2^0 + 2^5 (20 Years of Stars)

After reflecting in previous entries on the series as a whole, it's time to get more into the nitty-gritty elements of Dancing with the Stars!

As the show's title suggests, the show is dependent on celebrities to function. While this blog post will list all the celebrities that have participated from the first 20 years (excluding ones from a spin-off titled Juniors that involved kid celebrities), the focus will more so be on the types the show casts and how they tend to perform on the show.

From jump, Dancing with the Stars has casts people that, while famous, aren't necessarily the most in-demand in the entertainment industry at the current moment. Frequently relying on people that have been primarily known for one thing at the time they're casted, the show's characteristic in being able to leverage a celeb's career further or balance them back in the public's good graces after partaking in controversial events has ultimately supplied the audience a wide range of celebrities to watch, root, and laugh at overtime. With that in mind, let's begin!

Actors/Actresses

Actors/actresses are frequently brought into the show with a lot to offer. Their ability to portray emotion in the roles they do as an actor/actress can allow them to look at these dances as performances with character roles to avoid the embarrassment of realizing that they're ballroom dancing on national television. That can also work against their favor though as it doesn't give the audience a sense of who they really are. (It doesn't help that the show is live so multiple takes to get right in the first place is essentially impossible.)

This novelty with being themselves is a very pertinent problem for those that come from the Disney Channel world. As Disney Channel and the network Dancing with the Stars comes from (ABC) have both been in-sync in sharing the same parent company at the start, it's not uncommon to see a Disney Channel star partake in the program. While they come with a lot more promise in being good dancers with their youthful vibrato, they're still fairly inexperienced in being themselves given the nature of their craft.

Actor John Ratzenberger of season 4 was originally not a part of that season's cast back in 2007 (though he had been asked previously). Actor Vincent Pastore was originally among those competing, but he dropped out before the season's first episode was shot when he came to the realization that he couldn't offer enough strength to keep up with the show's intense regime. As a result, John was successfully brought in as his replacement

Musicians

In the obvious sense, musicians are going to have natural rhythm that can propel them to perform their choreography on-time. That doesn't necessarily mean that they'll perform well though as they also need to give off emotion. While they can do that when singing and/or playing instruments, they have to translate that ability to their feet. For those that dance on the regular as part of their musical career, un-training that brain to conform to ballroom standards can also be a challenge.

Many musicians who took part in the show as competitors had already appeared on the show before in other capacities. Lindsey Stirling (season 25), for example, had been on the show in the past as a performer while Redfoo (season 20) had been a guest judge in season 18

Athletes

From the surface, it would seem that athletes would be the worst in ballroom dancing. Abnormal proportions can give the perception that they can't dance. However, athletes have that mentality engrained in them from past coaches to practice, and the more they practice, the better they can get. Seeing the professional dancers as coaches allows athletes to work hard so that they have a fighting chance at winning the trophy.

Olympians who take part in the program have an additional boundary to overcome that's the same as actor/actresses: showing their authentic self. Since their craft voids emotion to the point of perfection, doing a 180 in that in a short amount of time can be a real difficult task to triumph.

Season 26 was an edition of the show that solely consisted of athletes. Among those in that season's cast were Olympic figure skater Mirai Nagasu and football player Josh Norman

Reality TV stars

Dancing with the Stars is in itself a reality show, and with that has offered those of its kind to take a knack at ballroom dancing. From the Housewives to the Bachelor franchise (an entity that existed on ABC even before Dancing with the Stars was made), these personalities have been abundant. The struggle with these types of people lay with appealing to the demographic. Some of these people do get the upper-hand in that their show's demographic aligns with that of Dancing with the Stars', but regardless, reality TV stars can easily get lost in the mix among people with bigger, longer fanbases. To counter this, reality TV stars can try to forge a connection between them and the audience with their experiences in life that can help them push through the competition. It's a trait all celebrities should do to last on the show, but it's something reality TV stars have to rely on more since many don't come in with much other than being someone from a reality TV show.

Dancing with the Stars has always included cast members from The Bachelor franchise ever since its first season. Chris Soules took part in the show during its 10th anniversary season (season 20) in 2015

Other

There are plenty of other types of celebrities that have appeared on the show's first 20 years each with their own setbacks and advantages. Journalists, politicians, chefs. models. They've all done it. And they've all made a mark on the ballroom floor.

From Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin (season 10) to scientist Bill Nye (season 17), Dancing with the Stars has had an array of contestants that span multiple industry fields

I hope you've enjoyed this little bitty course on the celebrity-ism Dancing with the Stars partakes in. In the next entry, we'll switch on over to the other side of the equation and look at the pros of the show's first 20 years. To round out this entry, here's a listing of all those that have been on the show within its first 20 years split into the categories above with the celebrities being placed based off which one they're most associated with at the times they were on the show. This sortation can make the listing a little peculiar to some. Season 2's Lisa Rinna, for example, is placed under the actors/actresses category despite also being known as a reality TV star via the Housewives franchise (In her case, however, the Housewives franchise didn't exist when she was on.) There's also little discrepancies that can also make it difficult to understand the categorization. Season 21's Alek Skarlatos, for example, is listed as a soldier while season 20's Noah Galloway and season 13's J.R. Martinez are listed as veterans despite all of them being in the same field (though with that situation Alek was still enlisted when he did the show whereas Noah and J.R. weren't). Truth be told, I just wanted to maintain accuracy as I could while still keeping it simplified, so forgive me! Anyway, ciao for now!