Luxe Life Blog

Photos: DWTS Season 10 cast, pro partners set for March 22 debut

Posted March 2, 2010 • 11:45 a.m.

Pamela Anderson.

Photo: Pure Management Group

He’s 80 years old, but he also remains one of the few men in the world to walk on the moon. In fact, astronaut Buzz Aldrin was the second man on the lunar surface. Don’t underestimate my good friend. He and I have wrestled Jet Skis in the Caribbean and tackled toboggan runs and ski slopes in Canada, so Buzz is ready for Season 10 of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and teamed with pro partner Ashly DelGrosso-Costa.

Buzz was scheduled to attend this past weekend’s Keep Memory Alive: Power of Love gala at the Bellagio to auction our star trip to Lake Tahoe, with him providing the new Jet Suites air flights, but was grounded in the New York area snowstorms. Buzz also is involved with the Zero Gravity flights four times a year at McCarran Airport, and I accompanied him on one of the debut runs.

I’ve seen him dance with his wife Lois, and I’ve watched those historic footsteps on the moon. Consider him to be the dark horse for the new Season 10.

Former Planet Hollywood headliner Pamela Anderson made magic with a four-month run starring with European magician Hans Klok. The 42-year-old former Baywatch blonde bombshell married her now ex-husband Rick Salomon at the Bellagio between shows and was turned upside down by Sir Richard Branson at a Wynn poker party.

She’s a regular Las Vegas visitor and jumped out of Hugh Hefner’s birthday cake naked for his recent birthday in his Playboy suite at the Palms. Pamela is partnered with Damian Whitewood, this season’s only pro newcomer.

Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger, 31, is another regular visitor with her affiliation with Robin Antin’s Pussycat Dolls Lounge that just closed at Caesars Palace and now will reopen on New Year’s Eve in a new Parisian-themed music hall cabaret across the Strip at the Paris. Nicole was in town in recent months for appearances at the Palms and The Mirage. She’s partnered with one-time Las Vegas resident Derek Hough.

Le Reve choreographer Maksim Chmerkovskiy returns to the pro-dancing lineup and is partnered with 32-year-old ESPN sports reporter Erin Andrews, named by Playboy as the sexiest sports star on TV. She’s the journalist who grabbed headlines after she filed complaints against a hotel alleging that she’d been videotaped topless while exercising and ironing her clothes.

Here are the other pairings as confirmed this morning: actress Shannen Doherty, 39, of Beverly Hills 90210 fame with Mark Ballas; Kate Gosselin, 35, from Jon & Kate Plus 8 with Tony Dovolani, who often rehearses for the show here in Las Vegas; Olympic, U.S. and world figure skating champion Evan Lysacek, 23, with Anna Trebunskaya; Clean House host and Reno 911 comedienne Niecy Nash, 40, with Louis Van Amstel; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, 32, with Cheryl Burke; All My Children actor Aiden Turner, 32, with Edyta Sliwinska; and The Bachelor star Jake Pavelka, who in a shocker proposed to Vienna Girardi last night on the series’ finale. He is paired with Las Vegas native Chelsie Hightower.

(Now this could be really interesting television since he was in love with two girls on the ABC reality TV romance series but could choose only one. Maybe a third now joins his torn triangle?)

That’s the lineup for Season 10, which will premiere with a two-hour show on March 22. For now, it’s all about six to eight hours of dance rehearsals a day starting this morning. The first elimination results show is March 30, and the final performance show is May 24, with the crowning of a new champion set for May 25.

Tom Bergeron returns as host, and it’s expected that Melissa Rycroft, a former DWTS and jilted Bachelor contestant, will be named as his co-host, replacing Samantha Harris. Tye Strickland and Melissa had their bachelor and bachelorette parties here at the Palazzo in November.

The 11 couples dance for the first time on national television March 22 performing either the Cha Cha or the Viennese Waltz. All return one week later to dance their second routine in another two-hour special. The first couple will be eliminated by combined votes of judges and viewers on March 30.

As usual, Vegas DeLuxe will post reports after the live show on the East Coast and dance-floor action photos the next morning.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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