Ralph Macchio | Pure Dancing with the Stars

Ralph Macchio Thinks Cast Is Already Set For DWTS All Stars, Heard It’s Previous Finalists

I’m sad. It sounds like Ralph Macchio won’t be dancing for the Dancing With The Stars All-star Season liked many of us hoped. Below is more from USA Today. Note what he reveals about the cast being already set (he thinks) and that he’s heard it will be previous top 3 “finalists” and note the word “all” (which I’m not sure how to take? 😯 ). Be sure to see the link because Ralph is interviewed about his role on “American Gypsies” too which sounds really good. Check it out!

Ralph Macchio says Dancing With the Stars gave him “a very positive shot in the arm.” Competing on the show last year was hard work, and his knees would have liked it a lot better “20 years ago,” says the original Karate Kid star, who is now 50.

But he loved performing and loved the fans. “The joy I got was how much joy everyone else got out of it.”

However, he will not be on the All-Star edition that kicks off in the fall. “I think that cast is set already,” he said Monday in a phone interview. He says, “I hear it’s finalists,” all previous top-3 performers.

“I never campaigned,” he says. (Like Joey Lawrence has on Twitter.) “I would have been flattered if they came to me, but I think it happened at the right time.”

In other words, he has other things to do.

DWTS 15 All-Star Cast Rumors List: Who’s In, Who’s Out, Who’s a Maybe, Who Knows???

With all of the coverage of the upcoming all-star season we’ve been doing, we realize it can get a little hard to keep up and remember who’s said yes, who’s said no, who’s just a maybe, etc. So for the sake of maintaining everyone’s sanity and trying to keep at least some degree of organization, here’s a handy list of what celebs we’ve been covering as it pertains to the all-star season, broken down by their original season, along with a brief summary of where they stand. We’ll keep this post stuck to the main page until the cast announcement, and we’ll post updates in red as they come in.

ETA #1: Updated with coverage of Joey Fatone & Trista Sutter, and an update of Ralph Macchio.

ETA #2: Added info on Kelly Monaco.

ETA #3: Update on Maria Menounos.

ETA #4: A little over 24 hours until the cast announcement and updates & rumors coming fast & furious! Thanks Vogue & Heidi :-)Updates on Gilles Marini, Joey Fatone, Melissa Rycroft, Stacy Keibler, Kendra Wilkinson, & Carson Kressley; added info on Melissa Joan-Hart & Pamela Anderson.

Season 1:

Trista Sutter – a few interesting tweets that seemed to imply she was heading somewhere to do something secret, but now says she is definitely not taking part in the all-star season 🙁
Kelly Monaco – hinted at a GH fan event that she was “going to need fans’ help with something that’s getting announced next Friday!”

Season 2:

Stacy Keibler – played coy, said “possibly” if she was asked to return; says we’ll “have to wait & find out”; rumored as a possible X-Factor host; Entertainment Weekly claiming she’s not likely to do the show
Drew Lachey – said he “had a blast and would be open to doing it again”, but wasn’t sure how things would play out

Season 3:

Jerry Springer – said he may do SOMETHING for the show and would love to be in the audience, but wouldn’t dance again
Mario Lopez – spilled the beans about being asked to do the all-star season on Live with Kelly way back in May, and was thinking about it; however, he now says he’s “too busy” and “doesn’t think he’ll be able to do it” – mentioned as a rumored candidate to host X-factor
Joey Lawrence – asked fans on Twitter to vote for him to get on the all-star season

Season 4:

Joey Fatone – says he isn’t really sure if he’d do it or not, and that he hasn’t gotten a call yet; Entertainment Weekly claiming he’s “likely” to do the show Read more..

