Dancing with the Stars (American TV series) season 13

Couples[edit]

Nine professional partners — Derek Hough, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Cheryl Burke, Tony Dovolani, Mark Ballas, Lacey Schwimmer, Karina Smirnoff, Anna Trebunskaya, and Kym Johnson — returned this season. Maksim's brother, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, made his debut competing as a professional. Peta Murgatroyd and Tristan MacManus, part of season 12's troupe of dancers, also became professional partners for the first time.^[1] Louis van Amstel did not compete as a professional, but participated in a new segment called "Ballroom Battles",^[2] which was cancelled on November 7.^[3] The dance troupe consisted of six dancers: Sharna Burgess, Dasha Chesnokova, Oksana Dmytrenko, Sasha Farber, Kiki Nyemchek, and Ted Volynets, plus the first eliminated male and female pros, who ended up being Val Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd.


This season featured twelve celebrity contestants. The cast was revealed during an episode of Bachelor Pad on August 28, 2011.^[4] The twelve professionals were revealed on August 31, 2011 during Good Morning America. Actor Ryan O'Neal was planning on competing as a celebrity, but could not after knee surgery, so Carson Kressley took his place.^[5]


From the start, controversy erupted over the inclusion of Chaz Bono, the child of singers Sonny and Cher. His appearance resulted in backlash from conservative supporters of the show, who even threatened to boycott due to his transgender status.^[6][7] Despite the criticism, Bono received strong support from the LGBT community. It was stated in LGBT Weekly that "Bono has become the transgender community's living symbol of hope, strength and defiance against vitriolic hate. When ABC Television announced that Bono would appear on DWTS, he faced vile slurs and death threats from a group of trans-phobic women and men."^[8] The controversy did lead producers to hire extra security protection for his time on the show.^[9]