Take this for what it’s worth – it’s E! and like anyone they are not always 100% accurate. But because of all the dissing of the male pros for a variety of reasons (ego, being one), I found this very interesting:

We interrupt the countdown to tonight’s Dancing With the Stars unveiling to bring you this: Kym Johnson, who won last year’s contest with Donny Osmond, will not be returning to the show for season 10, E! News has exclusively learned.

“She and her agent went after more money in her contract,” says a source close to the show. Producers were “not happy they played the money game, so they left her off and didn’t renew her contract.”

Personally, I think they all deserve more money and certainly don’t think any less of Kym for asking for it, if this article is true.

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!

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.

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?

I’ve mentioned before that Maks and Kym were taking part in the Broadway show Burn the Floor and that Maks had gotten great reviews when paired with Karina this fall. Well, the New York Post has an interview with the two of them that I thought some readers might be interested in. Side note: Alec and Edyta were scheduled to take over for Maks and Kym in January, but I read that, likely due to low ticket sales, the show is closing on or about January 10th. I don’t think this says anything about Maks or Kym but more about the economy. Granted, this is Broadway’s big season, but the competition is fierce and I think the big name musicals and shows are going to win the season. Anyway, from the New York Post:

Kym Johnson — who helped usher Donny Osmond to the No. 1 spot — and Maksim Chmerkovskiy have partnered up and are hoofing it on Broadway, putting in eight performances a week in “Burn the Floor.”

“On ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ we do a minute-and-20 second routine with a celebrity, so you’re not reaching your fullest potential,” says Johnson, who toured with “Burn the Floor” for six years before joining “DWTS.”

“You have to hold things back a little bit sometimes, but dancing with Maks in a proper Broadway show . . . the limitations are not there, you can just go as crazy as you want.”

As far as Chmerkovskiy is concerned, “DWTS” is more of “a social experiment” than the serious ballroom dancing competitions that the pros are familiar with.

“Two people are put in a room together — one is a dance professional and the other has never done it before — with a camera and it becomes a kind of ‘Big Brother’ experience,” he says.
“Now, you’re not just their dance instructor, but, at times, their shoulder to cry on, their psychiatrist, their teacher, their mentor and vice versa.”

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.

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.