MAIN Pop Culture Reality TV Dancing With The Stars Season 8

Watch for a whole new round of winners, losers and always controversial eliminations when season 8 of Dancing with the Stars kicks off with a 2-hour season premier special on Monday, March 9, 2009.

Season 8 Star Lineup

This year, the network had viewers glued to their seats as names were finally announced in February...

The cast is Lil' Kim, a Grammy Award winning rapper & singer; Steve-O; former pro football player and commentator Lawrence Taylor; Olympic Gold Medal gymnast Shawn Johnson; country music star Chuck Wicks; macho Sex in the City star Gilles Marini; sexy Starship Trooper Denise Richards; seven time world champion all around cowboy Ty Murray; Comedy Central's Chocolate News host, David Alan Grier; former Go-Go Belinda Carlisle; and Steve Wozniak, engineer and co-founder of Apple Computer....

Pop singer, Jewel and TV host Nancy O'Dell were in the lineup also BEFORE each of them sustained injuries while in rehearsals. Covering for them is buxom blonde and Girl Next Door Holly Madison AND recent Bachelor rejectee Melissa Rycroft.

As always, Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli are on hand in the judging panel. Now add to that host Samantha Harris' role as straight man to Tom Bergeron's class clown, and you have all the makings of a phenomenal and enduring TV hit.

Who got eliminated this week: THE BiG FINALE was an epic show down among Gilles Marini, Melissa Rycroft, and Shawn Johnson who came on strong all season long - and especially during the big finale - resulting in a dead heat that had fans guessing up to the final moment....

And the winner is... Shawn Johnson! - who struts away with a Perfect 10 from the judges. Shawn and partner Mark are not only awarded that ugly trophy, but the official title of Dancing with the Stars Champions. Congrats!

See you next September for Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. Meanwhile, the dancing competition addicted among us can tune into a whole new season of So You Think You Can Dance kicking off on Thursday, May 21.

More about Dancing with the Stars around the Web:

Around the Web, there's more buzz, spoilers & rumors about the most popular reality show on television — featuring celebrity dancers and stars from the world of sports and entertainment strutting their stuff LIVE before millions nationwide...

Dancing With The Stars - Official site at ABC featuring episode recaps, photos, video, cast Q&A, voting, dance teams, meet the judges, about the dances, photo gallery, fan message boards, blogs, information about the show and how the scoring works.

TV.com - Dancing With The Stars - Lists the stars and their professional dance partners, with background information, photos, recaps, spoilers, rumors, news & and a busy community forum.

reality blurred - Dancing with the Stars Season 8 - Get your DWTS spoilers here, along with related news, buzz and gossip.

BuddyTV - Dancing with the Stars - More reports on the latest news & rumors, along with cast profiles, photos, video highlights, fan postings.

also see in Dancing With The Stars:

Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 | Season 7

also see in Dance -> Ballroom Dancing