Kim Kardashian
Many have described Kim Kardashian as being famous for being famous! Kim is a 28 year old television personality seen on "Keeping Up with the Kardashians". This socialite turned model/actress may be best known for her social life and her stolen sex tape. Her late father, Robert Kardashian, was O.J. Simpson's lawyer during his murder trial. Kim's mother, Kris, married former Olympian Bruce Jenner. Together they star in reality T.V. show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians".
Rocco Dispirito
This 42 year old American chef will have to leave his homebase of New York city to compete in D.W.T.S. Rocco is another product of reality T.V. He stared in the show "The Restaurant" which followed him and his mother during the opening of their restaurant, "Rocco's 22nd Street". He also compted in "the Biggest Loser: Couples" and was a guest judge and sous-chef in "Top Chef". Viewers always like to see people with strong personalities on the show. Rocco may fit right in. His reality T.V. show "Rocco's 22nd Street" ended with disagreements with his financier, Jeffrey Chodorow. Rocco also hosted hiw own radio show a few years ago, but that too ended due to "creative differences".
Maurice Green
This Olympic Gold Medalist holds several world records in sprinting. The 34 year old is quick on his feet, but is he light on his feet? We'll have to see! It's not Maurice's first time in TV. He appeared on a show called "Identity", and then on a reality TV show "Blind Date". Maurice is said to be dating Claudia Jordan who is one of the models on "Deal or No Deal".
Lance Bass
Lance became famous as the bass singer for 'N Sync. Lance was a junior in high school when he got the call to join the pop band. Lance had said that he didn't have any dancing experience before joining 'N Sync and found it difficult to learn the choreography. In fact, it's been reported that the group's first recording contract was in jeopardy if they didn't replace Lance, who executives thought was not as good a dancer as the others. The groups manager had to conviced the executives that Lance would improve. Lance went on to appear in several Television shows. He hit the news again in 2002 when he entered cosmonaut training in Russia. He was originally going to host a game show in which contestants would go through the training to sin a seat on a Russian Soyuz space capsule. The game show idea fell apart, but the producer wanted to follow Lance into space as a documentary. His lifelong dream of space travel ended when the sponsors pulled out of the documentary. Back in 2006 Lance became a cover story again when he revealed he is gay. Fellow group member, Joey Fatone, came in second place in Dancing with the Stars last year.
Misty May-Treanor
Fresh off of her gold medal win in the Olympic games in Beijing, Misty is ready to move from the beach volleyball court to the ballroom. She's won more tournaments than any other female player so we know she has the competitive edge. During the olympics she was described as a ham and the cameras caught her dancing around some of the famous sites in Beijing. Misty's dad was also a prominent beach volleyball player. Her mom Barbara was a nationally-ranked tennis player who later transitioned to beach volleyball. Barbara May died of cancer in 2002. While Misty's in her dance constumes you'll be able to see a pomiminent tatto on her shoulder. It's an angel with the intials "B.M." for her mother.
Toni Braxton
Six time Grammy winner Toni Braxton joins D.W.T.S. this season. She's sold over forty million records worldwide. "Un-break My Heart" is the second biggest single by a female artist in history. Her father was a clergyman and she was raised in a strict religious houselhold. Toni has been performing at Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas where she replaced Wayne Newton as the headlining act. In April she had to take time off after being hosptialized for chest pains. The show was since cancelled to allow for her to focus on her health. So, we'll have to see how she handles the grueling competition.
Jeffrey Ross
You may have seen this stand-up comedian on late night T.V. He's been on all of the big shows as well as entertaining regularly for the troops. He is considered one of the last "insult comics". We can only hope the insults won't fly against his partern Edyta Sliwinska! Jeffrey has also been seen in a number of television shows including "CSI" and "Six Feet Under".
Ted McGinley
Ted is a well liked actor who may be best known for his roled on "Married with Children" and former ABC sitcom "Hope & Faith". He also starred in such classics as Happy days and the film "Revenge of the Nerds". He also starred in He was the envy of many teenage boys when he took Brooke Shields to her prom when she was 16. He played water polo in college.
Susan Lucci
Susan Lucci is an Emmy award winning actress, but she's probably most famous for losing the Emmy. She was nominated almost every year since 1978 for her role as Erica Kane on the ABC daytime soap "All My Children". She's been on the show ince 1970! Susan has been asked to be on DWTS many times. She said she was concerned that she wouldn't be able to fly to L.A. while still working in N.Y. But her costar, Cameron Mathison, joined DWTS last year and talked her into it!
Brooke Burke
Brooke should be use to the skimpy costumes on DWTS. She worked as a model for Frederick's of Hollywood until she became well-known for hosting "Wild On!". Its a popular tavel series on cable. She's appeared on Playboy and has hosted infomercials on work out videos. She's also hosted the reality show "Rock Star". Just this past March she gave birth to her fourth child.
Cody Linley
Still a teenager, Cody is the youngest star to ever dance on the show! The 19 year old has a recurring role as Jake Ryan on the series "Hannah Montana". He also had a role in the 2006 film, "Hoot". Cody is paired with one of the youngest dancers, champion Julianne Hough.
Cloris Leachman
From the yougnest to oldest. The Academy Award-winning actress is the oldest contestant ever at age 82! She's won eight primetime Emmys, which is more than any other female performer.
Warren Sapp
The last contestant is a retired football player. Warren playced defensive tackle in the NFL for Tampa Bay and the Oakland Raiders during his 13 year career. His 96 career sacks in college and the NFL are the 2nd highest ever for a defensive tackle! During Sapp's career, he has been the source of some controversy because of his hard-hitting style of play and his occasional verbal outbursts, both on the field and off. Some of these resulted in NFL fines, and he was once ejected from a game for unsportsmanlike conduct. Let's just see what he has to say to the judges!!