DWTS Karina Smirnoff, Anna Trebunskaya, Jonathan Roberts In Florida For Millenium Dancesport Championships (Interview)

A big weekend is on tap for dancers and dancing fans alike in Florida! Tampa is hosting the largest ballroom dance competition in America. In honor of the events, Karina Smirnoff and Anna Trebunskaya will be kicking the Saturday night show off. Jonathan Roberts is one of the Judges. You can read more on the events at ABC Action News. Below is an interview with Karina who talks about the competition which she’s been involved with for a long time. The competition and the show next year will be even bigger. She talks a little on Dancing With The Stars as well. She mentions seeing J.R. Martinez yesterday and working with Ralph Macchio (her extended family) on a “special project” in a month. Lots more below….

Would Ralph Macchio Do Dancing With The Stars Again?

People.com has a nice little article posted about Ralph Macchio guest starring on Wednesday’s Happily Divorced finale. They also asked him he’d “be reaching for his dancing shoes once more” for the upcoming new All-Stars season on Dancing With The Stars? Below is a take for how he answered back.

“I would be flattered and privileged for them to ask me, and I think that on that day I would take a look,” he says. “I always enjoyed creating and telling stories with dance.”

He’s also “friends for life” with his former ballroom partner, pro Karina Smirnoff, but with all that, when pressed he admits that he’s not “dying to jump back onto the dance floor,” adding, “If I was 25, it would be a little bit easier. It’s a lot tougher to be over 40 and do that show.”

Still, should it happen that he’s selected for a parquet encore, “I said to my wife, ‘I’m gonna have to shave my head, do a little tanning and start throwing that football around if I want to go back,’ ” says Macchio, in reference to past winners Hines Ward, J.R. Martinez and Donald Driver. “At the end of the day … it’s a show.”

Oh, I so hope he does the show if asked again. If he were to say “yes”, please let the judges treat him right this time.

ADDING: Picture courtesy of Getty Images and Access Hollywood. Today Ralph and Kendra Wilkinson visited the SuriusXM Studios in New York City.

What Do You Think Of TV Guide’s Dancing With The Stars All-Star Season Dream Cast

TV Guide recently asked their readers to comment for who they’d like to see dance in the all-star edition of Dancing With The Stars next season. Below are their 12 celebrity picks which is interesting in comparing them to our numbers polled in our Dancing With The Stars All-star Cast Wish Post taking place at the moment. Some of the same celebrities are winning in our polls and some are not. So, what do you think of this cast below if it were to come true?

Kelly Monaco
Sabrina Bryan
Mel B
Gilles Marini
Melissa Rycroft
Drew Lachey
Joey Fatone
Mario Lopez
Stacy Keibler
Ralph Macchio
Evan Lysacek
Marie Osmond

I say bring them on even though I wasn’t real wild about Marie when she danced before. I especially love the idea if Ralph, Evan, Mel B, Drew, and Mario were to come back. Also, to make things more interesting, challenging, and maybe even more fair in some cases, put new partners with them from who they had before.

If you haven’t done so yet and would like to do so, be sure you vote and make your voice heard in our Poll post HERE. It’s fun to watch the results too. Stayed tuned because Marianya has some cool things planned for updating us on the results.

The Top 5 Best First Week Foxtrots in DWTS History

This is a little later than I originally intended, but alas, life throws us curve balls from time to time 🙂 As promised, here are my top 5 first week foxtrots in DWTS history…maybe something we’ll see tomorrow night will bump one of these from the list! Or maybe it will make the worst list instead…8O But how ’bout some more foxtrot stats first?

*There is a 5-way tie for the pro that has done the most week 1 foxtrots: Maks, Tony, Jonathan, Edyta, & Mark have all done the foxtrot in the first week 3 times.

*The highest first-week foxtrot score ever given was 27 – it was given to Kristi & Mark in season 6.

*The average score for a week 1 foxtrot is 19.14. The score given most often in week 1? 18.

5.) Helio & Julianne, season 5

I just loved how cute these two were together – it also didn’t hurt that Helio had a good deal of natural talent 🙂 And in what you’ll see to be a recurring theme in this countdown, it was a very traditional foxtrot, which was comprised mainly of foxtrot steps with a little bit of jazzy open work thrown in. There’s something to be said for staying in the box from time to time, kids!

