Dancing With The Stars (U.S. TV Series) - Dancing With The Stars Wiki

Dancing with the Stars is an American dance competition television series that premiered on June 1, 2005, on ABC. The show is the American version of the British television series Strictly Come Dancing. The show is hosted by Tom Bergeron, alongside Erin Andrews, who became co-host in season 18. Lisa Canning was co-host in season 1, Samantha Harris co-hosted seasons 2 through 9 and Brooke Burke-Charvet in seasons 10 through 17. The series has been renewed through seasons 23 and 24 as of March 3, 2016. The twenty-fourth season is set to premiere on March 20, 2017.

The format of the show consists of a celebrity paired with a professional dancer. 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.

Cast

Hosts

Tom Bergeron has been the host since the program's premiere in 2005. In season 1, his co-host was Lisa Canning. She was replaced by Samantha Harris for seasons 2 through 9 (2006â€"09), who was then replaced by Brooke Burke-Charvet from seasons 10 through 17 (2010â€"13). Erin Andrews took over as co-host starting in season 18 (2014). Drew Lachey served as a temporary replacement for Harris during season 5 (2007) during her absence for 3 weeks due to maternity leave. Leah Remini filled in for Andrews in week 6 of season 19, due to commitments with the 2014 World Series and filled in for her again in weeks 6 and 7 of season 21 for the 2015 World Series. Season 19 champion Alfonso Ribeiro filled in for Bergeron on week 4 of season 21, due to Bergeron's ailing father.

Judging panel

The regular judges are Len Goodman, who serves as head judge, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli. Goodman was absent for much of season 19, all of season 21, and much of season 23. Julianne Hough, who was a professional dancing partner for seasons 4â€"8, was added as a full-time judge on the panel for 3 seasons, 19â€"21, after having been a guest judge in the previous 2 seasons. She did not return for season 22. Hough did return as a full-time judge for season 23 on. Several former contestants appeared as judges in episode 200 (in season 11), including Hélio Castroneves, Mel B, Drew Lachey, Gilles Marini, Kelly Osbourne, and Emmitt Smith. Other celebrities, most often those who are associated with the world of dancing, former professional dancers, and past contestants have appeared as a 4th judge or in absence of 1 of the main judges, including Paula Abdul, Donnie Burns, Cher, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Michael Flatley, Kevin Hart, Jessie J, Baz Luhrmann, Ricky Martin, Idina Menzel, Ab by Lee Miller, Olivia Newton-John, Kenny Ortega, Donny Osmond, Pitbull, Redfoo, Alfonso Ribeiro, Robin Roberts, and Zendaya.

Cast timeline

Color key:

Couples

A total of 273 celebrities have appeared in the 24 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 43 professional partners have appeared alongside celebrities, some for only one season (mostly in the earliest seasons).

Key:

Dance troupe and musicians

In season 12, the show introduced the troupe consisting of professional dancers who perform on the show but are not paired with celebrity partners. The 1st troupe in season 12 included Tristan MacManus, Peta Murgatroyd, Kiki Nyemchek, Nicole Volynets, Ted Volynets, and Oksana Dmytrenko. Members of the season 24 troupe are Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten, Brittany Cherry, Hayley Erbert, and Britt Stewart. Other past troupe members include Dasha Chesnokova, Sharna Burgess, Sonny Fredie Pedersen, Emma Slater, Julz Tocker, Gleb Savchenko, Henry Byalikov, Witney Carson, Lindsay Arnold, Artem Chigvintsev, Kiril Kulish, Jenna Johnson, and Sasha Farber.

Key:

     Active member of the troupe

     Professional partner

For 17 seasons, the Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers provided the live music for the show. On Feb 7, 2014, it was announced that the new bandleader is Ray Chew. Along with him is a new band of instrumentalists and singers.

Series overview

† Youngest male winner at age 25; youngest female winner at age 16
‡ Oldest male winner at age 52; oldest female winner at age 50

Scoring and voting procedure

In seasons 1 and 2, only the overall ranking between competitors by the judges and the public was relevant. In season 3 and all subsequent seasons, the scoring system has made the exact scores relevant as well.

The scoring begins with the judges' marks. Each judge gives a numeric score from 1 to 10, for a total score of 3 to 30. The scoring was altered for the "all-star" season 15, during which judges could give scores at 1/2-point intervals from 0.5 to 10, for a total score of 1.5 to 30. When multiple performances are scored, only the cumulative total counts. The contestants' judges' shares are calculated as the % of the total number of points awarded to all contestants that evening. (For example, if a team earned 20 pts on a night when the judges awarded 200 pts, their judges' share would be 20/200 = 10%.) This % is then added to the % of North American votes received by each contestant. The bottom 2 couples are identified at the end of the show, and the couple with the lowest combined total gets eliminated. Season 8 added an occasional 'dance-off', in which contestants could re-do 1 of their dances, in an effort to improve their judges' score. This was later discontinued.

