Dancing With the Stars will premiere on Sept 22 with 16 celebrity dancers, according to the show’s executive producer Conrad Green. It appears unlikely that American Idol judge Paula Abdul will be sitting at the judges table because Green said that table is “already full” – but he acknowledged that the show would welcome her as a guest judge or even as a competitor.
“This is going to be our biggest-ever cast,” Green confided to ET. “We are going to start big, and then about halfway through we are going to do double eliminations back-to-back. The middle of the season is going to be brutal when half of our cast goes in three weeks.”
There has been a lengthy list of celebrities who have either confirmed that they have been invited to participate as celebrity dancers – or are rumored to be in consideration. But Green is not offering names. Instead, the announcement will be made on the Aug 17 edition of Good Morning America.
Also adding drama to the season, “Dancing With the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance” may end up battling for viewers since part each of the results shows will overlap.
In order to accommodate the number of new celebrity dancers, Dancing With the Stars will add professional dancer Anna Demidova. The Russian model has accumulated multiple dance titles, including International Grand Ball 10 Dance Champion, USA Dance National Standard Champion and was two-time U.S. Youth International Standard Champion.
However, it appears that no new professional dancers will be sliding over from “So You Think You Can Dance” as has been the case in past seasons. Chelsie Hightower, Dmitry Chaplin and Lacey Schwimmer are all SYTYCD alumni.
“We were turning into their alumni show," Green laughed, “but we may bring in one or two new faces. We haven’t decided yet whether to bring in new faces or more of our favorites.”
As for Abdul, Green said, “She has never been trained in ballroom and Latin so that (her appearing as a competitor) is a possibility …. It is for Paula to work out. At the moment, the world is her oyster. Everyone wants her. At our show, we are great fans of Paula.”
Green explained that the reason why the show will have an increased number of competitors includes the fact that there is a two-hour time slot to fill and it is important to change the show from season to season. It is expected that fans will see more athletes, including those from sports not formerly represented on the show; some rather eccentric personalities and a couple of celebrities that fans would never expect to be dancing.
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