“Dancing with the Stars” Kicks Off New Season Monday Night
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ABC/Rick Rowell(NEW YORK) — The Dancing with the Stars ballroom is opening its doors Monday night for 12 new celebrities.
The 16th season of the ABC competition begins with a two-hour premiere, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The new stars include two gold-medal-winning Olympians, figure skater Dorothy Hamill and gymnast Aly Raisman; a pair of country musicians, Wynonna Judd and Kellie Pickler; a recent Super Bowl winner, the Baltimore Ravens’ Jacoby Jones; a real housewife, Lisa Vanderpump; and troubled comedian Andy Dick, whose struggles with substance abuse and the law is well-documented.
At age 16, Disney star Zendaya Coleman has already made Dancing with the Stars history by becoming the youngest celeb to compete on the show.
Raisman is considered to be one of the early front-runners to win the Mirror Ball trophy, but she believes Jones will provide stiff competition.
She tells ABC News Radio, “I’ve seen his moves, and he is very confident, so I think he’s going to do well.”
On the other hand, some people think Dick will get a quick hook. Even if that’s the case, he says the show keeps him out of trouble.
Dick says, “There’s no room for drinking when you’re doing this kind of dancing and rehearsing and whatnot.”
Here are the pairings for the new season:
- Zendaya Coleman, star of the Disney Channel series Shake It Up!, and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
- Andy Dick, actor and comedian, and his partner, DWTS newcomer Sharna Burgess.
- Dorothy Hamill, won figure skating gold at 1976 Winter Olympics, and her partner Tristan MacManus.
- D.L. Hughley, comedian and actor, and his partner Cheryl Burke.
- Jacoby Jones, Super Bowl-winning Baltimore Ravens wide receiver, and his partner Karina Smirnoff.
- Wynonna Judd, country music star, and her partner Tony Dovolani.
- Sean Lowe, The Bachelor star, and his partner Peta Murgatroyd.
- Victor Ortiz, boxer, and his partner, DWTS newcomer Lindsay Arnold.
- Kellie Pickler, country music star and former American Idol contestant, and her partner Derek Hough.
- Ingo Rademacher, General Hospital actor, and his partner Kym Johnson.
- Aly Raisman, gold-medal-winning gymnast at 2012 Summer Olympics, and her partner Mark Ballas.
- Lisa Vanderpump, star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and her partner Gleb Savchenko.
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