Dancing with the Stars 2012 Cast: No Hope Solo But Martina Navratilova

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Dancing With The Stars 2012 Cast
Ok, this blogger’s still smarting (a bit) from the way US Soccer Star Hope Solo’s treatment on Dancing with the Stars 2011, Season 13 exposed the rampant favoritism of the show, but it’s still a part of American Pop Culture, so here we go again, with a new cast. This time it’s Martina Navratilova taking up for female athletes everywhere.

The DWST 2012 Cast: Jack Wagner from Melrose Place, Melissa Gilbert from Little House On The Prarie, Green Bay Packers’ Wide Receiver Donald Driver, Telenovela’s William Levy, Sherri Shepherd from The View, Opera Star Katherine Jenkins, Singer Gavin Degraw, Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova, Disney Channel “Shake It Up” Star Roshon Fegan, Extra host Maria Menounos, Jaleel White who was Steve Urkel from Family Matters, and the legendary Gladys Knight.

Who’s my favorite this year? Well, I’m rooting for Martina, but not with the intensity that I did Hope Solo, because there’s no sign that she’s going to be treated like Hope was – basically like crap, just saying. Plus, the pairings are more interesting. Let’s see how Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Hope’s partner from last year, handles someone he did not recruit to be on DWTS in Melissa Gilbert, who he also says he’d never known of until this year. Wow.

No Lacey Schwimmer

Also, sadly, for the first time in six years, DWTS will be without one of its most popular and hot dancers, Lacey Schwimmer. The reason she gave SheKnows.com is that “There are a lot of things going on in my life that I kind of need [to] step back and focus. I’m trying to partition my time.”

She mentions some reasons that raise red flag, like her purchase of a home with her boyfriend, and her release of a new album this year. That’s the flag for me. If you want to promote your new album, you get on Dancing with the Stars. To this blogger, it seems something’s wrong – or something went wrong – betweeen Dancing with the Stars and Lacey Schwimmer. Just a guess.

More Blacks On Dancing with the Stars For 2012

This Dancing with the Stars will see five African Americans on Dancing with the Stars. I don’t know if that’s a record, but I can tell you that’s not an accident. Given the less than great ratings of 2011, I think the producers took a hard look at what worked in terms of casting and demographics of viewers, and then availability of contestants, and voila!

Who Will Win?

I’m going to pick Melissa Gilbert because of her teacher, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, plus the fact that there will be far less sexual tension between them, than between he and Hope Solo. I got the impression that Maksim wanted more from Hope that she gave him, and over the course of their pairing that issue came out in very weird ways, like his now-famous hitting of her while dancing and getting a teaching stand-in for him. Remember, before DWTS got started, Hope and Maksim were on this kind of multi-city travel tour that wasn’t really picked up by the media outside of me. They went to soccer games together, dinners, and just hung out so much that they looked like a dating couple.

Hope Solo
You’re not going to see that with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Melissa Gilbert.

And What About Hope Solo?

And where’ Hope Solo? Hope has been getting ready for the London 2012 Olympic Games. And, well, the last most recent photo I saw was of the now more famous soccer star and Wasserman Media Group client was while she was in Barcelona as part of a sports symposium called the Global Sports Forum. In fact, the photo was perfect Hope Solo: large picture of her face in the background, Hope leaning forward to assertively make a point, all the while showing those legs that made many tune in to Dancing With The Stars 2011, Season 13. Hope Solo, the brand, thanks to Dancing With The Stars and Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

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