A New Season of Dancing

Last night was the premiere of the new season of "Dancing with the Stars." There's quite a range of stars in this season's competition. Here's the rundown:

IAN ZIERING (Bev. Hills 90210 fame) and partner CHERYL BURKE started the night off. Although I missed their opening dance, the scores showed that they wowed the judges and the crowd. Cheryl has won the last two seasons so Ian's got some big shoes to fill!

HEATHER MILLS (the ex. Mrs. Paul McCartney) and partner JONATHAN ROBERTS. She has a prosthetic leg so she should be interesting to watch. She gracefully danced around the floor with ease. Her one suggestion from the judges was not to worry about the leg coming off so much, and that she needs to stay relaxed in her upper body.

Supermodel PAULINA PORIZKOVA is partnered ALEC MAZO.

BILLY RAY CYRUS and partner KARINA SMIRNOFF did a dance to this song "I Want My Mullet Back" which obviously was a gag making fun of Billy Ray's past persona. :-) Karina wore this ugly mullet wig, which Billy Ray was 'suppose to' tear off at the end of the dance. It kinda got stuck to Karina and didn't come fully off. It was quite amusing. I think they got the lowest marks of the night. Doesn't look like Karina will be going to the finals this season. HA, HA!!

TV/radio personality LEEZA GIBBONS danced with partner TONY DOVOLANI. She was elegant and flowed across the dance floor. As with Heather, she danced beautifully but according the the judges, was a little tense in her upper body.

NSYNC member JOEY FATONE and partner KYM JOHNSON got down & boogied with their fox trot last night. It was Saturday Night Fever all over again! :-) They did a great job, and despite Joey's mic pack falling out, they danced very well.

Undefeated World Boxing Champion LAILA ALI (daughter of boxing great Mohammad Ali) danced with partner, MAKSIM CHMERKOVSKIY. I didn't pay much attention to their dance, but did notice that Laila is still incredibly built!!

Cheers star JOHN RATZENBERGER partnered with EDYTA SLIWINSKA. He was a last minute replacemnt and had a lot of catching up to do. They did a wonderful job and I think ole John impressed a lot of people with his sleekness and style.

Miss USA 2004 SHANDI FINNESSEY partnered with BRIAN FORTUNA. They danced well, but nothing too impressing.

NBA Hall of Famer CLYDE DREXLER and partner ELENA GRINENKO. This one is an interesting matchup as he is 6ft - something, and she's a tiny 5 foot - something. Despite their height differences, they danced well together.

Last a certainly not least, Olympic speed skating Gold Medalist APOLO ANTON OHNO danced with partner newcomer JULIANNE HOUGH. Apolo is actually in training and recently won a speed skating event in Europe. Julianne traveled with Apolo and tried to get in as much practice time as possible. They did look not fully put together when they danced but they worked well together. Apolo will definately be a favorite as the competition goes on - providing he can get in some more practice time.

There's some good matchups and lots of hilarity for sure. All the couples get 1 more chance to dance next Monday night, before the final votes are tallied and announced.