Yeah, I saw yesterday or the day before the discussion of Mel B (aka Scary Spice) as the new co-host. It was all over twitter. I basically ignored it because it was everywhere by the time I saw it and, right now, there is so much CRAP floating around that it’s wearing me out. But that’s not the actual “drama” of which I speak. I was minding my own business, rolling my eyes at the stupid media’s inability to do even the slightest bit of research prior to writing about DWTS, when I clicked on an article about Karina that had a tid bit at the end that had a slightly different take on the Mel B. versus everyone else in the co-host slot. From Comcast:

There are also big question marks surrounding the replacement for Stiff Samantha Harris. Last week ‘Dancing’ champ Brooke Burke excitedly Tweeted she was in contention to be the new co-host.

Then we learned ‘DWTS’ finalist/’Bachelor’ reject Melissa Rycroft was also in the running. She soon set off a flurry of whispers that she had landed the gig when she Tweeted Tuesday, “Thanks for all the support. I can’t really say anything about anything…but I’m excited about announcing the cast with Tom!!”

One would make the logical leap that if Rycroft gets to announce the Season 10 cast alongside host Tom Bergeron on March 1, then she’s the one, right? “I didn’t say that…I just can’t say anything….” Rycroft said in a follow-up message.

Should we assume, however, that the screen tests for those ‘DWTS’ hotties didn’t go so well? Because producers have reportedly extended their ‘Star’ search.

Season 5 runner-up Mel B. has since been offered the opportunity to try out for the gig, according to TMZ, who claims the formerly Scary Spice Girl headed over to test at the studio on Wednesday

If you are wondering where I found out that Karina is not on this season, this article also quotes the tweets that I saw from Karina, which have since been deleted (apparently).

I have to just say no to Scary Spice – she is far too mean and almost nasty in her commentary on DWTS. Do people who are there to compete really need that sort of behavior? No. Would this be an improvement from Samantha Harris? Hell no. And no, I don’t have a dog in the hunt here – I only know who I don’t want to be co-host, I don’t have an actual favorite. I would be fine with any of the aformentioned candidates.

Keep in mind that this article could be full of crap. I’ve seen SO much crap in the last week that it’s not even funny. First they make it sound like Lacey “quit” DWTS forever (not true), then they make it sound like a cast smaller than 16 is a drastic cut from the norm (bull), then Karina is “let go” from DWTS. They are making this pro situation sound like it’s unusual when it’s anything but unusual – we’re just not used to these particular pros not being on – usually it’s Anna T or Alec. I guess this mentality is yet another sign that the professionals are now the stars.

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 I was talking to John last night – or should I say, lamenting – the complete paucity of blabber mouthed celebs this season. It sucks, quite frankly. Last season at this time I had reported on a significant number of people who had spilled the beans via Twitter (Kelly Osbourne, Debi Mazar, to name two). It seems that, excepting Jason Chambers and Chad Ochocinco (although that was his friends, not him), there is very little to report from Twitter – and I have to think that perhaps the DWTS peeps had wised up about the whole Twitter thing, telling potential stars to SHUT IT. So, because we’re less than three weeks out, I thought it was time for a little review of what HAS been rumored and reported on, either here or elsewhere.  I’ll discuss them by the categories I mentally put them in:

The Real Rumors with Real Potential Category

Most recently, the two big rumors have been Pam Anderson and John Stamos. Pam was outed as a potential by RadarOnline, and Karina Smirnoff claims that John was asked for a previous season and had to decline due to his Broadway commitments. I find it highly amusing that she’s putting in a claim on him just in case he changes his mind. But, for some reason, I’m not inclined to believe this one will happen – assuming Karina is correct. I just consider John Stamos to be “too big” of a star to actually consider the show. Although it’s possible he could have been asked, I suppose. But I don’t see it happening. Pam Anderson? That one sure sounds likely and I haven’t seen anyone report that Pam denied it.

