'Dancing with the Stars' Season 16 Start/Premiere Date, Cast, Pros, Schedule and Spoilers [PHOTOS]
Dancing with the Stars season 16 premieres Monday and the contestants will perform for the first time on live national television starting at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
This season brings two new dance styles - contemporary and jazz - and three new professional dancers: Lindsay Arnold, Sharna Burgess and Gleb Savchenko. The two-hour season premiere will be live from 8-10:01 p.m. ET and the Dancing with the Stars the Results Show premieres in week two with the first elimination taking place on Tuesday, March 26. The stars are competing for the coveted Mirror Ball trophy.
On Tuesday, March 19, at 9 p.m. ET, ABC will air Dancing with the Stars: Exclusive First Look - a show featuring extended backstage footage, interviews and highlights of Monday night's dances.
DWTS is nosted by Tom Bergeron from America's Funniest Home Videos fame and Brooke Burke-Charvet, Dancing with the Stars Season seven champion. The celebrity contestants and their professional partners perform choreographed dance routines that will be judged by renowned ballroom judge Len Goodman and dancer/choreographers Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba. Each week one couple will be eliminated.
Below is the full list of the DWTS cast and their partners:
Singer Wynonna Judd dancing with Tony Dovolani
Actor D.L. Hughley dancing with Cheryl Burke
NFL wide receiver Jacoby Jones dancing with Karina Smirnoff
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump dancing with Gleb Savchenko
Actor/Comedian Andy Dick dancing with Sharna Burgess
Boxer Victor Ortiz dancing with Lindsay Arnold
Shake It Up! star Zendaya Coleman dancing with Val Chmerkovskiy
Gymnast Aly Raisman dancing with Mark Ballas
General Hospital star Ingo Rademacher dancing with Kym Johnson
Singer Kellie Pickler dancing with Derek Hough
Figure skater Dorothy Hamill dancing with Tristan MacManus
The Bachelor star Sean Lowe dancing with Peta Murgatroyd.
Dick revealed he had a breakdown during rehearsals with his partner when he could not get a dance move right. However, the comedian who has struggled with addiction in the past added that the entire DWTS experience is better than therapy.
"I just hit a wall. I cried forever," he said. "But we worked through it. We actually had to have a lunch outside of here and just work through some stuff. Better than therapy. She's my new therapist."
Smirnoff revealed that she and her partner, Jones, will do the Cha Cha in the first week of competition. When Jones said he wanted to be pushed to the limits in the dance routine, his partner said the following to give fans a taste of their Monday dance routine:
"Honestly, you know, I've seen the moves in the end zone. I saw the shoulders, the knee movements, the hips, so we're going to implement all of that into our dance in week one."
Vanderpump said about the entire DWTS experience, "Everything is out of my comfort zone" but revealed that her dog Giggy will accompany her on the show. She was set rehearsing in the dance studio with Savchenko while holding her dog.
A photo of Lowe with his partner dancing in rehearsals show them getting very close as they perform the Foxtrot, revealed to be their first dance for the season.