ABC's 'Dancing with the Stars' to feature 'Bachelorette' Trista
Sutter among its celebrities

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By Steve Rogers, 05/10/2005

ABC has announced the identities of the six celebrities competing in
Dancing with the Stars, its previously announced six-episode
adaptation of the British Strictly Come Dancing ballroom dancing
competition series that the network will premiere Wednesday, June 1 at
9PM ET/PT. And in a move that is bound to polarize reality fans, the
network has cast former original Bachelorette Trista Rehn, now known
as Trista Sutter, as one of the show's participants.

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In addition to the stunt casting of Trista, Dancing with the Stars
will also feature another face familiar to reality TV viewers -- that
of Rachel Hunter, the former supermodel who appeared in last winter's
The Real Gilligan's Island TBS reality show and served as a judge on
ABC's critically-panned Are You Hot? in 2003.

Rounding out the rest of the show's celebrity cast will be former
heavyweight boxing champion of the world Evander Holyfield, one-time
New Kids on the Block member Joey McIntyre, actor John O'Hurley (best
known for his portrayal of Seinfeld's J. Peterman character), and
Kelly Monaco, an actress on ABC's General Hospital daytime soap opera.

An unusual reality concept, Dancing with the Stars will feature six
celebrities paired with leading professional dancers and training to
compete -- complete with dazzling costumes -- in a live knockout
ballroom dancing competition. Similar to Fox's American Idol, Dancing
with the Stars will have an audience participation element, with each
episode allowing viewers to vote for the dancer that they feel has
best learned to master and execute the difficult dance moves.

"I am fully aware that this may sound like the craziest show anyone
has ever heard of," ABC executive Andrea Wong stated in last month's
announcement of the network's pickup of the series. "But in a world
where it's easier for reality series to imitate than innovate, I just
loved how fresh this format is. And the show's global success just
shows how audiences around the world find it to be surprising, and
undeniably fun."

Given that ABC recognizes that the odd series is likely to need all
the help that it can get if it hopes to connect with viewers, the
stunt casting return of Trista -- arguably the network's biggest
reality star -- is, in retrospect, unsurprising and consistent with
the "Romber" approach that CBS recently used for its burgeoning The
Amazing Race series. Then again, given that newlyweds Rob Mariano and
Amber Brkich will soon join Trista and her husband Ryan Sutter in
having their wedding televised, perhaps Trista simply felt that
turnabout was fair play (after all, coming on the heels of Trista and
Ryan's appearance on February's NBC Fear Factor: Reality Stars
special, neither reality couple appears particularly anxious to leave
the spotlight anytime soon.)

ABC has also announced the identities of each celebrity's partner.
Trista will be competing with Louis van Amstel, a Latin dance world
legend. Hunter will be competing with Jonathan Roberts, the 2004 USA
Rising Star Latin Champion and the twice-undefeated USA Pro-Am 10
Dance Champion. Holyfield will be competing with Edyta Sliwinska, who
won the 2001 International Grand Ballroom Competition and the 2001
Holiday Ball. McIntyre will be competing with Ashly Delgrosso, who has
won several Amateur Ten Dance titles with her ex-husband. O'Hurley
will be competing with Charlotte Jorgensen, a Danish beauty who has
held several titles, including 1999 U.S. Open Champion and 1998
Japanese Open International Ballroom Champion. Monaco will be
competing with Alec Mazo, a former Emerald Ball Latin Champion who
also placed first in the 2001 International Grand Ball and the 2001
Holiday Ball. Alec also recently began competing professionally with
his girlfriend of four years, Edyta Sliwinska -- the woman who is
serving as Holyfield during the competition.

With production of the series having already begun, the couples are
already undergoing the intense training and preparation that will be
required for Dancing with the Stars' first live show. During live
shows, judges will give a score based on several factors, including
technical execution, however as mentioned earlier, the judges' scores
alone will not decide a couple's fate. Instead, the judges' scores
will be combined with those of the show's home viewers, with the
combination forming the ultimate score that will determine each
couples' ranking.

At the end of each episode, the couple with the lowest score will be
eliminated (although no couple will be eliminated in the first show.)
When the final two couples remain, the ultimate dance-off will
determine which couple wins the show's first prize trophy.