Las Vegas Weekly

March 9, 2009 · 7:28 PM

Holly Madison and Melissa Rycroft officially join DWTS; first dances are done

By Robin Leach

Country singer Chuck Wicks is paired with girlfriend and two-time Dancing With the Stars winner Julianne Hough for the show's eighth season.

Photo: ABC TV

Don’t read any further if you plan on watching the tape-delayed West Coast broadcast of the two-hour Season 8 premiere of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars at 8 p.m. and want nothing spoiled beforehand! But come back after the show!

We’re monitoring the live satellite feed from Hollywood to the East Coast -- and we already know that our Las Vegas darling Julianne Hough is dancing the Viennese waltz with her country singer boyfriend Chuck Wicks. Just as the program went to air at 5 p.m. L.A. time for the 8 p.m. primetime coverage on the East Coast, ABC officially confirmed that Holly Madison and jilted Bachelor girl Melissa Rycroft have been added to the cast. See our earlier story HERE! When Nancy O’Dell appeared on camera, she revealed that she’ll undergo surgery next week.

Be sure to check back here to Vegas DeLuxe tomorrow for photos of all the dance action. All 13 couples are set to each dance one number tonight -- either a waltz or a cha-cha. There’s a new sound and look to the studio, with an updated theme song and a grand staircase.

Photo: Scott Doctor/www.greatscottstudios.com

Holly Madison.

Here’s how our Vegas-connected folks did: The Girls Next Door star and Criss Angel ex-girlfriend Holly, replacing singer Jewel, debuted in a bright orange fringed flapper dress and scored 18; Julianne in a white gown with a nervous Chuck in a tux scored 20; her brother Derek Hough, dancing with Lil' Kim, scored 21; Jackass Steve-O gunned down 17 dancing to The Godfather music in his retro gangster pinstripe suit cheered on by several other Jackasses in the audience; and Denise Richards, who danced the last cha-cha of the night with Le Reve choreographer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, grabbed 18 points out of a possible 30 despite crying in the rehearsals video clips!

The producers kept the big but expected surprise for the final dance of the night. The audience booed when the “After the Final Rose” clip of The Bachelor Jason Mesnick’s jilting of Melissa was shown. She is now partnered with Tony Dovolani and, after just two days of rehearsals, they danced their waltz to the music of “Moon River." Nancy, who was replaced by Melissa, was shown standing on crutches when she gave her fill-in a standing ovation. The judges made much of The Bachelor’s loss being Dancing’s gain before giving her the second-highest score of the night: 23 out of 30! The 23 tied her with 17-year-old Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Shawn Johnson, but the ladies were behind Sex and the City big-screen hunk Gilles Marini's 24.

Photo: ABC TV

Melissa Rycroft.

Jason thinks Melissa can go all the way to victory even though she’s only had two days of rehearsals: “I know she has danced her whole life, and she must be excited for the opportunity. I hope and think she will win it all,” he told Extra tonight. “I am so excited for Melissa.” Former Bachelorette Trista Sutter, who is an alumnus of DWTS, is rooting for her: “I’m a huge fan and think it’s the absolute perfect thing for her to do now!” Trista told Life & Style.

For the record, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak only grabbed a miserable 13 out of 30, so his hard drive totally failed him and crashed! Jewel's rodeo cowboy husband also scored a tame 13. The scores from tonight will be added up to next Monday’s show scores, and then the bottom two teams will dance off to see who gets eliminated next Tuesday.

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