Thought I’d switch it up and do the men today – pardon the expression. We’ll come back to the rest of the women later. Thanks again to the fans that helped me out with finding the information! If I leave anything significant out, let me know and I’ll update.

First up?
Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Status: Confirmed for Season 10 – not in so many words.

Thanks to Diana for all the Maks info. You can visit Maks’ Forum and Diana’s YouTube for more information on Maks. If anyone has any video or pics to add to this, let me know.

From the end of November to January, Maks did Burn the Floor on Broadway with Kym Johnson. Once he left BTF, he went to Vegas and did some choreography work for Le Reve at the Wynn. According to Dianna he went to Buenos Aires to learn the Argentine Tango. He had fun too, going to see Louis Vito qualify for the Olympics in Colorado and then back to NYC to celebrate his mom’s birthday. I saw him tweeting about shopping with his mom and it was quite cute. Yes, I know none of that qualifies as work, but it sounds like fun. Somewhere in all that he went to the Viennese Opera Ball in NYC. Very dashing!

Maks’ 3rd Studio “Dance With Me Soho” just opened in NYC – he was tweeting quite a bit about that and it sounds like he put a lot of work into it. He apparently gives lessons at his studios when not on DWTS.

Maks also works in association with DanceTeamUSA, Ballroom Dance Channel and Grand Dancesport.

Derek Hough

Status: Confirmed for Season 10 – in a manner of speaking.

Derek was a world traveler between the end of last season and now and was pretty tight lipped about it all. Since, as everyone here probably knows, I run PureDerekHough, I find this trait of being quiet highly annoying. In the extreme. Anyway…

Derek started his time off by dancing with Cheryl Burke in the Dizzy Feet Foundation benefit and also performing their new single “Move” with Mark Ballas. I was also surprised, when I went back and looked at my site, by how many magazines he got called out in: People’s 16 Sexy Chests, TV Guide’s Hottest Costumes on DWTS, and in Sexiest DWTS Couples by Comcast. There were a few others, but I’m lazy and he didn’t have to do anything to get those – except maybe finally get a publicist.

Derek then jetted off to London under a cloud of mystery. It turns out that he had a high profile choreography gig with Cheryl Cole (pop star, X-Factor judge) for her television show. He choreographed and danced with her for her new single Parachute.

Derek then went back to LA (mystery), then on to NYC for Christmas with Shannon – thought it was vacation only at the time, but it turns out that he did take Maks’ place in Burn the Floor for the last few days of the run after New Years, so there was probably a business reason there too. Somewhere in there he was in Utah for a week. After BTF it was back to LA and then on to London again, this time to choreograph and star in the music video for Cheryl Cole’s Parachute which premiered on MTV UK in February. After they shot the video, Derek and Cheryl flew to Munich, Germany to perform at a tech conference which apparently featured Lady GaGa last year.

In late January, Derek went to Provo, Utah to perform in “Move” with Mark Ballas and Chelsie Hightower. While there, he directed a music video for Mark’s solo project. Since then, he’s been hanging out with Julianne (on the set of Burlesque) and Mark, going to a movie premiere and getting his face splashed all over UK tabloids. He also promoted his friends’ band, DeVIence and, when interviewed at a premiere, said that he has “new adventures” coming up this year. Highly annoying that I don’t know what he’s talking about, but it sounds like there is stuff going on behind the scenes. Also in the video where he said this, he sure made it sound like Julianne would be back on DWTS eventually – which is why I included the link. Watch it and judge for yourself what he says. Sounds to me like she’s still under contract. Hmmmm…..

Mark Ballas

Status: Confirmed for Season 10 and already rehearsing with his partner!

If I had volunteers to help me with Mark, I don’t remember them and can’t find any communication from them. So, I’m sure to have left stuff out.

Mark has, as far as I can tell, been working almost exclusively on his solo EP project that he just recently released. The EP contains 6 songs and appears to be self-produced – Waiting for Patience. He’s worked on a couple videos for these songs, one of which Derek directed. I don’t know where these videos will show up – possibly on his new MySpace page?

