UPDATE: A new report says that Derek Hough has talked to the people from Footloose, but no agreements have been made. We’ll keep updating as we get more information.

Here is the quote from Extra:

UE: ‘Dancing’ Jackpot!
Posted by ExtraTV Staff on May 4, 2009 1:31 PM

ABC
“Extra” reveals the “Dancing with the Stars” competitors that are about to hit the jackpot! Movie roles, million dollar deals — only “Extra” knows the one star tangoing with the offer of a lifetime.

So…Derek or Julianne?? Or Both? Or someone not previously rumored? Place your bets here! I’ll go out on a limb (not really, since the picture below was included with the article) and say Julianne, although it will kill me to not see Derek as Ren.

InFANity is a show on the TV Guide channel that I’d never heard of before - but this week they delve into Dancing with the Stars. The video is in five parts, each part covering different aspects of the show. Every part has a lot of clips of dances and interviews, past and present. Stars from every season are interviewed, as are the judges and the hosts. The only people we see, but don’t hear a lot from, are my favorites - The Pros.

Part 1 - About the Show and the Judges

Part 2 - The Stars and The Winners

As I mentioned in a previous post, my wife and I got the tremendous opportunity to be able to go to the Dancing with the Stars finale. It was quite the experience. Here are a few pictures from the event.

I’ll post some more pictures tomorrow and hopefully get around to posting some other comments about the taping of the Dancing with the Stars finale as well. Also, I’ll be posting some of the other pictures we took to the Pure Hough blog.

I know that I’m a little late, but I needed to complete my list of Dancing with the Stars music. So, here’s the list of music that the final 3 performed to on Dancing with the Stars final performance show.

Brooke & Derek danced a Quickstep to the song “Lover, Come Back to Me”—Barbra Streisand

Brooke & Derek danced a Paso Doble to the song “Palladio, first movement”—Karl Jenkins

Lance & Lacey danced a Tango to the song “Disturbia”—Rihanna

- Music Video
Lance & Lacey danced a Mambo to the song “Straight To Number One”—Touch and Go

Warren & Kym danced a Viennese Waltz to the song “Lovin’ U”—Alicia Keys

Warren & Kym danced a Paso Doble to the song “Malagueña”—Brian Setzer Orchestra

Brooke & Derek, Lance & Lacey, Warren & Kym danced a Samba to the song “Blame It On the Boogie”—The Jackson 5

Brooke & Derek danced a Freestyle to the song “You’re the One That I Want”—John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

Lance & Lacey danced a Freestyle to the song “It’s Tricky”—Run-D.M.C.

Warren & Kym danced a Freestyle to the song “Proud Mary”—Ike & Tina Turner

Warren & Kym danced a Hustle to the song “Funky Town”—Lipps Inc.

Lance & Lacey danced a Jitterbug to the song “Jim Dandy”—Black Oak Arkansas

Brooke & Derek danced a Viennese Waltz to the song “Daughters”—John Mayer

- Music Video

On the Finale, the following songs were sung by guest performers:
Alicia Keys sang “I Need You”

Miley Cyrus sang “Fly on the Wall”

Don’t forget to purchase your Dancing with the Stars 2008 Tour tickets.

In preparation for the finals of Dancing with the Stars next week, I decided I’d make a little prediction on who is going to be the Dancing with the Stars 2008 Winner. Let me make it easy for everyone:

BROOKE BURKE and DEREK HOUGH

Not only do Brooke and Derek deserve to win Dancing with the Stars, but Derek has a fan base as large or larger than any of the stars. Add in Brooke’s ability to use social media (See Brooke’s Blog) and you have a couple that will be unbeatable in the finals.

The reality of the Dancing with the Stars finals is that the judges scores are almost exactly the same for each couple. In the finals, America’s vote is what truly decides the winner. This year they have added a small twist having a Samba Face-Off (each dance set to the same song). Dancing to the same song will offer a little more differentiation to the couples as opposed to each couple just re-dancing one of their previous dances. However, it’s always been almost scripted that the final show is a celebration of the last 3 couples talent.

My only concern is that I think that Lacey and Lance will do a really great Freestyle. Lacey’s experience on So You Think You Can Dance should allow her to create what I think could be the best Dancing with the Stars freestyle of all time. Plus, Lacey and Lance do have a pretty nice following too. However, my theory is that more women vote for their favorites and more women will like Derek and Brooke, the mom, than those women that will like the rebellious Lacey and Lance.

Warren and Kym are a wonderful couple. Kym is one of the most beautiful and creative dancers on the show. Warren is hilarious and I’ve loved him since I first saw him blow up an offensive line. However, I just don’t think they have the fan following that will get them the win. Plus, I’m almost certain that they’ll be at least a couple points behind the other 2 couples. Warren is amazing for a 300 pounder, but not anywhere near as refined as the other 2. I will love to see what type of lifts Warren does in the freestyle. Considering his strength and Kym’s slight frame, they could do some really amazing lifts. I expect Warren will throw her around like a little rag-a-doll.