I guess that the Jennifer Grey rumor goes in this category. I think. Page Six reported that she was in negotiations way back in December but I’ve not heard much about it since then. Very well could be true – we find out in three weeks.

There are a couple of rumors that go here, but not necessarily for DANCING.  Paula Abdul (judge or dancer?), Marie Osmond (shudder – potential new co-host) and Nancy O’Dell (potential new co-host).  I think the Marie thing is more speculation than actual rumor. Billy Bush reported that there were 5 candidates remaining for the co-host job and that he was REALLY rooting for one in particular. That says Nancy O’Dell to me. The Marie thing was, I think, people taking his words and speculating. I HOPE.  And who the heck knows what is going on with Paula Abdul.

The Blabbermouth Celebrity Category

Jason Chambers is kinda lonely in this category, this season. He straight up said he had meetings with DWTS producers, as I discussed in a post back on February 1, 2010.  Because he blabbed, he may have blown his chance. The woman in me hopes like hell he hasn’t.  Chad Ochocinco, on the other hand, was outed by a former team mate as being a possibility for last season. As I said before, celebs rumored for one season often show up on later seasons.  Interestingly enough, I did see some twitter chatter that said Chad was going to LA this week – the speculation by these people was that his trip was related to DWTS.  I guess we’ll see.  And I almost forgot – Dirt Nasty (aka Simon Rex)!  He claims he met with the producers back in early January.  Did I read that this guy now does porn, or did I imagine that?

The PLEASE PUT ME ON DWTS Category

This is a surprisingly large category.  I’ll just make a list of the ones I’m aware of, starting with the oldest one (from late 2009)
- Flight Time (aka Herbert Lang) of the Harlem Globetrotters by way of The Amazing Race
- Jermaine Dupre
- Kate Gosslin
- Danielle Fishel
- Ross Mathews
- Greg Louganis (who could also fit in the category below)
- Kevin Federine – this one is per Ryan Seacrest on his radio show this morning.  It seems I’ve heard this one before, but maybe I’m confusing him with someone else.
- Candace Cameron Bure – I think we can safely put her in this category based on what I posted here.

That’s all I could find right now. I’m sure someone will pop in (with links) to remind me of others who want to be on the show.

And finally….
The “We’ve Heard This one Before” Category

Back on January 4th, I wrote a couple posts detailing rumors from previous seasons. The intent was to keep track of previous rumors to see if any of them came true for Season 10. Those posts were also titled Rumor Round Up and Rumor Round Up Part II – I’m not going to list all that again, so if you’re curious, click!!  Kurt Angle, Bethany Frankel and Vera Wang are the only ones I’ve heard any followup on recently.  It’s all speculation on the part of views, as I recall, so I won’t detail it here.

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.

I’m sitting here waitig for the tires to be done on my car. New Years Eve football is on in the background and I decided it would be fun to write up a list of my favorite DWTS pros. I’ll just do the female pros and leave the male pros up to one of the other Pure DWTS female bloggers. I’m also not going to list all of the pros since I don’t have a list in front of me.