When not working on that, Mark danced at Dizzy Feet with Kristi Yamaguchi, then with Chelsie at “Move” in Provo, Utah. He and Derek also sang Move at Dizzy Feet. Mark also performed in Toronto with Chelsie and Dmitry. He’s been doing a few small club dates playing his own music – I believe mainly in LA. When in Utah, he also played on Good Morning Utah.

If their fans are reading this, I need help with Dmitry, Louis, Tony and I don’t have much on Jonathan. Email me at Heidi@purederekhough.com!

Why the odd title you ask? Well, I finished a big project at work today and I was scanning my usual places for info – and some of it is scary. A lot of it probably just unfounded rumor. And it all caused me to speculate. And I had to put a date on it because I post rumors all the time!

What is frightening me today is the sudden resurrgence of Kate Gosslin as a potential celebrity. I can handle Pam Anderson. But Kate? Please, no. Kate mentioned on Jay Leno quite a while ago that she would be interested and now that is popping back up from a different source - The NY Daily News.  I was really scared at first – until I read the article and realized they are just rehashing rumors/speculation/stars wishing that I wrote up a long, long time ago (in DWTS years).

In other news – Anna D. is out for this season, to no one’s surprise.  That puts the professional dancer roster at:

Cheryl
Chelsie
Anna T
Edyta
*Either Kym or a new female*

Derek
Damian
Mark
Maks*
Louis
Tony*
*not 100% as certain of these two that others are.

As I speculated in my previous post on the pros, I think there might be a new female pro to fill the fifth spot.  So lookie what I see when I study the old Tweetdeck??

Anyone have a scoop on Snow *other* than DWTS?? Fill me in. I also saw that Access Hollywood said that Kym was “most likely not” coming back for Season 10 – no clue on the veracity of that one.

Speaking of the pros (again) Derek, Cheryl and Louis are pimping the heck out of The Bachelor (well, it’s relative for Derek – he’s not much of a tweeter these days) to the point that I think they might be getting paid to tweet. Hey, it happens.

Yo, Lacey fans – I feel your pain, really I do, but spamming Twitter with requests that people sign a petition to keep Lacey on the show not only won’t work, but it’s highly annoying. She needs to have a PARTNER to be on the show and apparently they didn’t find her one. One won’t magically appear because of a petition. I’m sorry you don’t get to see your favorite – but it’s too late now to do anything about it! They know she’s popular – girlfriend was in Design a Dance season before last!

Guess who was on a plane to LA either last night or the night before (I lose track of time when on a big project)? Jason Chambers.  Please, god….

Then there’s Chad Ochocinco.  Did anyone watch The Daily 10 the other night? I didn’t, but there was a sudden buzz on Twitter of people asking Chad if he was going to be on DWTS “for real” – one lovely gentleman gave the explanation for the sudden buzz and mentioned that he “saw it on The Daily 10″.  Like Jason Chambers, I have not had time to do a little investigative work to see if that’s true.  Like I said – a lot of these entertainment shows just report the same rumors that I hear and until you really sit down and watch the show, or look up the article, you don’t know.  So….I don’t know.

Like I said – I haven’t had time to ferret out more info on any of this stuff. But I’m free tonight. And I’m not a big AI fan.

ETA8: Anna Trebunskya confirms that she’s IN.

ETA7: AND sorry Dmitry fans – he’s out for the season.

ETA6: Sorry to anyone who is following this blog – I’m having a hard time keeping up. Having a real job with real responsibilities sucks sometimes. Anyway, I believe Karina has said she’s out for the season.  Dmitry still doesn’t know. And Louis just did his seasonal HUGEMONGEOUS  hint that they meet their partners on Friday.  :::sigh:::  Tired.  Really tired of hearing about Cheryl Cole.

Now, if you consider what Chelsie said about only four female pros back this season and consider that they AREN’T adding a new pro, then here is the possibility. I think.

Women Professionals
-Cheryl
-Chelsie
-Edyta
-Anna T.

Lacey, Karina are out for sure, Kym and Anna D have been silent. If Chelsie is right, then Dmitry still has hope. But Kym and Anna don’t.

Male Professionals
Derek
Damian
Tony
Maks (still not sure if he REALLY confirmed)
Mark
Louis

If Chelsie’s wrong and they have 5 women – not good for Dmitry. If Chelsie’s right – Dmitry should have a spot. I can’t see Alec getting it over him. Shame they haven’t told him yet. Sucks.

