The producers of Dancing With The Stars are insisting that their decision to hire a cast of unknowns to take part in this year's contest will not put viewers off tuning in. "The idea of the show is that by the end, you're enjoying people you never knew," explains Deena Katz, the show's senior producer, to Usa Today.
When the line-up for the show was announced, the attention was on the names that people did recognize, such as the tennis champion Martina Navratilova, Melrose Place actor Jack Wagner, or the soul singer Gladys Knight. But with past contestants such as Bristol Palin and Chaz Bono having caused a real stir in the media, the potential for drama in this year's line-up looks seriously limited, despite Katz's insistence that the same remarks are made every year. Katz claims to have avoided the 'shock' contestants this year, on purpose, saying "It's great. There's buzz. But I don't want to start a fight before the season starts. I want to give really good people without the shock value. There's enough in this world."