Dancing with the Stars: Season 9

[jcar03]

It’s going to be a crowded ballroom for Dancing with the Stars’ ninth season. Sixteen celebrities — including Donny Osmond, Melissa Joan Hart and Aaron Carter — have signed on to do the cha cha and the paso doble on the ABC show, which premieres Monday, Sept. 21.

“When we increase the cast we find it makes the competition more interesting,” DWTS executive producer Conrad Green tells PEOPLE. “It was about trying to make it as big as possible and try to get that sense of fun and excitement and real character come through on the show.”

The sweet 16 lineup, which was announced live on Good Morning America Monday, also includes familiar faces like former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin, reality star Kelly Osbourne and supermodel-turned-billionaire businesswoman Kathy Ireland. Lesser-known celebrities, like snowboarder Louie Vito, Iron Chef’s Mark Dacascos and model Joanna Krupa join the cast as well. But by far the most eyebrow-raising contestant is former House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

“He’s a fairly divisive figure in as much as Democrats will probably be hoping he fails and Republicans will probably be melting down the phones to keep him in,” Green admits. “I love that kind of level of engagement.”

Adds Green: “Tom loves dancing. He dances with his wife. He watches Dancing with the Stars religiously. For him it was a no brainer, but for us it was an absolute shock.”

Professional dancer/celebrity pairings will be announced on August 24, Green says, “because of geography, people will be meeting their partners for the first time at various times throughout the week.”

The complete cast for Dancing Season Nine

Ashley Hamilton and Edyta Sliwinska ELIMINATED WEEK 1

Macy Gray and Jonathan Roberts ELIMINATED WEEK 1

Kathy Ireland and Tony Dovolani ELIMINATED WEEK 2

Tom DeLay and Cheryl Burke WITHDREW WEEK 3 (two fractured feet)

Debi Mazar and Maksim Chmerkovskiy ELIMINATED WEEK 3

Chuck Liddell and Anna Trebunskaya ELIMINATED WEEK 4

Natalie Coughlin and Alec Mazo ELIMINATED WEEK 5

Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Ballas ELIMINATED WEEK 6

Louie Vito and Chelsie Hightower ELIMINATED WEEK 6 (via dance off with Michael Irvin)

Michael Irvin and Anna Demidova ELIMINATED WEEK 7

Mark Dacascos and Lacey Schwimmer ELMINATED WEEK 7 (via dance off w/Aaron Carter)

Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff ELIMINATED WEEK 8

Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough ELIMINATED WEEK 9

Kelly Osbourne and Louis van Amstel 3RD PLACE

Mya and Dmitry Chaplin RUNNER UP

Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson WINNER

–Monica Rizzo

PER PEROPLE: http://tvwatch.people.com/2009/08/17/new-dancing-stars-revealed/

Pairings from: http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/abc-formally-reveals-dancing-with-stars-professional-partner-pairings-9399.php

[Ann_SS]

Don't watch, usually don't care, but I root for Cowboy playerd so "go Michael, you are a doofus, but you are our doofus! Kick some butt like Emmit."

[Southofnowhere]

The Iceman RULES! Hopefully he'll choke out Tom Delay!

[Cheyenne]

That a pretty good line up. I'm curious on Ashley Hamilton, Mya, Macy Gray, Kathy Ireland, Debi Mazar, Natalie Coughlin and Melissa Joan Hart. And I'm super exited about Mark Dacascos. It's funny how they listed Mark as "Iron Chef personality". Too me he's an actor and an amazing martial artist!

One thing though. I usually don't judge before I see what they can do on the dance floor. But I can't stand Kelly Osbourne.

[jcar03]

^^I had to look up and see who he was but know I see he is the host who does the over dramatic mystery ingredient reveal.

[Cheyenne]

Have to say they seem to have put together a great cast. My favorites are Mya, Mark Dacascos, Aaron Carter (actually) Natalie Coughlin, Melissa Joan Hart and wow never thought I'd say this but Kelly Osbourne is good. How did that happen?

Love the tribute to Patrick Swayze on the Result show! Beautiful! ♥

[Cheap21]

I lost all respect for Len. I cant believe he gave Mya a 5! That was not professional judging; that was pure spite for Bruno getting in his face. Theres no way in hell Mya danced horrible enough to get a 5. WTF was he smoking? I loved when Tom asked him if he's been to 3 bars before the show....lol

[Cheyenne]

A 5 was too harsh, a 6 I would understand for the reason he had. Len is right though, it wasn't a Viennese Waltz. They need to stick to the main "rules" of the dances. Otherwise there's no point in calling them Viennese Waltz, Salsa, Rumba etc. Then they could just go with "ballroom" and "latin dance". So he was right about that. He did say she is a "fantastic dancer", that's not what he's picking on. Sure they can spice it up for the viewers but Dimitri just needs to stick to some basics. I just find it odd when the pros sometimes ruins it for the celebrity like that.

Btw. The judges set their scores before even beginning to comment on the actual dance. It's been mentioned before, so check right after every couple finishes their routine. The judges each wrights down the score they wanna give on a piece of paper which Carrie Ann then hands over to someone behind her. They do that so they won't get affected by anyone or anything. So no, Len didn't score her a 5 just to get back at Bruno.

Remember when Carrie Ann held up the wrong paddle? It said a different score on our tv screens then what she held up. They had to check that paper again because Carrie Ann insisted she wrote down the score she wrote down... and she was right.

[Cheyenne]

Michael should've gone home weeks ago. I like him as a person and all. But this is a dance competition and I'm glad he's finally out and not taking up a spot from someone else.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'm so bummed Kelly didn't go instead of Mark. He's soooo much better then her!!!!!!!!!!!!