Dancing With the Stars Celebrity Lineup Announced  8/16/06

A SPECTACULAR LINEUP OF STARS MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE DANCE FLOOR ON THE THIRD SEASON OF ABC'S HUGE HIT VARIETY SERIES, "DANCING WITH THE STARS," PREMIERING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

An American football superstar, a legendary TV talk show host, an award-winning country music singing star, an ultra-conservative TV political pundit, a movie star and a former beauty queen are among the performers who will compete this season on "Dancing with the Stars," premiering TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

Hosted by Tom Bergeron ("Americas Funniest Home Videos") and co-hosted by Samantha Harris (E! Entertainment), the new season brings an exciting lineup of even more celebrities than before. The 11 couples heading to the dance floor this season are:

TUCKER CARLSON - MSNBC news anchor -- and often controversial -- conservative political TV pundit and columnist. He will be partnered with professional dancer Elena Grinenko, who makes her series debut this season.

MONIQUE COLEMAN - Actress and teen idol from Disney Channel's smash hit "High School Musical." She will be partnered with professional dancer Louis Van Amstel, who returns for his third season. Van Amstel danced with Lisa Rinna and Trista Sutter in previous seasons.

SARA EVANS - Academy of Country Music Top Female Vocalist and top-selling singing sensation. Sara will dance with Tony Dovolani, who partnered with Stacy Keibler in the second season.

WILLA FORD - Singing sensation and self-professed "bad girl of pop." Professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who teamed up with Tia Carrere last season, will be her professional dance partner.

VIVICA A. FOX - Stunning film and television actress/producer who has starred in several major blockbusters including "Kill Bill" and "Independence Day." She will be partnered with professional dancer Nick Kosovich, who returns for his second season. He was previously paired with Tatum O'Neal.

HARRY HAMLIN - Film and TV star of the hit, award-winning drama series "L.A. Law" and husband of "Dancing with the Stars" alumna Lisa Rinna. Professional dancer Ashly Delgrosso returns to the series for her third season. She was previously paired with Master P and Joey McIntyre.

JOE LAWRENCE - Actor and former teen heartthrob. Professional dancer Edyta Sliwinska, who returns for her third season, will be his partner. She previously partnered with George Hamilton and Evander Holyfield.

MARIO LOPEZ - Actor and TV host. He will be partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff, who makes her series debut.

SHANNA MOAKLER - National beauty queen, actress, model and reality television star. Professional dancer Jesse DeSoto joins the cast for the first time this season as her partner.

EMMITT SMITH - An NFL legend and three-time Super Bowl champion who holds the world's all-time leading rushing record and is considered one of the greatest football players to ever play the game. He will be partnered with "Dancing with the Stars" season two professional dance champion, Cheryl Burke.

JERRY SPRINGER - Notorious TV talk show host of "The Jerry Springer Show," talk radio broadcaster and politician. He will be partnered with Australian beauty, professional dancer Kym Johnson, who makes her series debut this season. Kym was the champion of the Australian "Dancing with the Stars."

Each week this season, the celebrity and professional dance pairs will perform live choreographed Latin and traditional ballroom dance routines to popular live music performed by a 15-piece orchestra led by musical director Harold Wheeler. The expert panel of beloved and sometimes maligned judges, former ballroom dancer Len Goodman and dancer/choreographers Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba, will return for a third season to weigh in on the pairs' performances. The viewing public also gets to weigh in, by phoning in or voting online for their favorite performers. The scores are combined and the outcome will be announced during a results show the following evening.

Each Wednesday the suspense will uild as the dancing couple with the lowest combined score is eliminated on "Dancing with the Stars, The Results," premiering WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). Each results show will feature exciting live performances by award-winning, multi-platinum selling pop, country and Latin musical artists.

In its competitive Thursday time period, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" ("DWTS") earned second place to CBS, beating NBC in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. The series improved the time slot for ABC by 12 million viewers and by 127% in Adults 18-49, over the Net's average with regular programming prior to its debut. In addition, the series emerged as one of TV's Top 10 most-watched shows for the 2005-06 season (No. 7) and represents ABC's top-rated Thursday night series in viewers and young adults in the last six seasons - since the 1999-00 season. In its second season finale on Sunday, Feb. 26, "DWTS" marked the series' best numbers ever across the board, surpassing its first season finale by +4.8 million viewers and by 28% in Adults 18-49. The "DWTS" finale drew an average audience of 27.2 million viewers with nearly 30 million people watching during the final half-hour while the winner was announced.

"Dancing with the Stars" is the U.S. version of the international smash hit series, "Strictly Come Dancing." This version is produced in America by BBC Worldwide. Conrad Green is executive producer and Izzie Pick is co-executive producer. Rob Wade and Matilda Zoltowski are supervising producers. Alex Rudzinski directs.

"Dancing with the Stars" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound and Spanish audio via SAP.

Source: ABC Press Release