazo, Charlotte Jørgenson, Louis Van Amstel

Success of athletes

Athletes have historically been far more successful as a group than other celebrities on the show. At the end of the spring 2011 season, 28 athletes have competed on the show, representing 20% of the contestants. They've won six competitions and placed second four times; a collective success (win or runner-up) rate of 36%. In other words, better than one third of the athletes who have appeared on the show have finished either first or second. This is far better than the rate for reality-show contestants, supermodels, actors, politicians and other celebrities. Musicians/singers, at 27%, are the second most successful group.

It is speculated by the cast and staff on the show as well as the athletes themselves, that they have several advantages in some key areas:

Physical ability " Many of the physical abilities associated with gifted athleticism such as strength, agility, quickness, balance, stamina and more generally, body control and muscle coordination, are also considered useful and advantageous qualities in competitive dancing.

Training and coaching " Athletes are familiar with effective and efficient training techniques. Professional dancer Cheryl Burke states, "They are used to being coached and they respond to criticism better than, say, actors". Casting director Deena Katz says, "They know their limits and don't overtrain like some others do", and so they avoid injuries, which hamper many of the contestants.

Competitive instinct " Successful athletes are competitive individuals and therefore comfortable in an environment which encourages "bettering" an opponent. In addition, they are familiar with performing under pressure and in some cases, thrive on it. Highly successful, elite athletes are capable of performing at their highest level when it is most important. They are able to focus and possibly even raise the quality of their performance during the biggest of competitions, whereas other contestants may falter under the same pressure.

There are disadvantages as well, particularly with the larger athletes such as football and basketball players. Some of these athletes have difficulty making their over-sized frames look graceful on the dance floor. However, this can also be an advantage: since this struggle with their large size is often plainly apparent during their performances, voters will tend to give them more leeway in this area, while an actor or singer with known dance background or training may be held to a higher standard in the voters' minds.

In every season finale in which an athlete was present, and was either tied for the top of the leader board or one point behind the leader said athlete went on to win the season. This has happened on five occasions:

Season 3: Emmitt Smith and Mario Lopez tied in the finale, with both scoring 89/90
Season 5: Helio Castroneves scored one point behind Mel B in the finale, scoring 84/90 to her 85/90 (Castroneves is the only, male, non-NFL player for this to occur to)
Season 8: Shawn Johnson and Gilles Marini tied in the finale, with both scoring 88/90 (Johnson is the only female athlete for this to occur to)
Season 12: Hines Ward and Chelsea Kane tied in the finale, with both scoring 89/90 (Kane, however, landed in third place)
Season 14: Donald Driver scored one point behind Katherine Jenkins in the finale, scoring 89/90 to her 90/90

Dance Studios

Dance studios are now being opened by some of the DWTS professional dancers. At some studios, the professionals actually teach dance classes to the general public. Here are a list of some of the locations: Dance With Me Dance Studio- Soho, NY; Long Island, NY; Ridgefield, NJ; Stamford, CT Karina Smirnoff Dance Studio- Woodland Hills, CA You Can Dance Studio- Hermosa Beach, CA

Merchandise

Cardio dance DVDs

A DVD titled Dancing With The Stars: Cardio Dance was released on April 3, 2007 featuring Kym Johnson, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Ashly DelGrosso. The program contains cardiovascular workouts adapted from Cha-cha, paso doble, samba, and jive dance routines.

A second DVD Dancing with the Stars: Latin Cardio Dance was released on September 13, 2008 featuring Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Cheryl Burke. The program contains cardiovascular workouts adapted from Cha-cha, Merengue, Samba and Mambo dance routines.

A third and fourth DVD was released featuring Kym Johnson, Dmitry Chaplin, and Lacey Schwimmer. One DVD is called Dance off the Pounds and features three dances: the jive, the quickstep, and swing. The other is Dance Body Tone and features a Latin dance mix, the tango, and freestyle dance mix.

Julianne Hough, two time DWTS winner, has also released her own workout DVD called Dance with Julianne: Cardio Ballroom. It includes the Paso Doble, the Cha-Cha, and the Jive. It was released on December 15, 2009.