ETA5: And now Derek and Cheryl are pimping the Bachelor Finale. Suddenly, everything looks more like a coordinated effort.  Sorry to Melissa fans, but Brooke is still on for her screen test today. Me thinks Katrina was right and her announcing with Tom is more of a Bachelor connection.

ETA4: Edyta says she’s in. Maks takes a page from Derek’s book and plays coy.  See below.

ETA3: Of course right when I leave, Mark Ballas announces he will be on “the next” season of DWTS. I’m assuming he means this coming one. And he tweets while ice skating with his mom and Derek? Oookay. Boys.  It’s looking sketchy for Maks  - could go either way. We have five confirmed men and either the men or women are only going to have five spots.

ETA2: As of 11 minutes ago Louis is in and very, very excited about it. I’m very happy for him too.  No word from anyone else, but interestingly enough, Access Hollywood has also become interesting in the on-going professional dancer saga.

ETA: Well, it’s six hours after I orignally wrote this and only Karina has popped up to say she doesn’t know. Sheesh. So much for the live blogging idea. Well, it was good practice for next monday when we’ll live blog the celebrity announcement. No need for everyone to suffer through The Bachelor.

Well, the powers that be have been extremely good in keeping the celebrities on the down low. I would say that this makes us focus more on the pros than normal, but I don’t think that’s the case. I have a pretty extensive tweet deck setup and the amount of nagging, badgering and begging of the pro dancers for information has really been illuminating. It’s leading to Derek playing games, Mark losing his mind and finally breaking with a “I don’t know!!! (that’s how it sounded to me )” Tony just sends people smilies and phrase which could mean anything. Chelsie is deleting tweets…and some are wisely just staying far away from Twitter altogether. I’m finding it all extremely humorous. On with the show.

Here’s how it stacks up so far:

The Potential Men:
Damian – In
Derek – In
Dmitry – doesn’t know
Mark- In
Maks – hasn’t said a word
Tony – Sort of confirmed
Jonathan – definitely out
Alec – hasn’t said a word
Louis – In

As of 9:30 am Central Time…well, if they are only having six male pros, that kinda puts Alec and Maks (and Dmitry) on the hot seat, because the other men have either confirmed their participation, their non-participation or they “don’t know”. I’m taking Louis’s word that “don’t know” means they’re waiting for contracts to be signed. I’ve put Maks and Alec on the bubble due to a complete LACK of any comment whatsoever. Since I really like Maks a lot, I hope I’m wrong. (Feb 23, 2010 – One spot left and three possible men??)

The Potential Women:
Lacey – definitely out
Cheryl – definitely in
Chelsie – said she was in but deleted the tweets
Edyta – In
Anna T. – said she wants to wait until it’s set in stone
Anna D. – silence (afaik)
Karina – Out
Kym – silence
Unknown new female ?

I see no reason to assume they aren’t adding a new female in addition to the new male professional – but that’s a GUESS, not anything I actually know. Again, as of right now, I’m guessing five female pros which means three spots taken (Cheryl, Chelsie and new girl Edyta). Lacey is already out. Since Anna T and Karina have both played either the “don’t know” game or have made comments that imply a good possiblity, then I’m calling Kym and Anna D and Edtya as on the bubble. If there is no new female pro, then I think Kym is safe. Again, just guessing. Sure is looking like the lineup is: Cheryl, Chelsie, Edyta, Karina and Anna T (Heidi – 2-23-10)

Check back – I will be updating!

So, Jonathan is out – sad but not entirely unexpectedly – and Louis still hasn’t been told. What the heck is going on here? This makes me think that they aren’t entirely sure of their cast yet – one week away from the announcement. Why would Jonathan be a definite no and Louis still not know? Louis is the shortest male, Mark next, then Derek – I think. I think there is 3 inches or so between Derek and Louis, so I would imagine they have a short girl and are trying to figure between Mark and Louis. But I could be totally full of crap. In any case, this is a blow (kinda) to the “attitude” and “ballroom skill” theories for which pros are making it and which ones aren’t.

The show starts four weeks from Monday – at this rate they are NOT going to have four weeks rehearsal before the show starts.

