2 Dancing Finale Season Star

The second season of the American edition of Dancing with the Stars premiered on the American Broadcasting Company network on January 5, 2006, and ended February 26, 2006. This season expanded to ten couples from six in the previous season.

The second season expanded each program from an hour to ninety minutes, and added an hour-long results show the following night (in the first season no couples were eliminated in the first week; the first couple was eliminated at the end of the second episode, the second couple at the end of the third episode, and so on). Two couples were declared safe in an earlier portion of the show, the remaining couples were then named off until only the bottom two were left (the last two couples had the lowest amount of votes, with the exception of week seven, where the show explicitly stated that the order of all but the eliminated couple was random).

Couples

The 10 celebrities and professional dance partners were:

The second series cast was similarly assembled to that of the first season: Both had a retired athlete (Holyfield/Rice), an ex-boy band member (McIntyre/Lachey), a model (Hunter/Carerre), a soap star (Monaco/Rinna), and an older man (O'Hurley/Hamilton).

Season summary

In the second season, Drew Lachey and Stacy Keibler broke out as the early frontrunners, as both had solid early performances, and some prior dance experience: Lachey's stage performances with 98 Degrees were extensively choreographed, and Keibler had childhood dance training as well as being a professional cheerleader. Although both Keibler and Lachey were assumed to have some form of a fan base, there was no way of knowing whether 98 Degrees fans or WWE fans were responsible for their success—Drew credited the people of Cincinnati, Ohio for helping him stay in the competition. Lachey was lauded for his passion and willingness to take risks, and Keibler for her long legs and technical perfection. In regard to the judges' scoring, in nearly every week, Lachey and Keibler held the top two spots in the scoring (either first-second or tied for first). In addition, Lachey and Keibler were the only dancers in season 2 to receive a perfect score (Keibler four, Lachey three), and have three of the four "encore" performances (Lachey twice, Keibler once). In week six, Stacey and Tony became the first couple in series history to receive two 30s (maximum judges' score) in a row. Drew and Cheryl were always among the top two highest scores and along with Jerry Rice and Anna Trebunskaya, were the only couple never chosen for the bottom two. The judges repeatedly told Keibler and Lachey that they were the best or among the best dancers in any of the international versions of the series.

Musical guests such as the Pussycat Dolls, Jesse McCartney, Natasha Bedingfield, Michael Bublé, Bill Medley, Burt Bacharach, Mary J. Blige, Scissor Sisters and Barry Manilow performed while the professional dancers demonstrated various routines. In week four the results show introduced an encore of what the judges considered the previous night's best routine—twice going to Drew Lachey (the paso doble in week four and the Rumba (dance) in week seven), once to Stacy Keibler (the Samba (ballroom) in week five) and once to Rinna (the quickstep in week six).

Controversies over fan voting

Similar to the first season, fan votes accounted for half the total vote. It was also revealed that by the fourth week of competition, Master P had logged only 20 hours of dance training (other stars had logged 100 hours by week 4). His continued presence was attributed to his strong fan base, as well as fans who saw him as the underdog or who wanted to "vote for the worst". After the departure of Giselle Fernández and low scores from the judges, he was ultimately eliminated.

Jerry Rice also benefited from the fan vote. In the closing weeks of the competition, the judges became increasingly critical of Rice (Len Goodman, at one point said, "Jerry Rice? It's more like geriatric!"), and although they acknowledged that he continued to put great effort in his performances, they felt he no longer deserved to be there. Rice and his outspoken partner Trebunskaya rebutted those criticisms, and the fan vote sided with them, ensuring Rice never placed in the bottom two (until the final three). In week seven, in a matter of some controversy, Rice advanced to the finals, and Lisa Rinna (whom the judges and many viewers felt was superior to Rice) was eliminated. However, in the final three dances, the judges began to admire Rice's effort and his scores improved, though he still lagged behind both Lachey and Keibler. In the season finale Rice once again avoided elimination when Stacy Keibler was given third place. Two of the judges, Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman, and some viewers were disappointed with Kiebler finishing in third place instead of Rice because Keibler's scores were far better than Rice's. At the finale, Kenny Mayne even said, "We just eliminated a girl with a perfect score." Much of this can be attributed to the fact that lines for voting were open at the beginning of the show and Rice danced first in many of the episodes.

Judges' Scoring summary

Dance Chart

* The couple performed this dance on the finale of Dancing With The Stars

•      Highest Scoring Dance
•      Lowest Scoring Dance

Week 1

(In running order)

Week 2

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Week 3

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Week 4

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Week 5

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Week 6

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Week 7

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Week 8

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Average Chart

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