Dancing with the Stars Season 16 – PRO WATCH!!

The post started getting long and confusing, so I decided to move the current standings up to the top of the page. There are supposedly 12 couples, so things can still get interesting. 🙂

Current Standings:

Male Pros
Derek
Val
Tony
Mark
Gleb Savchenko
Tristan

Female Pros
Cheryl
Lindsay
Sharna
Peta??
Karina
Kym

Out For the Season
Chelsie
Anna
Maks (???)
Lacey
Louis

ETA: See Karina’s facebook and Lacey’s twitter for the source of my latest updates. Late on Saturday before the announcement and we still have some HOLES in our roster. Hmmmmm…
ETA2: DWTSGossip tells someone that Tristan is in, but doesn’t actually tweet it outright. Uncertain?

ETA3: Louis tweets that he’s not going to be on this season, which is not too big of a surprise.  An ambiguous tweet from @DWTSGossip makes us wonder if Maks really is out or not…and it appears as though Lizzie Grubman may have flown to LA yesterday.  Emma confirms she’s in the troupe again this season (and is not a pro), which leaves us wondering: who is this mysterious 12th pro??? 😯

ETA4: And the mysterious fourth pro appears to be Gleb?? It is very obnoxious of me to say this just cuz I’ve never heard of the guy…but is this a joke??

ETA5: And I must give props to Miss Sally for picking up on the suspicious “What a beautiful day!” comment Kym tweeted at 4:26 AM Sydney time – which is actually 9:26 AM Los Angeles time…because DWTSGossip is reporting Kym is IN as the last female pro 😎 Looks like Tristan has also been confirmed as the final male pro, which leaves Maks & Henry out in the cold.  Interesting…

Confirmed Sooper Troupers
Witney Carson (according to Grant’s source)
Sasha Farber
Emma Slater

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IT’S TIME!! Yes, it’s time to start keeping an eye on our pros and our troupe…and a few others…to see who’s going to make the cut this season.

And to wait and see who’s REALLY sitting this one out. I think the big three – Derek, Maks, Cheryl – have all implied or hinted that they won’t be back. However, recently Cheryl made it sound like she was going to be back if she got a partner. I’m beginning to think that her tweet at the end of last season was just worded in such a way as to be misinterpreted. She has a lot of stuff going on, but it’s all stuff that is easily scheduled AROUND DWTS and DWTS is likely the only reason she got most of it – they go hand in glove, if you know what I mean. ETA: Cheryl’s publicist tweeted for her to “rest up” because DWTS is starting up again soon. I take that to mean that she’s not planning to sit the season out, but not necessarily that she’s guaranteed a spot. We’ll call it tentative for now, just in case.

As for Maks – well, he always starts a furor about whether he’ll be back or not. Or should I say, his PR woman always starts a furor. By all means, Maks and Cheryl fans, correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t seen anything recently where either has implied they won’t be back. Like Cheryl, most of his outside activities are easily scheduled around DWTS except possibly for this “latin dance” thing we heard about a while ago. Is this still happening or was it similar to Cheryl’s attempts to be on The Bachelor?? Ah, found the video at OTRC – he says “a big part” that they are going to shoot in May and then he says something about “latin dancer” – nothing about a movie – could be TV, too. Maybe he’s going to be on Ryan Seacrest’s Ballroom/Desperate Housewives thing – he would be perfect on that, I think. There is some confusion about that show, which is going to be on A&E, because of what Derek has going on, as discussed below. From what Derek and Julianne have said, I think Ryan’s is a separate deal…but you can see where he got his inspiration. 🙂 Either way, it sounds like several male ballroom dancers will be required. Reason enough to watch, I”m thinking. 🙂

As for Derek, he’s said a lot of things. One of those things was that he won’t be on Season 16. He’s much more tentative on camera than off – to the point that I wonder if Sally is right when she said that he’s been asked not to be definitive about his future with DWTS (Actually, this could go for Cheryl too). He did say that he would be back in the fall, but then he kind of took it back and said things change day by day. I was told that Julianne said much the same thing after her final season. He also said he would always be a part of the show “in some way” which makes me think that he won’t be competing any more, but might be back for pro dances. He does need a choreography outlet. I also think he won’t be back because of what he said at a recent appearance (February 6th) at “Do Something Healthy” conference in Tacoma, Washington. You can read the whole blog at PureDerekHough, but here are the key parts:

• Derek said he is producing a TV show in Utah. He was in Utah, as we know, last week (Note: last week of January).

• Many have heard that he said that he would not be back on for Season 16, but he also said, “If they call me, ‘D Hough’, I’ll always be there.” Adding also that if someone of interest is a contestant, he might just push back his plans and be on the show.

• Derek talked about the bone spurs in the neck, and how he would be having surgery on it next month. (So I doubt he would seriously be cast for Season 16 with this surgery scheduled, but who knows.)

• Derek shot a pilot last week that he said was fantastic. It’s about dancing, and about rivalry. He did not say this at the same time that he talked about the producing of the TV show in Utah, so I got the impression it was something different. May be wrong here.

• Congrats to Derek are in order. He said he just “sold” a scripted TV show to a network.

• He and Jules are close to doing a “live” show in which they dance, sing, and play instruments.