ETA: Add Dmitry to the “I still don’t know” list.

ETAA: And lovely Louis supplies a perfectly logical reason for the way the pros are finding out (or not finding out) – wish I would have thought of it.

You know, since he hasn’t been told NO, that means he likely does have a partner they’re waiting to sign. I would imagine the same goes for Dmitry. Since Anna T commented she doesn’t want to say until it’s set in stone, I bet she has a partner too. Now – what about Derek’s tweet from last Tuesday?

To recap:
The Men –
Jonathan – the only solid no
Dmitry – doesn’t know
Louis – doesn’t know
Derek – is confusing

The women -
Cheryl – definite yes
Lacey – definite no
Anna T. – doesn’t know
Karina – doesn’t know.

Those that haven’t said a word: Maks, Mark, Tony, Alec, Anna D, Chelsie, Edyta, Kym

Twitter is a wonderful thing. It lead me to a comment from someone asking Maks if he heard that Damian Whitewood from Burn the Floor was going to be on DWTS Season 10. With a little help from my friends, I found that Petra Murgatroyd (also of BTF) had posted on her Facebook that Damian, her boyfriend, is going to be on:

Now, there a couple of ways Damian could be on DWTS season 10. One – as a pro dancer in pro dances. We’ve seen that happen time and again. Aliona Vilani, who is currently on Strictly Come Dancing in the UK, showed up on a few episodes as a pro dancer a season or two ago, as have others. The second option is one that has tremendous potential to piss me off in a big, big way. That option is as a new pro partnering a celebrity. Now as much as I complain about certain males (Alec and Dmitry, to name two), I don’t want to see ANY of the regular pros replaced by another against their will. The only way that I would not throw a hissy fit is if it turns out that Alec, Tony and maybe Derek or Maks (or others) had better plans and asked out for a season or two, a la Julianne. This is entirely possible, of course – I’ve heard whispers of Alec and Tony both having movie roles in Europe. I don’t know that they were large parts, but they certainly could be timed right to take them out for a season. Derek – he has been answering the “are you going to be on Season 10″ in a variety of strange ways. One answer was “I’ll always be involved in the show in one way or another” or something like that. Recently he was asked and his head was shaking no while he was claiming ignorance. He also said has “new adventures” this year. He was very smiley and happy, so I think something else is going on there (Access Hollywood – note what he says about Julianne). Then there’s Mark – Mark has a lot of different things he’s working on as well.

Or is it someone else?? I don’t think that Maks, Derek, Mark or even Tony would be replaced just for the hell of it because they are extremely popular – I think that is obvious. Let’s face it – the audience for this show is predominantly female and we women love our hot pros. Dmitry has his fans as well, so as much as I am not a fan, I kinda doubt he is in jeopardy.

The math here is pretty simple. We had 8 male pros last season. The producers claim they are reducing the couples to 12 so that implies only 6 male pros. That means two lose their job already, without a new guy coming in. For Damian to have a full time job, that means a third pro won’t be there. So…anyone have any scoop?? Do three of our men have new jobs? Or is one (or more) being fired to make room for Damian?? Come on now – I don’t want to be pissed off by myself.

Just when I was complaining that there were no good rumors out there, TMZ provides Paula. It’s like they were waiting for me to complain. Anyway, TMZ claims that Paula was offered a 1 million dollar development deal with ABC provided that she does season 10 of DWTS. Not sure how I feel about bribery. In any case, rumors about Paula have been around for a while now so this feels more credible than many of the rumors I come across. Plus, it’s TMZ – they get it right often. Not always, but often.

According to the proposed deal, ABC would allow Paula to do “The X Factor” with Simon Cowell. We’re told Simon and Paula met a week ago to discuss the show, and it looks like it will happen.

Paula has to make a quick decision — we’re told the ABC offer is contingent on Paula doing “DWTS” this season, which starts in March

She’s tiny and she’s a ringer. Which means, she’ll dance with Mark Ballas. Because he always gets the tiny ringers. And, after the Idol brouhaha, her ringer status is probably MASSIVE. I can see it now, Derek with LaToya (who everyone will say no one will vote for) and Mark with Paula – who EVERYONE will vote for. The producers have been saying they want to mix it up because the pro pairings are too predictable (wonder where they got that idea ) – they would see this as unpredictable because both women are so much older than the two youngest male pros. But they would be WRONG. You heard it here first. That’s MY prediction. The only wrinkle is Dmitry – he gets ringers too, but he may be too tall.