Julianne Hough, released her second workout DVD called Dance With Julianne: Just Dance. It includes Jazz, Hip Hop, Box Step, Three Step and Dance Classics. It was released on November 9, 2010.

Companion book

A companion book written by Guy Phillips was released in the early fall of 2007. Titled Dancing with the Stars: Jive, Samba and Tango Your Way Into The Best Shape Of Your Life, the book has includes fitness routines modeled by Alec Mazo and Edyta Sliwinska, as well as original costume designs, lists of performed songs during a dance, and a complete list of song-and-dance routine performed since the first season of the show.

Spin-offs

The first Dancing spin-off, Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, premiered on January 7, 2008 on ABC. The show's format was similar to the BBC Television series, Dance X. The show was canceled after one season.

A figure skating spin-off similar to ITV's Dancing on Ice called Skating with the Stars aired on ABC on November 22, 2010. The series was canceled after one season, as well.

Awards

Emmy Awards

Award	Nominee(s)	Result
58th Primetime Emmy Awards (2006)
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program	Richard Hopkins, Conrad Green	Nominated
Outstanding Art Direction For A Variety, Music Program, or Special	Patrick Doherty, James Yarnell	Nominated
59th Primetime Emmy Awards (2007)
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program	Conrad Green	Nominated
60th Primetime Emmy Awards (2008)
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program	Tom Bergeron	Nominated
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program	Conrad Green	Nominated
61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009)
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program	Tom Bergeron	Nominated
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program	Conrad Green	Nominated
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards (2010)
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program	Conrad Green	Nominated
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program	Tom Bergeron	Nominated
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards (2011)
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program	Conrad Green	Nominated
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program	Tom Bergeron	Nominated
64th Primetime Emmy Awards (2012)
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program	Conrad Green	Nominated
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program	Tom Bergeron	Won

The program has also been nominated for various other production-related awards since premiering in 2005.

Other awards

Year	Award	Nominee(s)	Result
People's Choice Awards
2007	Favorite Competition/Reality Show	"?	Won
2008	Favorite Competition/Reality Show	"?	Won
2009	Favorite Competition Show	"?	Nominated
2010	Favorite Competition Show	"?	Nominated
Teen Choice Awards
2005	Choice Summer Series	"?	Nominated
2006	TV"?Choice Reality Star (Male)	Drew Lachey	Won
2006	TV"?Choice Reality Star (Female)	Stacy Keibler	Nominated
2007	Choice TV: Male Reality/Variety Star	Apolo Ohno	Nominated
2007	Choice TV: Personality	Bruno Tonioli	Nominated
2007	Choice TV: Reality/Variety Show	"?	Nominated
2008	Choice TV Female Reality/Variety Star	Kristi Yamaguchi	Nominated
2008	Choice TV Reality Dance	"?	Nominated
2009	Choice TV Reality/Variety Star	Shawn Johnson	Nominated
2009	Choice TV: Reality Competition	"?	Nominated
NAACP Image Award
2007	Outstanding Reality Series	"?	Nominated
2008	Outstanding Reality Series	"?	Nominated
2009	Outstanding Reality Series	"?	Nominated
2010	Outstanding Reality Series	"?	Nominated
Producers Guild of America Awards
2007	Non-Fiction Television Producer of the Year	Conrad Green, Richard Hopkins, Izzie Pick	Nominated
2008	Non-Fiction Television Producer of the Year	Conrad Green, Richard Hopkins, Izzie Pick	Nominated
2009	Non-Fiction Television Producer of the Year	Conrad Green, Richard Hopkins, Izzie Pick	Nominated
Costume Designer Guild Awards
2007	Outstanding Costume Design for TV Series"?Contemporary	Randall Christensen	Nominated
2009	Outstanding Costume Design for TV Series"?Contemporary	Randall Christensen	Nominated
2010	Outstanding Costume Design for TV Series"?Contemporary	Randall Christensen	Nominated
Eddie Awards (American Cinema Editors)
2007	Best Edited Reality Series	Pamela Malouf, Hans van Riet, David Timoner	Nominated
Imagen Awards
2007	Outstanding reality Series	"?	Won