4.) Laila & Maks, season 4

Another very natural mover – Laila just made everything look so EASY. I think a lot of her appeal in her season was that sense of ease, and it really came in hand in a dance like the foxtrot, where everything is supposed to have a gliding, walk-in-the-park kind of feel. Just the little bit of sass thrown in just made it perfect for week 1. Read more..

DWTS Celebrities: “What do you mean, I’m a Ringer?” Part 3

This is the 3rd and final part of the series where I take a look at the partners the pros have had and their “ringer” status. Part 1 discusses how I define a ringer – you can find it here —> I’m a Ringer?? Part 2 discusses the female pros and their partners and how I labeled them – I think it’s pretty clear that they’ve not been quite as blessed as the men. Reasons for that should be self evident – female celebrities are more likely to have some sort of dance experience, even if it is taking ballet or tap as a child. NOTE: This was mostly written before the pairings were announced for Season 14 – those pairings certainly change the game for lots of pros. Lots of potential ringers on this season.

I strongly recommend you read the first two parts before you comment – I don’t want to have to reiterate everything I wrote MONTHS ago. 🙂 Also, be wise and don’t complain about the length, admit that you didn’t read it all, and then argue with me – that will just earn you scorn and an eye roll. I know this is long – I considered breaking it into two parts, but then I figured it’s still long in two parts. People will either be interested or they won’t. :::shrug::: Also take note that I, personally, don’t care about ringers themselves. I think a season without them is deadly. What I DO care about is hypocrisy, revisionist history and the fairy tales that some like to spread about who has had ringers and who hasn’t.

From where I sit, there are two types of ringers – and then there’s just being blessed. Fanbase ringer (ie. Donny Osmond, etc.) or Experience Ringer (Mel B, Nicole, Sabrina, etc.), and lucky get (Lalia, Brooke, Gilles, JR). Just because someone happens to be a great dancer doesn’t mean they are a ringer. When someone is blessed with a partner who can dance, it doesn’t mean they were handed a ringer. That particular argument is so illogical that it’s hard for me to take seriously. If they actually seriously auditioned people to be on this show by making them dance with a pro for an hour or two, it would be understandable. But they don’t stand people in a room with a pro dancer and then say, “wow, she’s got some moves, let’s give her to Maks” or “she sucks, lets give her to Tony.” It doesn’t work that way. If it did, they wouldn’t be able to get people on the show. And can you imagine a pro like Tony sticking around if that was the approach they took?

As it happens, and as many people connected to the show have reiterated, the process of how a pro gets a celebrity often has to do with height, personality, looks, chemistry and the cast as a whole…and this becomes obvious as the show progresses. They are actually quite good at matching people up. I would imagine they give this a lot of consideration as it impacts, or has the potential to impact, ratings. You’re going to try to avoid having a bunch of pairings that make people go “eeewww” or get seriously pissed off. I think you need to limit that to one couple per season. Can you imagine what it would be like for every pro on a season to have a partnership similar to that of Hope and Maks?? I would want to stab my eyes out with a fork if they were ALL like that and there was no Carson/Anna or David/Kym. Seriously – think about it. So, it may be good to have ONE Maks/Hope – gives people (me and Courtney) something to talk about, rant about, get passionate about, etc. (This is separate from a discussion of whether Maks finally went too far or not – I don’t think that’s what the producers intended.) Read more..

DWTS14 Casting Rumors – The Typecasting of Season 14, Part II

So we’re less than 24 hours away from finding out who is and isn’t part of this season’s cast. Who’s pumped??? I know I am…but we’ve still got a few hours left to speculate, so let’s see what other cast types we’ve to fill this season, shall we? 😉 For those of you that may have missed it, check out part I as well.

