Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 3)

Season three of Dancing With the Stars premiered on September 12, 2006 and ended November 15, 2006. The number of couples competing expanded to eleven from the ten in the previous season.

For this season, the scoring system was changed. Fan vote only counted for 25% of the total score and scoring was now translated directly from percentages rather than into ordinals. The judges scores were added up, and each performer was given points based on the percentage of the total points distributed among all performers. (For example, a team received a score of 25. A total of 207 points were awarded to all nine performers. The team received 12.08% of that total, so that team earned 12.08 points. The couple happens to be Sara & Tony.) The fan vote was handled the same way, with the points based on how much of the total fan vote the star received. (So, in the same example, if the team earned 15% of the total fan vote, their grand total is 27.08 points.)^[1]

The results shows of this season featured the Slim Fast Dance Challenge, where Tysonia Sichinga and Christian Perry illustrated how exercise such as dancing could aid weight loss. Unfortunately, Tysonia wound up gaining five pounds from what she said, "too much Slim Fast".

The season finale brought in 27.8 million viewers, making it the highest rated Dancing with the Stars season finale to date. Emmitt Smith was the celebrity winner from this season.

Couples

The 11 celebrities and professional dancers that competed were:

†Emmitt Smith returned for the All-Stars season, where he was again paired with Cheryl Burke.

Sara Evans' withdrawal

On October 12, 2006, Sara Evans announced her withdrawal from the competition to be with her kids after filing for divorce from her husband, Craig Schelske.^[2] In a "final appearance",^[3] a pre-taped interview with Evans about her decision was shown on the October 17 episode.

Willa Ford stated on Headline News' Robin & Company that ABC had invited her to return to the competition, but she declined.^[4] At the end of the October 18 results show, after showing the bottom two, it was revealed that there would be no elimination for the week due to Evans' departure.^[5] The scores of week six were combined with the scores of week seven for the October 25 elimination. Evans returned for the season finale.

Judges' scoring summary

Red numbers indicate the couples with the lowest score for each week.

Green numbers indicate the couples with the highest score for each week.

Bold numbers indicate that the entire score board was tied.

     indicates the couples eliminated that week.

     indicates the returning couple that finished in the bottom two.

     indicates the returning couple that was last to be called safe.

     indicates the winning couple.

     indicates the runner-up couple.

     indicates the couple withdrew from the competition.

     indicates the third-place couple.

     indicates the couple that would have been eliminated had an elimination taken place.

Highest and lowest scoring performances

Shanna Moakler, Harry Hamlin & Vivica A. Fox are the only celebrities to not land on this list.

Average

This table only shows for dances scored with a traditional 30-point scale.

Couples' highest and lowest scoring performances

According to the traditional 30-point scale.

Dance chart

•      Highest scoring dance
•      Lowest scoring dance
•      Performed but not scored
•      Indicates the couple withdrew from the competition

This was the only season in which the runner-up got the highest Freestyle score and did not win the season.

Willa & Maksim is the only couple who was at the top of the leader board (with couples scoring less than them) and was eliminated. (This would be seen again in season 14 with Maria & Derek, season 15 with Sabrina & Louis, and season 17 with Christina & Mark).

Weekly scores and songs

The following is a list of the dances and songs played. The song titles are followed by the artist who recorded the song.

Individual judges scores in charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.

Week 1

Running Order

Week 2

Running Order

Week 3

Running Order

Week 4

Running Order

Week 5

Running Order

Week 6

Running Order

Week 7

Running Order

Week 8: Halloween Week

Running Order

Week 9

Running Order

Week 10

Running Order

Tour

On the October 25, 2006, results show, the first Dancing with the Stars – The Tour event was announced. Produced by ABC and Anschutz Entertainment Group, the live-action tour featured celebrities and professional dancers from U.S. seasons 1–3. The tour through 38 arena venues started in San Diego, California on December 19, 2006, and ended in Atlantic City, New Jersey on February 11, 2007. The pairs performing in the tour were:

• Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke
• Joey McIntyre & Kym Johnson
• Lisa Rinna & Louis Van Amstel
• Joey Lawrence & Edyta Śliwińska
• Harry Hamlin & Karina Smirnoff
• Willa Ford & Maksim Chmerkovskiy

At the last minute Willa & Maksim pulled out due to other commitments.

References

External links

• Official website