Dancing with the Stars is an American reality competition television series based on the BBC series Strictly Come Dancing, and is part of BBC Worldwide's international Dancing with the Stars franchise.
The show premiered in the USA on ABC on 1 June, 2005.
Dancing with the Stars premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Prime channel (which later became BBC Entertainment) on Sunday 23 March 2008, at 20h00, beginning with Season 5. The first four seasons did not air in South Africa.
See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 8 premiered on BBC Entertainment on Sunday 13 February 2011, at 18h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 11 episodes in the eighth season.
Season 8 Repeats
Mondays: 02h35, 08h05, 13h40, 18h25
Tuesdays: 03h45
Fridays: 21h25
Saturdays: 02h00
Background
The show pairs a celebrity with a professional ballroom dancer. The professional dancer is responsible for teaching the celebrity how to perform specific dances, which the pair perform live on the show each week.
The dancers are scored by a panel of three professional dance judges. Additionally, viewers of the program may vote by phone, text message, or online methods.
The team which receives the lowest total score (a combination of the judges' scores and viewer votes) each week is eliminated from the competition.
The panel of judges consists of Len Goodman (head judge), Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli. The announcements for the show's titles ("Live from Hollywood, this is Dancing With the Stars") and introductions for the dances and judges' scores were recorded in the United Kingdom by Alan Dedicoat.
Dances
The following are the dances performed by couples on Dancing with the Stars. In addition, each couple in the final round performs a dance of any style or combination of styles of their choosing, called "freestyle".
Foxtrot
Cha-Cha-Cha
Quickstep
Jive
Tango
Paso Doble
Viennese Waltz (Since Season 5)
Mambo (Since Season 3)
Rumba
Samba
Waltz (Seasons 1-4)
Winners
Season 1: Kelly Monaco & Alec Mazo
Season 2: Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke
Season 3: Emmitt Smith & Cheryl Burke
Season 4: Apolo Anton Ohno & Julianne Hough
Season 5: Helio Castroneves & Julianne Hough
Season 6: Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas
Season 7: Brooke Burke & Derek Hough
Seasons
Note: the first four seasons did not air in South Africa. All subsequent seasons broadcast exclusively on BBC Entertainment (formerly BBC Prime).
Season 5
Premiere: 23 March 2008 | Finale: 25 May 2008 | Sundays, 20h00
Season 6
Premiere: 25 July 2010 | Finale: 3 October 2010 | Sundays, 19h30
Season 7
Premiere: 10 October 2010 | Finale: 12 December 2010 | Sundays, 19h30
Season 8
Premiere: 13 February 2011 | Finale: 24 April 2011 | Sundays, 18h30