I’d been noticing that the professionals from Dancing with the Stars had been coming out with a number of different work out DVDs. In fact, a ton of Dancing with the Stars workout DVDs.

First is one of the most recently launched DWTS work out DVD’s by Julianne Hough. Ok, she’s probably not allowed to call it a DWTS work out DVD, but that doesn’t mean we can’t call it that right? Officially it’s called: Dance with Julianne: Cardio Ballroom Check out this video with a few clips from the Julianne Hough work out DVD:

Next up is a couple workout DVDs with Lacey Schwimmer, Dmitry Chaplin and Kym Johnson:
Dancing with the Stars: Dance Off the Pounds
Dancing with the Stars: Dance Body Tone
Check out this pretty funny video of Lacey and Dmitry talking about the DWTS work out DVDs:

This year, Cheryl Burke also came out with her own DVD called: Cheryl Burke Presents Disco Abs (3 DVD). Check out this video preview of Cheryl’s work out DVD:

2 Dancing with the Stars DVDs that were released in 2008 were:Dancing with the Stars: Latin Cardio Dance- With Cheryl and Maks and Lisa Rinna: Dance Body Beautiful: Jive, Jump, Ballroom Bump- which is actually with Lisa Rinna who fell in love with dancing on Dancing with the Stars.

In 2007, Alec Mazo and Edyta Sliwinska released a DVD called: Fitness with the Pros

In 2006, it seems like the first Dancing with the Stars work out DVD was done by Ashly, Kym and Maks and was called: Dancing With the Stars – Cardio Dance

There you go. That’s all of the DWTS work out DVDs I can find. I think that’s enough for now honestly. However, I can’t help but wonder if most men don’t prefer watching them work out on the video more than they actually work out. Ok, enough of that;-) Let everyone know what you think of the various DVDs so people know what to expect from them.

I love how everything you can imagine now has odds given to it, including Dancing with the Stars. On online betting site just posted the early odds for Dancing with the Stars season 10. Yes, this is really early since we still don’t know who the professionals will be for Dancing with the Stars season 10. So, the odds are all based around the professionals that could be on DWTS 10. Check them out:
Derek Hough +600
Mark Ballas +700
Julianne Hough +750
Cheryl Burke +800
Maksim Chmerkovskiy +800
Lacey Schwimmer +800
Chelsea Hightower +1000
Dmitry Chaplin +1200
Karina Smirnoff +1400
Kym Johnson +1400
Alec Mazo +1600
Louis van Amstel +1800
Edyta Sliwinska +1800
Anna Demidova +2000
Tony Dovolani +2500
Anna Trebunskaya +2800
Jonathan Roberts +3000
Ashly DelGrosso +3300
Elena Grinenko +4500
Inna Brayer +4500
Corky Ballas +6600

Looks like Heidi’s not the only one that likes Derek Hough. This is a pretty interesting list since it basically compares the “star quality” of the pros I think. Nice to see that it corresponds really well with our list of Top Female DWTS Pros and Top Male DWTS Pros quite well.

John challenged me to do this, despite my clear and obvious Hough bias. But it does say MY favorites, so these choices are all my own. As I said in response to comments on John’s post, being a great DWTS Pro is about more than just dance ability. I think several things are required: choreography skill, teaching ability and PERSONALITY (aka The “IT” Factor). And, of course, you have to be one hell of a dancer. I don’t dislike ANY of the pros, male or female, but I do have my clear favorites. You all can guess my Number one, right? Say it with me:

