Dancing with the Stars (Australian TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars logo
Genre	Entertainment
Creator(s)	BBC Granada
Starring	Daryl Somers Sonia Kruger
Country of origin	Australia
Production
Running time	approx 90 to 120 minutes per episode (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel Seven
Picture format	16:9
Original run	2004 – present
Links
Official website

Dancing with the Stars is an Australian television series based on the British Strictly Come Dancing. It was the first adaptation of the now widespread format. The show pairs a number of celebrities (or stars) with professional ballroom dancers who each week compete against each other in a competition to impress a panel of judges and ultimately the viewing public in order to survive potential elimination. Through a telephone poll, viewers vote for the couples they think should stay, taking into account an average score as given by the panel of judges. Dancing with the Stars has been a huge success and a consistently high rating performer, usually finishing as one of the top 5 shows for every week. It is filmed live in Melbourne on Tuesdays at 7.30pm. It regularly rates as Tuesday's number one show with an average of two million viewers.

1 On Air
- 1.1 Hosts
- 1.2 Judges
2 Series
3 Controversy
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] On Air

Daryl Somers, host of Dancing With The Stars

[edit] Hosts

[edit] Judges

Todd McKenney
Helen Richey
Paul Mercurio
Mark Wilson
Bruno Tonioli (Guest judge in first two episodes of season 6)

[edit] Series

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about the winners and couple eliminations of seasons 1-5 follow.

Please note: Lists are in order of elimination from each series with the exception of season six which is listed in alphabetical order.

[edit] Series One (Late 2004)

The first series aired in late 2004 and featured the following celebrities:

James Tomkins (Olympic Gold Medal Rower) & Patrice Smith
Gabrielle Richens (Model) & Mark Hodge
Katrina Warren (Television Vet- Harry's Practice) & Csaba Szirmai
John Wood (Actor- Blue Heelers) & Jenni Pederson
Matt Shirvington (Olympic Athlete) & Natalie Lowe
Justin Melvey (Actor- Days of our Lives) & Kym Johnson
Pauline Hanson (Former politician- One Nation Party founder) & Salvatore Vecchio
Bec Cartwright (Actress- Home and Away) & Michael Miziner

Bec Cartwright and partner Michael Mizner were eventually declared the winners, beating Pauline Hanson and Sal Vecchio.

[edit] Series Two (Early 2005)

Series two aired in early 2005 and featured the following celebrities:

Steven Bradbury (Winter Olympic Gold Medal Speed Skater) & Sarah West
Sara-Marie Fedele (Former Big Brother contestant) & Trent Whiddon
Shane Gould (Former Olympic Gold Medal Athlete) & Csaba Szirmai
Suzie Wilks (Television Presenter- Changing Rooms) & Jonathan Doone
Nikki Webster (Singer) & Sasha Farber
Derryn Hinch (Radio Presenter- 693 3AW) & Patrice Smith
Jason Smith (Actor- Home and Away) & Luda Kroitor
Holly Brisley (Actress) & Mark Hodge
Ian Roberts (Former National Rugby League) & Natalie Lowe
Tom Williams (Television Presenter- The Great Outdoors) & Kym Johnson

Tom Williams and his partner Kym Johnson were eventually declared the winners, defeating Ian Roberts and his partner.

[edit] Series Three (Late 2005)

Series three premiered in late 2005 and featured the following celebrities:

Tania Zaetta (Former Television Presenter- Who Dares Wins) & Michael Miziner
Michael Caton (Actor- The Castle) & Kym Johnson
Ky Hurst (Ironman) & Maria 'Masha' Belash
Nicky Buckley (Model) & Andrew Palmer
Dawn Fraser (Former Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer) & Gordon Gilkes
David Campbell (Singer) & Luda Kroitor
Brodie Holland (AFL Footballer) & Alana Patience
Ian “Dicko” Dickson (Television Presenter- My Restaurant Rules, Australian Idol) & Leeanne Bampton
Chris Bath (Television Presenter- Seven News) & Trenton Shipley
Ada Nicodemou (Actress- Home and Away) & Aric Yegudkin

Ada Nicodemou and her partner Aric Yegudkin were eventually declared the winners, defeating Chris Bath and her partner.

[edit] Champion of Champions

The winners of Series Two and Series Three competed to be crowned Champion of Champions.

Ada Nicodemou & Aric Yegudkin
Tom Williams & Kym Johnson

Ada Nicodemou and her partner Aric Yegudkin were eventually declared the winners, defeating Tom Williams and his partner on the basis of scores from the judges, having won both nights of competition.