So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorite female DWTS pros:
1. Julianne Hough – Julianne is one of the major reasons that I started to love DWTS. Julianne and Apolo were fantastic together. I also loved how Julianne wasn’t afraid to make comments back to the judges. Not hateful or disrespectful, just disagreeing and playful. I loved it and missed it this last season.
2. Edyta Śliwińska – I just adore Edyta’s dancing. She’s not the best teacher and not the best choreographer, but if I think back on my favorite moments on DWTS Edyta has a number of them. Her long legs don’t hurt either. I really hope she can win a mirror ball trophy.
3. Kym Johnson – Donny was definitely a ringer, but Kym had been given such crap partners before that I didn’t mind too much. Plus, she was so fantastic with less than perfect dancers like Jerry Springer that I was so glad she could finally win. I could be wrong, but I bet she’s just as nice in person as she is on TV. The accent is nice as well.
4. Chelsie Hightower – I have a feeling that Chelsie is going to move up this list over time. I can’t get some of her ‘boy’ moments (like burping) out of my head, but I still love watching her dance. She brings the most out of her partners and I think truly loves dancing.
5. Karina Smirnoff – Karina is such an amazing dancer. Some of her back bends are unbelievable. I prefer to watch her in the pro dances, but she is stunning to watch dance.
6. Lacey Schwimmer – She’s a bit of a jerk at times, but as far as dancing she is very creative. However, I’d love to see her choreograph on SYTYCD where there aren’t rules.
7. Cheryl Burke – She is likely the best choreographer on this list so I couldn’t leave her off. However, her dancing doesn’t do much for me. I’m not sure why. I’m sure she’s technically great, but just isn’t as nice to watch as the others to me.

Ok, that’s the list off the top of my head of top female DWTS pros. Is there someone I’ve left off? How would you rank them?

My oh my – we are barely done with Season 9 and the Season 10 speculation starts to crank up.

First up – Jermain Dupre is telling people he would be interested in doing Dancing with the Stars. I’ve seen this one for a couple days now and took it as just talk. I still think it’s “just talk”, but I figured I would post it in the “you just never know” category. From Access Hollywood via some site called DimeWars:

Any Amazing Race fans out there besides me and John? Well, one of the Globetrotters who just got eliminated from the race is saying HE wants to do DWTS – his nickname is Flight Time. Keep in mind that both Flight Time and Jermaine are likely just making it known they would do it if they were to be asked and I think we’re WAY too far out at this point to say this is anything more than wishful thinking on their parts. From the LA Times:

He may not have won the $1 million, but could “Amazing Race” also-ran Herbert “Flight Time” Lang be redirecting his competitive sights to a shiny Mirrorball trophy instead?

The just-eliminated Flight Time (pictured, left), of the “Race’s” popular Harlem Globetrotters team of Flight Time and Big Easy, cracked open the possibility of outfitting himself in glittery face decals and sequins when asked by EW.com if there was a chance that he could show up on another reality show. “I feel like I can do anything now,” he responded. “I enjoy watching ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and I think I’m a pretty good dancer.”

I would love it – these guys were the best sports, played a great game and they never got upset, or fought. They were very entertaining. I say yes.

Now, addressing the rumor that either Maks or Karina could be sitting in the audience next season, Maks, Karina and ABC all say it’s not true. According to Entertainment Weekly:

According to a source at ABC, “The casting of professionals is determined by the casting of the celebrities, which is still in progress.” Chmerkovskiy’s rep corroborated: “Maks has a contract that goes beyond season 10. As to if he’s coming back or not for next season, that always depends on casting.” Smirnoff’s rep called the one-or-the-other rumor “malicious,” and added, “Karina loves being on Dancing With the Stars and has a professional working relationship with Maksim. I can assure you that she has every intention of returning in the spring.”

Yeah, neither dancer is going anywhere. With each passing season, the pros are bigger stars (and bigger initial draws) than most of the celebrities. ABC will do anything to hold on to the top tier pros AND if they fight it just means better ratings and more attention. Controversy is cash. Derek is fond of saying “Well, if they cast all 6 foot tall women, then Mark and I are out.” While not necessarily true, it’s reasonably accurate – that said, I got 100 buck they make sure they have a couple shorter women in there. Although…Derek didn’t give that stock answer the most recent time he was asked….hmmmm….hold me, I’m getting scared.

Speaking of Derek – I just found out one of the things he’s doing in the off season. A pretty high profile choreography gig! He’s choreographing Cheryl Cole’s next single off her hit album in London. Cheryl Cole is a judge of the British show The X-Factor (created and also judged by Simon Cowell). She is also huge in England (and Europe?) as a recording artist and got started in a group called Girls Aloud on Pop Stars (English version of American Idol). Derek talks about his gig in this video I posted on PureDerekHough - he’s at the 10 minute mark.