Still don’t believe me. Then, look at the numbers from this season.
Couple - Average Score
Brooke & Derek - 26.5
Warren & Kym - 24.4
Lance & Lacey - 23.9

If you’re still not sure, just remember one final reason. Brooke choking last week is the biggest reason she’s going to win. Previously, her fans would have been lackadaisical and many wouldn’t have worried about voting. Her poor performance last week will inspire her fans to vote in enormous fashion.

I don’t want to brag, but I do want to point out how right my predictions were about the music that would be performed on tonight’s Dancing with the Stars. Actually I really surprised myself when my predictions were dead on. The only one I missed was that Aretha Franklin would do 2 songs. Honestly, I was just amazed with the incredible talent DWTS is able to bring to the show. Here’s the full list of songs sung:

Aretha Franklin sang “Chain of Fools” while Karina Smirnoff, Anna Trebunskaya, Louis van Amstel & Dmitry Chaplin danced.

Leona Lewis sang “Bleeding Love” while Maksim Chmerkovskiy & Karina Smirnoff danced.

Julianne Hough sang “My Hallelujah Song” while Derek Hough, Mark Ballas & Lacey Schwimmer danced.

John Legend sang “Green Light” while John Legend’s dancers performed.

Aretha Franklin sang “Respect” while Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas danced.

Both the stars and the professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars are incredible talents. Tonight’s semi final performance was when the Dancing with the Stars talent really starts to show. The dancers are so refined and have been trained so well that each of the performances is incredible.

As usual, here’s a list of all the music performed by the talented band. I have a few missing, but will update them as I find them.

Brooke & Derek danced a Jive to the song “The House is Rockin’”—Brian Setzer Orchestra

Brooke & Derek danced a Salsa to the song “Barbarabatiri”—Tito Puente

Cody & Julianne danced a Paso Doble to the song “Le Disko”—Shiny Toy Guns

Cody & Julianne danced a Salsa to the song “Juventud de Presente”—Tito Puente

Warren & Kym danced a Mambo to the song “Tequila”—The Champs

Warren & Kym danced a Jitterbug to the song “That Old Black Magic”—Sammy Davis Jr.

Lance & Lacey danced a Mambo to the song “Straight…to Number One”—Touch and Go

Lance & Lacey danced a Jitterbug to the song “Jim Dandy”—Black Oak Arkansas

Reuters is reporting that Cloris Leachman has been hospitalized with pneumonia.

Oscar winning actress Cloris Leachman, who saw a resurgence in her popularity recently on the TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” has been hospitalized for pneumonia, celebrity TV show Entertainment Tonight reported on Monday.
…
Leachman, 82, became the oldest contestant ever when she appeared on this season’s “Dancing with the Stars” in the United States, in which celebrities are paired with professional dancers and compete in ballroom dancing.

She won a large fan base for her good sense of humor on the program, but was eliminated sixth in the competition.

Some have asked if Dancing with the Stars has a curse with all of these people getting injured (see Misty May, Kim K, and many other injuries too numerous to list.

Of course, I don’t believe in curses in general. However, even if I did believe in curses, I think it’s easy to see while there are all these injuries. It’s called people who are not usually active and bending like gumby actually doing those things. Welcome to dancing!!

Brad Paisley did indeed rejoin Julianne Hough on Dancing with the Stars tonight. Along with a cool appearance of Benji Schwimmer with his sister Lacey. Check out the music from the results show:

Lacey Schwimmer & Benji Schwimmer danced to Brad Paisley singing “Ticks”

Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Karina Smirnoff, Alec Mazo, Edyta Śliwińska, Genya Mazo & Kym Johnson danced to Brad Paisley singing “Let the Good Times Roll”

Design-A-Dance by Derek Hough & Julianne Hough dancing a Jive to the song “Great Balls of Fire”

I’m also very glad to say that I was right about Derek and Julianne being the design a dance couple. I love when I’m right. This does show that Derek and Julianne are the most popular professional dancers too. I wonder how the other professionals feel about that.

I just heard them say that Lacey will be performing with her brother Benji on tomorrow’s Dancing with the Stars results show. That will be really cool. I always love watching Benji perform. Here’s a little video look at Lacey and Benji dancing together a few years back in Reno:

(Lacey joins about half way into the video)

I love watching Benji and his sister dance, but I wish Dancing with the Stars would have invited Benji and his cousin Heidi (also of So You Think You Can Dance fame) to perform on the show instead of Lacey. Benji and Heidi were just meant to dance together. If you don’t believe me, then check out Benji and Heidi’s Black Mambo performance on So You Think You Can Dance or even Benji and Heidi’s US Open Swing Dance Championship dance. Now that’s what I call dancing.