The Teen Idol

Previous examples: Joey McIntyre, Aaron Carter, Donny Osmond, Lance Bass, Mel B., Joey Fatone, Drew Lachey, Joey Lawrence, Ian Ziering, Cody Linley, Sabrina Bryan, Mario Lopez, Kyle Massey, Chelsea Kane, Romeo

Advantages: If sales of Tiger Beat are any indicator, the teenyboppers will come out in full force to support their favorite heartthrobs/idols. Being young & good-lookin’ sure doesn’t hurt! Many also have the added advantage of having a decent dance background, especially if they were part of a musical act.

Disadvantages: Youth can also have its disadvantages – as in immaturity. What some might call “youthful exuberance”, others might call “immaturity” or “attention deficit disorder” – poor Cody Linley had a hard time sitting still! Emotional immaturity (a la Aaron Carter’s post-rumba meltdown in the confessional) can be especially off-putting. They’ve also got to contend with the large middle-aged female contingent of viewers/voters – they far outnumber the young viewers likely to vote for them.

Possible candidates this season: There’s that random Nicole Anderson chick that’s a friend of Chelsea Kane’s, and Heidi found some compelling evidence that rapper Darnell Robinson may be participating this season.

The Host

Previous examples: Jerry Springer, Brooke Burke, Leeza Gibbons, Mario Lopez, Kenny Mayne, Lisa Rinna, Tucker Carlson, Mark Dacascos, Rocco DiSpirito, Erin Andrews, Wendy Williams, Mike Catherwood, Carson Kressley, Nancy Grace, Ricki Lake

Advantages: Being that they’ve been at the helm of their own shows, these guys usually have the media savvy & charisma to appeal to the masses, as well as the previous exposure & recognizability. Most (not all!) are also decently attractive, which never seems to hurt (unless, of course, you’re a model – see previous post for explanation).

Disadvantages: Many hosts are only used to hosting – as in just sitting down & talking (or dodging the occasional punch, if you’re Springer), so the lack of movement experience problem seems to come into play.

Possible candidates this season: This category seems to have EXPLODED with possibilities this season – the most solid of which being Sherri Shepherd, who was caught leaving the DWTS studio the other day. I’m still wondering if someone fr0m GMA is part of the cast this season, since they all seemed to act so coy when announcing they’d be revealing the cast. And then we have the Maria Menounos rumor as well.

The Actor

Previous examples: John O’Hurley, Melissa Joan Hart, Steve Guttenburg, John Ratzenberger, Debi Mazar, Denise Richards, Ted McGinley, Shannon Elizabeth, Jennie Garth, Vivica Fox, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Shannen Doherty, Jennifer Grey, David Hasselhoff, Ralph Macchio, Kirstie Alley, David Arquette

Advantages: Being that their bread & butter is acting, most can usually nail the emotions of the dances. Bonus points if they’ve done any Broadway (like Winokur) because they have likely had dance experience.

Disadvantages: For lack of a better term, many of them seem to be “has-beens” – actors that haven’t been particularly active in the mainstream in the past several years – or were never that big to begin with (can anyone else think of anything John O’Hurley has been in BESIDES Seinfeld?), making it harder for them to garner votes from a public who may not remember them.

Possible candidates this season: We’ve got Melissa Gilbert & Ryan O’Neal, of course, but nothing really beyond that.

The Reality Star

Previous examples: Kim Kardashian, Kelly Osbourne, Melissa Rycroft, Steve-O, Holly Madison, Trista Sutter, Shanna Moakler, Kate Gosselin, Jake Pavelka, Audrina Patridge, The Situation, Rob Kardashian, Kristin Cavallari

Advantages: Many have achieved pop culture icon status on their respective reality outlets, making them fairly recognizable.

Disadvantages: They may be memorable for the wrong reasons – people tended to remember things like Kim Kardashian’s sex tape more than her reality show when she was on DWTS, and people seemed more focused on Holly Madison’s split from Hef than her antics on The Girls Next Door. Many can also come across as attention-hungry & talentless(*cough*JakePavelka*cough*) – reality TV is often looked down upon as a way to get famous without having any talent whatsoever.

Possible candidates this season: Lots of talk about Ali Fedotowsky, who suspiciously moved to LA last week.