Finally, I don’t know that I mentioned this before, but congratulations to Kym Johnson for her Broadway Debut in Burn the Floor!! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer girl! She’s dancing with Maks who returns to the show after a successful run in the late summer. From Theater Mania:

Kym Johnson isn’t exaggerating when she says the last week of November was “the craziest week of my life.” On Tuesday, November 24, she and her celebrity partner, Donny Osmond, were crowned champions of the ninth season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, and on Friday, November 27, she made her Broadway debut in the dance extravaganza Burn the Floor. TheaterMania recently spoke with Johnson about these significant events and her plans for the future.

TM: Is this your first time doing Burn the Floor?
KJ: I was in the original workshop in 1998, and then I toured with it for six years — we even did Radio City Music Hall. But it’s definitely changed a lot; it was more of an arena-style show in the past. Now, it’s much more intimate. I also had to learn all new choreography; but since I am really familiar with Jason Gilikson’s style, it wasn’t so hard.

TM: You’re appearing in the show with your Dancing with the Stars co-star Maksim Chmerkovskiy. What is that like?
KJ: We’re good friends, so it’s nice to be dancing with him every night. And no offense, but on Dancing, you don’t dance fully with another professional, so I am really enjoying this. Plus, on the show, I had to choreograph all the numbers and come up with songs, costumes, and all that. It’s nice that I don’t have to keep thinking every minute and I can just dance.

TM: What was your reaction when you found out your partner was going to be Donny Osmond?
KJ: The dancers are always playing guessing games before they tell us who our partners are, and I think everyone was jealous. I had a good feeling from the beginning; I knew he was dedicated and would give everything. His work ethic is so professional.

TM: What was your off-stage relationship like?
KJ: Donny is the nicest man; he had a smile on his face every day. He used to give me singing lessons on our lunch break, which was a real role reversal. He would bully me into singing, and I’d bully him into dancing. He thinks I have a good voice. He tells me I should do it professionally. We’ll see.

Maksim or Karina? ‘DWTS’ Is Deciding

It looks like all the personal drama between Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff — who broke off the engagement in September — has finally cha-cha-cha’d it’s way on to the dance floor, potentially forcing ‘Dancing With The Stars’ to decide which one of their loose-legged dancers they want most. “It’s really gotten ugly between the two of them since the spit,” a friend of the chest-waxing dancer (you guess which one) told me. Maks himself admitted to PopEater that he doesn’t talk to Karina at all anymore, saying “I’ve got to thank her for being a great instructor in the lesson of what not to look for in a woman.” Zing! We’ll give that insult a 9 for technical difficulty.

Adding to the ‘pick him or her’ rumors is Karina’s noticeable absence from the Broadway show ‘Burn The Floor,’ which once starred the two of them busting out some very sexy moves. “Maksim wouldn’t have returned to the show if the producers had insisted on him dancing with Karina,” said a theatre insider, adding that “the same will be true for the new season of ‘DWTS.’ All the feathers and sequins in the world wouldn’t be able to cover the bad feeling between those two.”

Lets hope Maksim and Karina master the peace dance before ABC is forced to play pick the hottie. And remember everyone, work romances always end in tears — so sorry, PopEater colleagues, I’m just not interested!

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.

Access Hollywood with Kelly and her parents, and Derek and Joanna:

Derek and Joanna on The View:

Entertainment Tonight continues it’s love affair with Donny Osmond:

Extra from Tuesday, November 17 – Julianne at the Twilight premiere (she’s a HUGE fan according to Derek and she did tweet a picture of her with Rob Pattinson the other night – I officially hate her. ), plus Donny and Kym on their wardrobe malfunction tango. They show a bit of Mario Lopez dancing with Karina.

Derek and Joanna on Kimmel – pretty darn funny.