Dancing With The Stars – Season 9 Preview

The stars have been announced, all 16 of them! So many stars means 3 double eliminations which will apparently be midway through the season. Personally I am hoping that at least one of those double eliminations is early on in the season so we can lose the most awful male and female star right away. Though there still would likely be some hot messes left even with that; after all, look how long we were frightened by Chloris Leachman! With the likelihood of Thanksgiving week off, and the announced 3-days in a row the first week starting on Monday, September 21 that means the finale should be December 1.

Apparently the dances the first week are Salsa or Viennese Waltz with group dances of Cha-Cha-Cha or Fox Trot.

The STARS are:

Aaron Carter

Known for: His singing career mostly, and he had a reality show with his siblings.

Paired with: Karina Smirnoff

My thoughts: Karina has a better chance with him than Woz at least, but that is not saying much. He should do fairly well though since he has danced as part of his singing career and at least has rhythm and won’t have to combat the discomfort of moving his body in public. He is relatively well known among pre-teen and teen girl’s, which gives him a pretty good fan base.

Natalie Coughlin

Known for: Being an Olympic swimmer who has won gold medals

Paired with: Alec Mazo

My thoughts: If Alec can get Kelly Monaco on the winner’s platform he can do almost anything! She has athleticism going for her big time, so she should be able to easily handle a rough training schedule. The question is…does she have rhythm? Her fan base is likely average, it is soon enough after the last Olympics for her name to still be familiar, AND she will also benefit from the “hot chick” factor.

Mark Dacascos

Known for: Hosting Iron Chef America

Paired with: Lacey Schwimmer

My thoughts: I love Lacey, but Len tends to be hard on her because she definitely strays from traditional, so that is a factor. Mark has a background in Martial Arts, which I think should serve him well when it comes to movement. He also may come equipped with a fan base that won’t cross over with that of others, since he has been in many films not in the mainstream, which is beneficial.

Tom DeLay

Known for: Being a politician, most notably his time spent as the House Majority Leader until forced to resign from the position due to suspected violation of campaign finance laws.

Paired with: Cheryl Burke

My thoughts: Poor Cheryl!! He will likely do a passable job with ballroom styles; but no amount of brilliance, not even Cheryl’s level of brilliance, is likely to make this man a good dancer. As for fan base, I think it is likely average.

Macy Gray

Known for: Her singing career.

Paired with: Jonathan Roberts

My thoughts: I am not expecting much here, she always strikes me as very awkward, and that does not bode well for dancing. Jonathan seems very patient, which will help, and he is good at making the most out of what he is given (example: Marie Osmond), let’s just hope he doesn’t stray into the same territory he strayed in to with Marie and their extremely awkward and bizarre doll dance! She has a great fan base, so that should help her some, at least in the beginning.

Ashley Hamilton

Known for: Being the son of George Hamilton, and being briefly married to Shannen Doherty; though technically he is billed as an actor and conedian.

Paired with: Edyta Sliwinska

My thoughts: He has no dancing background that I know of, but Edyta has been known to work wonders. He also has no real fan base though and will largely have to get by on his good looks, unless there is a hidden dancer lurking in him.

Melissa Joan Hart

Known for: Playing Sabrina in Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clarissa in Clarissa Explains it All

Paired with: Mark Ballas

My thoughts: I am unsure here. She has no dance background that I know of, and yet I get the feeling that she will do well. Maybe it is because she has a confidence about her that I think will serve her well. Her fan base isn’t huge because she has not done a lot since Sabrina ended, but her name has been kept out there. Mark is great and knows how to choreograph to make someone look good.

Kathy Ireland

Known for: Modeling

Paired with: Tony Dovolani

My thoughts: She has the benefit of being comfortable with her body that you get from modeling. Models, however, usually do not do well on the show. I am also pretty sure she does not have a huge fan base, though she will likely get any votes from men in the 30 and older range.

Michael Irvin

Known for: Playing football for the Dallas Cowboys and sports casting following his retirement

Paired with: Anna Demidova

My thoughts: Football players tend to do well, I think mostly due to arriving with a good fan base. Anna is new this year, but did really well with Maurice Greene during the competition during Season 8 that won her a spot as a pro this season, and had him dancing getter than he did when he was competing in my opinion.

Joanna Krupa

Known for: Modeling, and for being a contestant (paired with Terrell Owens) on The Superstars this past summer

Paired with: Derek Hough

My thoughts: I watched The Superstars, she has a MOUTH on her! She has no problem expressing herself and her frustrations and does not seem to care who hears her, I can see her mouthing off to the judges if they criticize her. That, and the model curse, don’t bode well for her. But she is paired with Derek who is a great choreographer, AND she has the fact that she was just on a show going for her. People who like mouthy girls may be inspired to vote for her I guess.

Chuck Liddel

Known for: Being a fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC

Paired with: Anna Trebunskaya

My thoughts: Well, my first thought was “Who?” I guess he may benefit from having a fan base that is not likely to overlap with other people’s kind of like Ty last season. However, I am not expecting anything good out of him. Anna did great work with Jerry Rice, and managed to get more out of Steve Gutenberg than I expected, but I still think this guy is doomed to be eliminated early.

Debi Mazar

Known for: Being an actress, most recently a recurring role on Entourage

Paired with: Maksim Chmerkovskiy

My thoughts: Debi has a background in hip-hop dancing, so she can definitely move. I see her clashing some with Maks as she seems to be a very outspoken woman and Maks has a major ego, but that seemed to serve his partnership with Mel B quite well. I think her fan base is likely pretty good too, with her current run on Entourage.

Mya

Known for: Singing and also acting

Paired with: Dmitry Chaplin

My thoughts: Mya has a background in various dance styles as a child, and appeared in a couple of dancing movies and has the strongest dance background of anyone on this season, so she should do really well, especially since she also should bring with her a pretty good fan base. Dmitry is also a great choreographer and will be able to help her a lot in her likely weaker area of ballroom.

Kelly Osbourne

Known for: Being the daughter of Ozzy Osbourne, and being on the family’s reality show. She also has a singing career.

Paired with: Louis Van Amstel

My thoughts: Kelly has come out and said she is not a good dancer, so if she is right…well, there you have it. She has a lot of fans out there, so I think that will carry her at least a little ways into the season, and Louis is a great teacher from what I have seen of him on this show and on So You Think You Can Dance, so maybe she will do better than she gives herself credit for.

Donny Osmond

Known for: His show with his sister Marie Osmond in the 70s, and other film and TV work

Paired with: Kym Johnson

My thoughts: He did some dancing on his show with his sister, and had I not seen how little that helped Marie I would say he has a good chance. He will, however, likely get a ton of the votes of women in their 40s and older which I am pretty sure constitutes a large part of the show’s viewership, and Marie did get pretty far. Kym seems to be very patient with the men she is paired with, so we’ll see.

Louie Vito

Known for: Snowboarding

Paired with: Chelsie Hightower

My thoughts: He was my second “Who?” for the season. Chelsie worked wonders with Ty Murray though, and he likely will attract his own set of fans to the show who will only be watching because of him and they will therefore be likely to vote for him.

I am thinking the top 4 will end up being Mya, Debi Mazar, Michael Irvin and Aaron Carter but that is solely based on preconceived notions about these people’s potential skills and fan base, so I am likely way off!