Dancing with the Stars is fast approaching with a stable of all new celebrity hopefuls.  Their prize?  A cheesy mirror ball trophy.  The symbol of Disco Duck and everything else wrong with the 1970's, but possibly a unique new notch in the belt of an already established performer, or even a couple of models that no-one has heard of.  Since the winning equation is balanced out by viewer voting, perhaps the best way to forecast the future of Dancing with the Stars is to look at the past.

Dancing with the Stars Season 1

The first season had a highly controversial win which runs counter intuitive to much of the future recruiting.  Despite dominating the judges scorecards in five out of seven rounds, John O'Hurley and  partner Charlotte Jørgensen were defeated by Kelly Monaco and her partner Alec Mazo.  Public outrage forced ABC to air a special rematch weeks later in which O'Hurley defeated Monaco.

Dancing with the Stars Season 2

This was also known as the ‘no contest' season.  Winner Drew Lachey, with partner Cheryl Burke, dominated the show, although it is not an untainted victory. WWE Diva Stacey Keibler was considered by many to be the favorite, but suffered an injury in the weeks leading to the finale and was not in top form.  No rematch was offered.

Dancing with the Stars Season 3

Emmit Smith ushers in the jock era for Dancing with the Stars when he and Cheryl Burke win the contest.   The aging running back was up against a couple cut and handsome young men, Joey Lawrence and Mario Lopez, but proved brawn and experience go further with the audiences vote.  The interesting feature about the season three finale is that all of the scoring was tied for all the couples, all night.

Dancing with the Stars Season 4

From brawny football star to diminutive but focused Apolo Anton Ohno.  Laugh at his lifts all you want, the fireball on skates turned Olympic grade determination into dancing gold with his partner Julianne Hough.  Chemistry was a common theme for this couple.  It is interesting to note that Apolo's eye-on-the-prize attitude overcame what was arguably the shows most charismatic performer, Joey Fatone.  Fatone and partner Kym Johnson finished second.

As you can, there is no partner.  We have our older contestants, younger contestants, big athletes, small athletes, and one boy band guy in the winning circle.  If it proves anything, it is that Dancing with the Stars viewers are really paying attention to the talent on the floor and not looking for a particular body type or personality.

- Jon Lachonis, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of ABC)