[edit] Series Four (Early 2006)

Series four premiered in early 2006 and featured the following celebrities:

Celebrity	Occupation	Professional Partner
Simone Callahan	Socialite and ex-wife of Shane Warne	Gordan Derbogosijan
Molly Meldrum	Music guru	Alana Patience
Alicia Molik	Tennis Player	John Paul Collins
Luke Ricketson	Former NRL Player	Eliza Campagna
Jennifer Hawkins	Television Presenter - The Great Outdoors, former Miss Universe	Serghei Bolgarschii
Kate Langbroek	Radio Presenter- Nova 100	Alexander Bryan
Noeline Brown	Actress	Carmelo Pizzino
Toby Allen	Singer from Human Nature	Leeanne Bampton
Kostya Tszyu	Boxer	Luda Kroitor
Grant Denyer	Television presenter and the Sunrise Weatherman	Amanda Garner

Grant Denyer and his partner Amanda Garner were eventually declared the winners, defeating Kostya Tszyu and his partner.

[edit] Series Five (Late 2006)

Series five premiered on Tuesday September 26, 2006 and concluded on Tuesday November 28, 2006. It featured the following celebrities:

Celebrity	Occupation	Professional Partner ^[1]
Fiona Falkiner	The Biggest Loser contestant	Serghei Bolgarschii
Tom Waterhouse	Son of horse trainer and businesswoman Gai Waterhouse	Alana Patience
Kerry Armstrong	Actress	Christopher Ryan
Gary Sweet	Actor	Eliza Campagna
Amanda Keller	Radio Host	Csaba Szirmai
Chris Hemsworth	Actor on Home and Away	Abbey Ross
Andrew Gaze	Basketball Star	Linda De Nicola
Tamsyn Lewis	Mid-distance runner	Arsen Kishishian
Arianne Caoili	Teenage Chess champion	Carmelo Pizzino
Anthony Koutoufides	Carlton Football Club Aussie Rules player	Natalie Lowe

Anthony Koutoufides and his partner Natalie Lowe were eventually declared the winners, defeating Arianne Caoili and her partner.

[edit] Series Six (Early 2007)

Series six premiered on Tuesday February 20, 2007 and features the following celebrities:

Celebrity	Occupation	Professional Partner	Status
Fifi Box	Radio Personality	Paul Green	Still in the running
Tim Campbell	Current Home and Away actor	Natalie Lowe	Still in the running
Kate Ceberano	Singer	John-Paul Collins	Still in the running
Kimberley Davies	Former Neighbours actress	Paul Zaidman	Eliminated 2^nd On March 6
Jamie Durie	Landscape Designer and Television Personality	Amanda Garner	Still in the running
David Graham	Big Brother 2006 contestant	Eliza Campagna	Still in the running
Tatiana Grigorieva	Olympic athlete	Brendan Humphreys	Eliminated 5^th On March 27
Naomi Robson	Former Today Tonight host	Steven Grace	Eliminated 3^rd On March 13
Wendell Sailor	Ex-Rugby league Player	Linda DeNicola	Eliminated 1^st On February 27
Todd Woodbridge	Tennis Player	Emily Reilly	Eliminated 4^th On March 20

[edit] Series Seven (Late 2007)

On 26 February 2007, The Courier Mail revealed that a seventh series of the program has been confirmed to air in late 2007 pending the success of the current series. Somers and Kruger are expected to return as the presenters and so far John Schluter is reportedly signed on.

[edit] Controversy

Throughout all of the seasons there has been controversy. Some that revolved around the Dancing with the Stars contestants include:

All of the Home and Away stars competing in each season, consistently lasted until close to the end, with both Bec Cartwright and Ada Nicodemou winning their respective seasons, 1 and 3.

In Season 2, it was believed that judge Todd McKenney did not like Nikki Webster and thus gave her low scores.

Following this, in Season 4, Kate Langbroek locked horns with Todd when she disapproved of the way Todd had acted towards Webster.

Bec Cartwright (Season 1), Nikki Webster (Season 2) and Jennifer Hawkins (Season 4) all had previous dancing experience and many saw them as having an unfair advantage, despite the fact that they had experience in forms of dance, such as cheerleading and ballet, which are quite different styles to ballroom dancing. Bec Cartwright especially copped a lot of flack after winning, with many irate Pauline Hanson supporters using the excuse that she "cheated".

The winners of series 1-4 were all from Seven Network shows—Bec and Ada from Home and Away, Tom Williams from The Great Outdoors, and Grant Denyer from Sunrise—leading to accusations that Seven Network personalities are favoured in front of everyone else. Season Five was be the first to have a non-7 personality victor.

In the semi final of Season Five, judge Todd McKenney stated that he believed Arianne Caoili had received professional dance lessons prior to the competition. Arianne denied this. Channel 7's Today Tonight supported McKenney's claims, producing video footage of Arianne attending Salsa classes, but on Saturday 25th of November Arianne said that everything that Todd said wasn't true, the only thing she's done was when the producers rang up to cast her for Dancing, she just started doing Salsa lessons.[1]