Public voting is conducted via a toll-free number, the ABC website, and, most recently, text messages and Facebook; 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 5 votes, whichever is larger. In April 2010, it was revealed that former contestant Kate Gosselin had e-mailed friends and family asking them to vote as many as 10x each. In Nov 2010, the Washington Post reported that online voting appeared not to require a valid email address, and accordingly that numerous votes apparently could be cast by 1 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 1 and 3 featured only 2 celebrities in the final week instead of 3. Starting with season 16, 4 celebrities made it into the final week, although the top 3 finalists proceeded to dance 1 more time for the judges after the 4th place couple was announced. In season 20, there were 3 celebrities in the final week, but in season 21, there were 4. In season 22, there are only 3 celebrities in the final week.

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.

In season 21, Bindi Irwin had her payments withheld by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge because she was a minor, which therefore required her parents to sign-off on the contract. But although her mother signed, the contract lacked her father's signature, so the judge refused to validate the contract, despite Irwin's father being the world-famous naturalist Steve Irwin, whose death in 2006 had been widely covered in the news/media. The judge later validated the contract once Steve Irwin's death certificate was presented to the court, resulting in Bindi receiving a $350,000 paycheck from the show.

Withdrawals

The first person to withdraw from competition was Romeo in 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 in 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.

In season sixteen, Olympic figure skating champion Dorothy Hamill had to withdraw from the competition due to doctor's orders for a spinal injury. A cyst had developed near her lower spine, and was pinching off the nerve in that area. Either boxing champion Victor Ortiz or reality star Lisa Vanderpump would've been eliminated, but Hamill withdrew before the results could be announced, meaning that no one was eliminated that week.

In season eighteen, week three, actor Billy Dee Williams withdrew, by advice from a doctor, due to a chronic back problem (which resulted in no elimination that week).

In season twenty-one, week three, reality star Kim Zolciak-Biermann was forced to withdraw from the competition after suffering a blood clot which resulted in a mini stroke (which resulted in no elimination that week). Tamar Braxton also withdrew from the season due to blood clots in her lungs making it the first season to have two withdrawals in it.

Macy's Stars of Dance: Design a Dance

Beginning season 7, 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.

Special episodes

100th episode

The show celebrated its 100th episode on Tue, May 6, 2008, during week 8 of season 6. 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 6 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 1st 5 seasons. Their choices were:

200th episode

In season 11, viewers were allowed 2 votes per day on the DWTS website to vote for their favorite out of 30 given choices. On Oct 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.

On the actual 200th show, several dances were performed again on the show and 6 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 Nov 2, some awards were given out to past celebrity contestants and professionals.

300th episode

The 300th episode took place on the week 9 results show of season 16. 22 past and present pros performed an opening number choreographed by Jason Gilkinson. Past pros who performed were Chelsie Hightower, Dmitry Chaplin, Louis Van Amstel and Anna Trebunskaya. Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough danced their "Argentine tango" as the week's encore. However, the top 10 dances were not revealed, nor were the achievements.

10th Anniversary Special

On April 28, 2015, during season 20, a special pre-recorded episode aired as a 10th anniversary special with many former stars and professional dancers returning to the ballroom. Many past stars performed and reflected on their time on the show. Patti LaBelle, Amber Riley, and Lil' Kim performed LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade". The show closed with the largest number of people dancing in the show's history as stars, pros, hosts, and judges were all out on the dance floor.

Tributes

In seasons 9 and 10, 3 tribute performances were done to honor the memory of artists and others. The 1st was a tribute to recently deceased actor Patrick Swayze, on Sep 23, 2009. "She's Like the Wind" from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (originally written by Swayze for his film Dirty Dancing), "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 Oct 20, 2009, a tribute was done for singer and dancer, Michael Jackson. "I Want You Back", "Man in the Mirror" and "Thriller" were performedâ€"the 1st 2 by select professional dancers of the show, and all coming together for "Thriller".

In season 10, Professional Haitian dancers performed as a tribute to victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on March 30, 2010. 1 of the male dancers, Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine, had lost his son in the rubble. They were dancing to "Dance Like This" by Wyclef Jean.

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.

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 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 1st 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, DanceX. The show was canceled after 1 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.

An unofficial live tour show called Dancing Pros: Live! toured with several Dancing pros since 2010. An Dancing with the Stars: Live! official tour was announced on November 3, 2014 for the 2014-2015 season started December 27, 2015 in Niagara Falls, New York and ended Feb. 15, 2015 hitting 33 cities. A second tour, Dancing with the Stars: Live! - We Came to Dance, was announced October 3, 2016 for 43 cities from December 16, 2016 to February 14, 2017.

Reception

In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that "unlike So You Think You Can Dance, which is generally more of a city show, 'Dancing with the Stars' is most popular in the countryside. It also has a higher share of 'likes' from viewers aged 65 and up than any other show".

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

The program has also been nominated for various other production-related awards since premiering in 2005, including for hairstyling, makeup, lighting design, and technical direction.

Others