With all that going on, he also tweeted this days AFTER he said all of the above:

Derek Tweets 021313

Does this sound like a guy who’s really going to have time for DWTS? I get that he loves doing the show and that he’s loyal – but I think his comments regarding future seasons is just him having trouble letting go. At least I hope so, anyway. With Derek, we always have to just wait and see – he doesn’t share in the way that his fellow Pros do. Dammit. 🙂

So where does this leave us?? Well, I *think* it means we are only sans Derek for Season 16 (for the men), but I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again in the future. Only being sans Derek, of course, makes casting this season very difficult in terms of pro and who will fill the hole Derek leaves. Particularly since there is some competition out there, with Henry, Sasha, and possibly Sonny all hoping for that shot. But do THEY even have a shot? Let’s look at the roster:

ETA: In a move making all of us at PureDWTS and those of us who have a decent idea of all that Derek is doing say WTF!!!, Derek just tweeted something that makes it look like he’s back in. Jesus H……I want to slap the crap outta this guy, no monkey.

ETA2M: According to TMZ, Maks is out. While not always reliable, TMZ is better than, say, Hollywood life. 🙂 But besides that – craziness. Maks is in LA and tweeted something about “out wth the old” or some such thing. Good for him, if true. TMZ also claims Val is in.

ETA3: I think Sharna Burgess has been promoted to a pro and I, for one, am very excited on this news. She will blow people away. We haven’t even begin to see what this girl can do. You wait and see. SEE THIS TWEET -Vogue

ETA4: It’s confirmed – Sharna has been promoted to Pro. Congrats Sharna!!

ETA5: Well, RumorFix claims that Maks is only taking a season off and not quitting completely. However, they also claim he’s under contract to 2015 (Maks sez 2 more seasons) and they claim that Derek did a TV Pilot with Mark. Yes, Derek did a  TV pilot – but don’t think it was Mark, I think it was with Julianne. One of them was anyway.  You don’t think Mark (and Derek) would be telling everyone under the sun that he did a TV pilot?? So, take this with a grain of salt.

DWTS Pros – Male Regulars

Derek – Out IN
Maks – OUT
Mark
Tony – IN
Val – IN
Tristan

ETA: Val’s agent (apparently) tweeted that he has to cancel an appearance in NY/NJ Sunday because he has to fly to LA for a “DWTS taping”. Doubt very much he’s going to the troupe, so I’m calling him in. Especially since he confirmed that he does indeed have a conflict on Sunday.

ETA2: Annnd tony tweets he’s in, as does Cheryl, confirming what we were already pretty sure of. 🙂

DWTS Pros – Male, Occasional
Louis
Dmitry

We know that season 16 will have 12 couples. The question is, for the men, will there be 6 spots and if there are six spots, who’s taking Derek’s spot?? Since Louis seems to only get a slot when there’s more women AND because he’s the shortest pro on the show, I’d say that one of the troupe has a pretty good shot. I’m leaning towards Henry or Sonny more than Sasha, but I’ve seen campaigning for Henry and Sasha both. The reason that I think it unlikely that Sasha makes it is because he’s quite short – and if they get a short female she will likely go to Louis. If she’s very young, she’ll probably go to Mark. I think Henry has the best shot as he’s close to Derek in height. Since Derek is out, I don’t think they will eliminate Louis in favor of Sasha, but include Louis and/or Henry, depending on height factors. We’ll have to wait and see. Now, about the women…

ETA: @DWTSGossip sez that Anna and Chelsie are out for this season. No confirmation from the ladies themselves.

And Anna confirms she’s out on twitter. Bummer.

ETA: Chelsie confirms she’s out for the season via twitter.

DWTS Pros – Female Regulars
Cheryl – In
Karina
Kym – Out
Anna – Out
Peta
Chelsie -Out
Lindsay – IN
Sharna – IN

DWTS Pros – Female, Occasional
Lacey

I put both Chelsie and Peta in regular pro status, but they are by no means a lock, IMO. Chelsie has sat out before (season 13) and Peta has only been on three seasons. Lacey was on for several seasons in a row before she reached “occasional” status and has sat out the last two seasons in a row. So, assuming that Kym is out due to Celebrity Apprentice in Australia…which of the female troupers have a shot?? Sharna? Emma? Oksana??

Of course, if it’s an uneven split (like 5 male celebs to 7 female celebs) things will get REALLY interesting. Also note that we have a man named Armen hoping to get his foot into the troupe (note his twitter bio). Not only does he claim DWTS in his bio, he also favorited a tweet by Vogue hoping he made Troupe and he retweeted another person who said they hoped to see him on March 18 on DWTS. Any other possible contenders for troupe?? After all, if someone gets promoted, another someone needs to take his or her spot in the Troupe. 🙂

ETA: Got some solid info that Lindsay Arnold at least tried out for a spot on DWTS. We’ll wait and see on this one too.

ETA2: Henry was supposed to do a fan chat about DWTS on the 26th with Krysten Burtt (After Buzz) and Teagan Lowe and had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict. Me thinks someone may have gotten a phone call. 🙂 That is the day, after all.

ETA3: Somewhat of an inside source tells me that Lindsay got the word. I’ll give him/her credit if they give me the okay. 🙂 The Troupe part is an assumption on my part.

ETA4: And Lindsay’s bf tweets that she “made pro” – no idea if he distinguishes between pro and troupe like we do or not. Wait and see.

ETA5: Lindsay just tweeted that she will “be a professional” on DWTS this season. The language is still too vague for us to definitively say whether she means troupe or dancing with a celeb – she doesn’t say “competing on DWTS”, and everyone in the troupe is still technically a “professional” since they make a living dancing. I also notice that she hasn’t responded to any tweets asking whether she means troupe or full-blown pro. Until she responds and clarifies or says “I have a partner this season!”, she’s still up in the air for us. – Courtney –

Super Troupers, Past and Present
Oksana Dmytrenko
Sasha Farber
Henry Byalikov – Possible Promotion to pro??
Emma Slater – confirmed for troupe this season
Sonny Pedersen
Kiki Nyemchek
Nicole Volynets
Ted Volynets
Dasha Chesnokova

Getting a Foot in the Door??
Armen Way