1. Derek, Derek, Derek – Derek is not only a great dancer and choreographer, but he’s one of the more charismatic people on TV right now.  When he’s on screen in a pro dance, I occasionally read about people who are not fans being annoyed because he’s “distracting” – I have to laugh, because that “distracting” behavior is called charisma and “IT”.  He draws the eye. As a fan of old movies (thanks, Grandma), he reminds me of Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. He has never finished lower than sixth and he was only as low as sixth once, with Shannon. He has a way of taking celebs with either baggage or no fanbase (or both) and turning them into respectable dancers – or at the very least, making them likable. His celebs are always labeled as “disliked or likely to be disliked” (Joanna, Lil’ Kim) or as likely to leave early (everyone else) – yet he never leaves early. As for his choreo – two words: Futuristic Paso Doble.  Wait…three words. (John’s Comment: See the rest of Heidi’s Derek bias on Pure Derek Hough)
2. Louis Van Amstel – yes, this shocks me too.  Louis was one of the faceless male pros who were there and gone most seasons.  But holy cow – his work with Kelly Osbourne, and their relationship, was just a joy to watch. Kelly would never be the best dancer – in fact, I would argue that she was no better than 6th or 7th place – but people LOVED her and I think a lot of that is attributable to Louis.  There is no question the man can dance, and he’s a very good choreographer (although I think my #3 did better on the tour), but I think it was only this season that his personality and teaching ability came to the forefront.  Lovely, lovely guy.
3. Maksim Chmerkovskiy – cranky as hell at times, the man also has IT.  He really won me over with his work on last years tour – brilliantly done.  He also manages to survive what I think is a crappy edit nearly every season – sure he’s blunt, but his partners seem to love him. And he writes a great blog, which I appreciate.  I also love how he treats Derek and Mark as slightly annoying little brothers – very sweet to watch on tour.  The feeling I get from Maks is that he’s all bark and no bite.
4. Mark Ballas – I was tempted to leave Mark off the list, although he’s always been one of my favorites.  Why? Well, maybe it’s just my perception, but I thought he acted badly when dancing with Melissa Joan Hart.  He seemed upset that they weren’t doing that well – whatever the reason for his behavior, it seemed TO ME to be poor sportsmanship.  He’s had two Olympians as partners – surely he can suck it up when dancing with someone who is trying hard, but isn’t an Olympian??  Anyway, despite that, Mark is a hell of a dancer and seems to be a good teacher.  He gets a lot of flack for out dancing his partners (usually in the Jive, which I don’t think he can help), and he occasionally picks hellish costumes with polka dots,  but he is a very talented guy.
5. Tony Dovolani – Tony doesn’t really impress me as a particularly great choreographer, but he’s a hell of a dancer and he’s very, VERY charming.  He’s just NICE.  I like him a lot.  He seems to work well with his partners, is a good teacher and is an all around good egg.

I think that only leaves Jonathan, Dmitry and Alec.  Dmitry and Alec suffer from an apparent lack of personality – notice I didn’t say that they don’t have a personality, just that it isn’t *apparent*. They are too quiet, and I don’t think either of them did a particularly good job in terms of choreography.  Doesn’t *everyone* know how Len feels about gimmicks, Dmitry??  As for Jonathan, he suffers as a result of drawing poor celebrities – how can I tell how good of a choreographer or teacher he is when he never stays on the show for long?  That said – he clearly has the patience of a saint.  And lord, when he’s dancing with his wife it’s a thing of beauty.

Okay, everyone, go ahead and tell me how wrong I am.  :-)  I can take it.

While waiting on the breakfast to be ready (Champagne Brunch – Yay!!), I took a stroll around twitter and found the celebs and pros have been tweeting fools. Enjoying their time off. I won’t post all their tweets, but some of them and their twit pics were fun. If you want to follow them and see what they have to say, you can find all their twitter accounts on a previous post!

Aww, Tony, so sweet. And the Ballas men – strange. Lacey and Lance at the Dizzy Feet Gala!! And Natalie Jinxes herself.

Mark has a hot cousin, ya’ll.

Joanna is talking about her new Peta Ad campaign. Jonathan cracks me up, as does Louie Vito.

Natalie – word to the wise, never talk about how good traffic is, because then it WON’T be. Derek being a good uncle, taking the kids to Miley Cyrus with Julianne and his sisters. They apparently hit a local honky tonk after – I assume someone took the children home.

For those who didn’t know, Carrieann had some sort of surgery yesterday – it appears she pulled through nicely. Apparently it was minor and related to her neck/back. I could look it up, but dudes it’s Thanksgiving and I’m stuffing myself.

Natalie tweeted two of her favorite pictures from Finale night:

Kym J. finally gets some sleep.