The Singer:

Previous examples: Mya, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mario, Belinda Carlisle, Master P, Chuck Wicks, Sara Evans, Willa Ford, Monique Coleman, Toni Braxton, Macy Gray, Nicole Scherzinger, Chynna Phillips

Advantages: As with the teen idols, many have had dance experience concurrent with their music careers.

Disadvantages: Most seem to be committed solely to one genre of music (often R&B or country), making it hard to appeal to a wide fanbase.

Possible candidates this season: Lots of loose lips at the Grammys about Gavin DeGraw, but it seems like less of a possibility now, considering that he is about to go on tour.

The Wild Card

Previous examples: Heather Mills, Tom DeLay, Mark Cuban, Steve Wozniak, Priscilla Presley, Buzz Aldrin, Bristol Palin, Chaz Bono

Advantages: The sheer novelty of having someone with such an off-the-beaten-path claim to fame (famous divorcee/widow, entrepreneur, disgraced politician, etc.) may be enough to have the public voting them – just to see what happens. Being the “underdog” is a powerful thing…as we saw with Bristol in season 11!

Disadvantages: Due to their often dubious fame, people just may not have any clue who they are – I personally had to Google Mark Cuban’s name. There’s also the risk of backlash from some viewers who don’t think they’re “stars” per se, and shouldn’t even be on the show in the first place.

Possible candidates this season: Surprisingly, not too many outlandish rumors…especially since Herman Cain & Michelle Bachman have denied they’re doing the show. Phew!

So we’re getting down to the wire, kids…any last-minute predictions before the big reveal? 😉

Part 2 Carson Kressley And Karina Smirnoff Promote Past Episodes Of DWTS & More! (Video)

Below is another promo Carson and Karina did for Kasa.com in Santa Fe, NM leading up to tonight’s premiere of past episodes of Dancing With The Stars airing on the Game Show Network. They dish on Season 13 and the family they found. They talk of the costuming department. Carson even talks of coming back for Season 14 and being a guest judge or being part of the band. I’m not sure if he’s being serious or not, but, I’m game! How about you? LOL!

Karina Smirnoff and Carson Kressley of DWTS: kasa.com

Here’s to tonight at 6 p.m. ET on GSN. In cased you missed it and if you’d like to watch Part 1 of Karina and Carson being interviewed some more, go here.

Carson Kressley And Karina Smirnoff Promote Past Episodes Of DWTS Airing On GSN (Videos)

Carson Kressley and Karina Smirnoff were guests on Good Day LA and ABC’s Table Talk in Salt Lake City, Utah today to talk about Dancing With The Stars and the past episodes airing on the Game Show Network this weekend. As always, Carson is a hoot and Karina is informational as ever on a deeper level. I’ll let the videos below do the talkin’ this time (their interview in the second video starts at the 6:26 mark). 🙂

Carson and Karina Talk Dancing With The Stars: MyFoxLA.com

Don’t forget the fun begins on Saturday, Jan. 21st at 6 p.m. ET on GSN. To view all of our previous postings leading up to this event, go here.

Ralph Macchio Thinks Cast Is Already Set For DWTS All Stars, Heard It’s Previous Finalists

DWTS 15 All-Star Cast Rumors List: Who’s In, Who’s Out, Who’s a Maybe, Who Knows???

DWTS Karina Smirnoff, Anna Trebunskaya, Jonathan Roberts In Florida For Millenium Dancesport Championships (Interview)

Would Ralph Macchio Do Dancing With The Stars Again?

What Do You Think Of TV Guide’s Dancing With The Stars All-Star Season Dream Cast

The Top 5 Best First Week Foxtrots in DWTS History

DWTS Celebrities: “What do you mean, I’m a Ringer?” Part 3

DWTS14 Casting Rumors – The Typecasting of Season 14, Part II

Part 2 Carson Kressley And Karina Smirnoff Promote Past Episodes Of DWTS & More! (Video)

Carson Kressley And Karina Smirnoff Promote Past Episodes Of DWTS Airing On GSN (Videos)

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