chicot60
03-01-2011, 10:47 AM
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY
Competitive dancing may be new for the latest Dancing With the Stars participants, but they know how to play themselves on TV.
Four of the Season 12 performers (actress Kirstie Alley, former Hugh Hefner girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson, supermodel Petra Nemcova and singer Romeo) have hosted or starred as themselves; three others (Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward, boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard and WWE wrestler Chris Jericho) are well known to sports fans; and another (Wendy Williams) has her own talk show.
They will be joined by actors Ralph Macchio and Chelsea Kane and radio host "Psycho" Mike Catherwood — but not by former Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, who had said she was approached — when the ABC dancing competition returns March 21 (8 ET/PT).
Senior producer Deena Katz, who oversees casting, says she was trying to keep things "really current" with performers who have shows on the air now and with an athlete like Ward, whose team played in the Super Bowl less than a month ago.
"I think it's going to be a great season like last season, a really tough competition and you don't have any idea from the beginning who's going to go home," she says. "On this one, everybody stands on their own merit. There is no real front-runner."
Alley, who has lost 60 pounds but would like to lose more, appreciates the exercise regimen of "dancing boot camp," she says. "I don't think there could be anything better, as long as you don't break your ankles, wrists and body parts."
As far as the competition, she doesn't want to get ahead of herself: "Before I think of the win, I need to think of completion of a dance without falling on my (butt)."
Wilkinson, star of E!'s Kendra and The Girls Next Door, says Dancing will let her show a different side.
The spring lineup
Kirstie Alley, 60, Emmy-winning actress (Cheers, Look Who's Talking films, Fat Actress)
Michael "Psycho Mike" Catherwood, 31, radio host (KROQ-FM and Loveline)
Chris Jericho, 40, six-time WWE world champion
Chelsea Kane, 22, actress (Jonas, Fish Hooks), musician
Sugar Ray Leonard, 54, former world boxing champion
Ralph Macchio, 49, actor (The Karate Kid, My Cousin Vinny)
Petra Nemcova, 31, supermodel, reality host (A Model's Life)
Romeo (Miller), 21, music artist, actor, entrepreneur
Hines Ward, 34, Pittsburgh Steelers all-time leading wide receiver, 2006 Super Bowl MVP
Kendra Wilkinson, 25, reality star (Kendra, The Girls Next Door)
Wendy Williams, 46, talk host (The Wendy Williams Show)
"This is definitely my way of turning and finding my inner woman, being a lady. My life is so played out in the tabs and on TV, this is my way of showing a whole other side of me," Wilkinson says. "This is my way of not going to the club and booty-shaking and drinking alcohol. It's my way of showing class and elegance and that I'm having a good time on top of that."
Leonard, who has no formal dancing experience, hopes his boxing background will be beneficial.
"The only dancing I did was in the ring. If that translates to the dance floor, I'm in good hands," he says. "I'm not in there just to compete. I'm in there to win. I'm not just some face to occupy the time. I'll work as hard as I can with whoever my partner is. Like when I first started boxing, because I was a student, I listened to my coach and whatever he asked me to do. I will do the same thing with whoever my partner is."
Ward, MVP of the 2006 Super Bowl, says football players in the competition have set the bar high.
"All the former NFL guys have done fairly well, so hopefully I can carry on that tradition. We're a bunch of prideful men in the NFL, so I don't want to be known as that guy who got kicked off first," he says.
And if he's able to win, as former running back Emmitt Smith did? "I've got a place on my mantel. I'd love to get that ballroom trophy. It would be a nice consolation prize, especially after losing (this year's) Super Bowl."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2011-03-01-dancing01_ST_N.htm
Competitive dancing may be new for the latest Dancing With the Stars participants, but they know how to play themselves on TV.
Four of the Season 12 performers (actress Kirstie Alley, former Hugh Hefner girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson, supermodel Petra Nemcova and singer Romeo) have hosted or starred as themselves; three others (Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward, boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard and WWE wrestler Chris Jericho) are well known to sports fans; and another (Wendy Williams) has her own talk show.
They will be joined by actors Ralph Macchio and Chelsea Kane and radio host "Psycho" Mike Catherwood — but not by former Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, who had said she was approached — when the ABC dancing competition returns March 21 (8 ET/PT).
Senior producer Deena Katz, who oversees casting, says she was trying to keep things "really current" with performers who have shows on the air now and with an athlete like Ward, whose team played in the Super Bowl less than a month ago.
"I think it's going to be a great season like last season, a really tough competition and you don't have any idea from the beginning who's going to go home," she says. "On this one, everybody stands on their own merit. There is no real front-runner."
Alley, who has lost 60 pounds but would like to lose more, appreciates the exercise regimen of "dancing boot camp," she says. "I don't think there could be anything better, as long as you don't break your ankles, wrists and body parts."
As far as the competition, she doesn't want to get ahead of herself: "Before I think of the win, I need to think of completion of a dance without falling on my (butt)."
Wilkinson, star of E!'s Kendra and The Girls Next Door, says Dancing will let her show a different side.
The spring lineup
Kirstie Alley, 60, Emmy-winning actress (Cheers, Look Who's Talking films, Fat Actress)
Michael "Psycho Mike" Catherwood, 31, radio host (KROQ-FM and Loveline)
Chris Jericho, 40, six-time WWE world champion
Chelsea Kane, 22, actress (Jonas, Fish Hooks), musician
Sugar Ray Leonard, 54, former world boxing champion
Ralph Macchio, 49, actor (The Karate Kid, My Cousin Vinny)
Petra Nemcova, 31, supermodel, reality host (A Model's Life)
Romeo (Miller), 21, music artist, actor, entrepreneur
Hines Ward, 34, Pittsburgh Steelers all-time leading wide receiver, 2006 Super Bowl MVP
Kendra Wilkinson, 25, reality star (Kendra, The Girls Next Door)
Wendy Williams, 46, talk host (The Wendy Williams Show)
"This is definitely my way of turning and finding my inner woman, being a lady. My life is so played out in the tabs and on TV, this is my way of showing a whole other side of me," Wilkinson says. "This is my way of not going to the club and booty-shaking and drinking alcohol. It's my way of showing class and elegance and that I'm having a good time on top of that."
Leonard, who has no formal dancing experience, hopes his boxing background will be beneficial.
"The only dancing I did was in the ring. If that translates to the dance floor, I'm in good hands," he says. "I'm not in there just to compete. I'm in there to win. I'm not just some face to occupy the time. I'll work as hard as I can with whoever my partner is. Like when I first started boxing, because I was a student, I listened to my coach and whatever he asked me to do. I will do the same thing with whoever my partner is."
Ward, MVP of the 2006 Super Bowl, says football players in the competition have set the bar high.
"All the former NFL guys have done fairly well, so hopefully I can carry on that tradition. We're a bunch of prideful men in the NFL, so I don't want to be known as that guy who got kicked off first," he says.
And if he's able to win, as former running back Emmitt Smith did? "I've got a place on my mantel. I'd love to get that ballroom trophy. It would be a nice consolation prize, especially after losing (this year's) Super Bowl."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2011-03-01-dancing01_ST_N.htm