Dish Of Salt: ABC’s New ‘Dancing’ Partners (August 14, 2006)

by Laura Saltman

Strap on your dancing shoes and bust out your skimpy outfits, ABC today announced their lineup for Season Three of “Dancing with the Stars”. A few of the stars had already leaked out over the summer. I mean who didn’t know that Lisa Rinna’s husband Harry Hamlin was a lock? I got confirmation of this back in May. The folks at ABC would have been silly to let the opportunity to have him dance slip by. Lisa is a spitfire and he was a great cheerleader for her last season. The two of them together bring great energy to the show and I’m excited to see Lisa now sitting on the sidelines wearing her Team Harry shirt. Now, finally the adorable professional dancer, Ashly Delgrosso will get a chance to shine and show she can really move with the best of them. You’ll recall she was the unlucky gal paired with Mr. Two Left Shoes, Master P last season.

It had also been reported in the tabloids, a while ago, that “Saved by the Bell” star, Mario Lopez, was in. We asked Mario about it a couple of months ago and he denied the rumor. I heard he had a scheduling conflict but I guess it all worked out. He and fellow former teen Idol and “Blossom” star, Joey “Whoa” Lawrence, were apparently the last two to sign on to the show. The cat got out of the bag, on Joey, last week when our producer ran into him at Third Street Dance where the dancers rehearse. Oh oops. It’s just been brought to my attention that it’s not Joey anymore. Mr. Lawrence would like to be referred to as Joe now. He is a grown up after all, I guess. Mario will take to the floor with a professional partner who is a newcomer to the show, Karina Smirnoff. Hmmm. Any relation to the vodka company I wonder? Joe will have a tough act to follow partnering up with George Hamilton’s former gal, Edyta Sliwinska, who has quite possibly the hottest bod on the show.

Last season, Jerry Rice, was the highest vote getter each and every week by the viewers. So, look for football legend, Emmitt Smith to fair pretty well as he shows off his moves on the show. He’s got a tough act to follow though partnering up with, Cheryl Burke who helped earn Drew Lachey the trophy.

The dancing hasn’t even started but my personal favorite on the list is Jerry Springer. I wonder if he’ll bring his troupe of bodyguards to the show? Hey, you never know when of these audience members might start throwing chairs. I’m sure he’ll at least add some comic relief to the show the way George Hamilton and John O’Hurley did in the past. His partner is a newcomer Kym Johnson, who was the winner of Australia’s version of “Dancing with the Stars.” She’s apparently a hot, sexy little blonde gal whose Australian “celebrity” partner was some dude named Tom Williams who is a TV host in Australia. I looked it up, In case anyone was wondering. Not that you were.

Rounding out the men is MSNBC host, Tucker Carlson, who’s known for his sometimes controversial comments and his penchant for wearing bowties. I wonder if he’ll incorporate that into his costumes. Like last season’s ESPN host, Kenny Mayne, who got knocked out in the first round, Tucker will have an uphill battle coming from the world of cable. Plus, he has an unknown dance partner, Elena Grinenko, who is making her show debut.

On the women’s side we also already knew several months ago about Vivica A. Fox signing on. She didn’t exactly do a great job keeping the secret around town, even asking our producer at the BET awards, in June, if he was planning on voting for her. She’ll be partnering with Nick Kosovich who was knocked out in round two last season after he waltzed with Tatum O’Neal.

Country music star, Sara Evans has quite possibly the hardest act to follow. She’ll be dancing with Tony Dovolani, who helped expertly show off those 42-inch legs on Stacy Keibler each week. The “Stacy” of this group may be a toss up between two blondes, former Miss USA, Shanna Moakler and pop star wannabe, Willa Ford. The show could be good therapy for Shanna who has all over the tabloids this week since her husband, Blink 182’s Travis Barker filed for divorce last week. She’s got an unknown dance partner, Jesse DeSoto, while Willa will mix it up with hottie dancer, Maxsim Chmerkovskiy, who I would have liked to have seen a lot more of last year. He’s hot.

And finally, ABC is working their synergy and probably trying to bring in the young crowd putting a Disney star on the roster. “High School Musical” star, Monique Coleman, will be the youngest in the group. Though she’s actually no teenager. Monique is 25 years old! I wonder if the tweenagers who love her know this. Even if she doesn’t bring in the young crowd. She does have an advantage in that she is paired with popular dancer, Louis Van Amstel, who whipped Lisa Rinna into tiptop shape.

Rehearsals are underway (I’ll be hanging with Jerry Springer at his tomorrow) and the show premieres September 12th. I plan on being backstage each and every week to give you all you “Dancing” fans the inside scoop. If you aren’t a “Dancing” fan then you don’t know what you are missing! You need to check it out.