DWTS6 Cast Revealed

As promised, here is the cast news for this coming season of Dancing With The Stars...  we mucked through the entire season season finale of Dance War ("spoiler": Team Bruno "won") for the big announcement.

As the professional dancers are becoming more the "stars" of the show, I held off posting with hopes of having the complete pairings... Good Morning America was supposed to do that this morning, but other than an appearance by one of the teams (Priscilla and Louis), they did not.  I'll certainly update if I can find out the teams.

As always to avoid confusion the "stars" are listed first and in bold.

Adam Carolla/Julianne Hough - Actor/Comedian/Radio personality

Cristian de la Fuente/Cheryl Burke - Telenovela star, seen on CSI Miami and Ugly Betty

Shannon Elizabeth/Derek Hough - Actress (American Pie)/Model/Poker Player

Steve Guttenberg/Anna Trebunskaya - Movie star from the 1980s(??)

Mario/Karina Smirnoff - R&B singer/actor

Marlee Matlin/Fabian Sanchez (new pro) - Academy Award winning actress and, of course... deaf

Penn Jillette/Kym Johnson - The taller and talking half of comedy/illusionist team Penn & Teller

Priscilla Presley/Louis Van Amstel - Ex-wife of Elvis/Actress

Monica Seles/Jonathan Roberts - Tennis legend

Jason Taylor/Edyta Sliwinska - 6-time All Pro NFL for the Miami Dolphins
(DWTS trivia: Edyta is the only pro that's participated in all 6 seasons)

Marissa Jaret Winokur/Tony Dovolani - Tony Award winner as Hairspray's Tracy Turnblad

Kristi Yamaguchi/Mark Ballas - Olympic/World Champion figure skater

I don't see any real front runners.  Yamaguchi should have an advantage in upper body movement and "clean lines," but who knows about the footwork sans skates.  While not familiar with Mario, he's got the hip-hop moves, but that usually doesn't work out too well on this show.  In the prior experience department, it would seem that Winokur would have the edge, though Hairspray may prove to only be a good training ground for the the jive.

Perhaps wanting a woman to win (it's only happened for Season 1), the men's field seems a tad weak.  There are two biiiig guys... Jillette and Taylor... and big guys never do well on DWTS (yes, I'm looking at you Clyde Drexler)... nor the pretty faces... three model types have all made early exits, so watch out de la Fuente.  So that leaves us with Guttenberg and Carolla?!?!

Matlin is an interesting choice.  As a kid, I was baffled how two of my mom's deaf cousins could be dancing at family weddings... they told me they could feel the vibrations of the band.  So that answers one question, but I would still think there will be big communication challenges while training and recorded music doesn't give that "boom" of a live band.  Presley fills the "mature lady" spot, I expect her to do well enough.  A huge fan of reality TV, Elizabeth has got the looks and the bod, so there's no reason she shouldn't  do reasonably well.

Personally, I am most excited about Seles.  I was/am a huge fan as she was one of the first tennis players that I felt attached to and followed from the very start of her career.  That said, she was never known as a terribly graceful athlete (and one of the first big-time grunters)... so who knows what to expect here!