Dancing with the Stars Grows During Season Four

With the latest season of Dancing with the Stars starting on March 19, 2007, the show hit the ground running and never looked back.  Several adjustments were made to the show though to improve the overall flow.  The first change that was in store was the shift in timeslots.  This was actually done to accommodate a larger audience that would otherwise potentially be wrapped up watching American Idol on Fox, rather than tuning into Dancing with the Stars.  Additional changes also included waiting until the end of week 2 to start actually eliminating contestants.  A final change was airing the show in the UK, which had not been done previously.

Pulling out the contestants for season four was a lot of enjoyment, with a range of athletes, singers, and even actors combined together it created a really enjoyable show.

Paulina Porizkova a supermodel was paired with Alec Mazo and was the first contestant that was sent home.  Paulina and Alec departed the show on March 26, 2007 after only two weeks on the show.

Shandi Finnessey has enjoyed a career as a former Miss USA and also a game show host.  Partnered up with Brian Fortuna she was also struck from the show extremely quickly and found herself removed on April 3, 2007.

Leeza Gibbons a talk show host was paired up with professional Tony Dovolani and only stayed for 4 episodes before being eliminated from the show on April 10, 2007.

Clyde Drexler a retired NBA player was teamed up with professional Elena Grinenko and was eliminated on April 17, 2007 after holding on for several weeks.

The former wife of Beatle Paul McCartney, Heather Mills was on the show for season four as well.  Her official job was listed as Charity Campaigner; however, this has not been verified since there is some difficulty locating her actual job.  It was rumored that her stay on the show was dragged out due to the publicity surrounding her extremely public divorce to Paul McCartney.  As the only contestant with a prosthetic leg, she only had one incident where her leg created a problem.  She was partnered with Jonathan Roberts and was eliminated finally on April 24, 2007.

John Ratzenberger an actor with credits including the hit television show Cheers was partnered with professional Edyta Sliwinska but was eliminated on May 1, 2007.

Billy Ray Cyrus the one hit wonder of the 1990’s was partnered up with Karina Smirnoff.  Presently best known as the father of Hannah Montana star, Miley Cyrus he was eliminated from the show on May 8, 2007.

Ian Ziering an actor with credits that include the popular show Beverly Hills, 90210 was partnered with professional Cheryl Burke for his stay on the show.  After an elimination on May 15, 2007, they finished in fourth place.

Laila Ali the daughter of Mohammad Ali and also a professional Boxing World Champion.  Partnered with professional Maksim Chmerkovskiy she pulled out a third place finish on May 22, 2007 at the season finale.

Joey Fatone from the 90’s boy band ‘N Sync was partnered with Kym Johnson and pulled out a second place finish.  Despite an extremely limited career outside of music before his appearance on the show, he was extremely popular with the audience and received a large amount of votes.

Apolo Anton Ohno is a five time Olympic Medalist in Short Track Speed skating.  After winning two gold, one silver and also two bronze medals in the Olympics Apolo appeared on season four of Dancing with the Stars and was partnered together with professional Julianne Hough and danced his way to victory yet again by winning the title and first place in the season finale on May 22, 2007.

With the wide range of celebrities involved, it was only natural for a bit of controversy to follow as well.  The biggest controversies included Vincent Pastore an actor pulling out of the show right before it began.  Originally partnered with Edyta Sliwinska he was replaced by John Ratzenberger.  There were two professionals who pulled out of this season as well, Ashly DelGrosso pulled out due to a pregnancy and Louis van Amstel pulled out due to personal reasons but still appeared as a professional dancer for performances and assisted with choreography.