Las Vegas Weekly

March 23, 2010 · 11:26 AM

DWTS photos: Pamela’s comedy, Evan’s grace and Nicole on top

By Robin Leach

The season 10 premiere of Dancing With the Stars on March 22, 2010. Damian Whitewood and Pamela Anderson are pictured here.

Photo: Adam Larkey/ABC TV

The premiere of Season 10 of Dancing With the Stars last night instantly shuffled the 11-star lineup, but the spotlight fell on former Strip headliner Pamela Anderson, as she proved that she’s not only a dancer but also a comedienne.

Nicole Scherzinger, the former Pussycat Dolls lead singer gone solo, proved that she’s the celebrity to beat. As we reported here last night, she and Las Vegas pro partner Derek Hough, who won Season 7 with new co-host Brooke Burke, wound up atop the leader board. Closely following is Vancouver Olympics figure skating champion Evan Lysacek, who is teamed with Anna Trebunskaya, now in her fifth season on the hit ABC series.

ABC this morning announced big ratings for the DWTS preliminary overnight numbers. Nearly 24 million people tuned in to watch the 11 new celebrities, and it was the biggest ratings night for the network since November 2007 and exceeded last fall’s premiere by a staggering 6 million viewers.

In the second hour of last night’s broadcast, when Pamela and Kate Gosselin danced near the end of the show, another 2.5 million viewers joined to watch. That led to Castle, the series that follows DWTS starring Nathan Fillon, getting its highest ratings to date and for the first time beating a new episode of CSI: Miami.

ABC cameraman Adam Larkey was kept busy from start to finish of the two-hour debut show, and his overnight photography of the Viennese waltzes and cha-chas makes up our dazzling photo gallery this morning.

I was sad that the judges were unkind to my pal 80-year-old former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who is affiliated with the Zero Gravity flights here from our McCarran Airport. The man who walked on the moon is a living legend and doesn’t let age set him back for a moment in all his endeavors. Houston, we have a problem here with wicked judge Bruno Tonioli, who snarled that Buzz’s dancing was as if “he still had on his moon boots.”

However, Bruno saved his most evil line later when he savagely lashed at reality TV star Kate for dancing “as if she was a shopping cart being pushed around the block!”

So Buzz (with Ashly Costa, returning to the show for the first time since Season 3), Kate (with Tony Dovolani) and soap star Aiden Turner (with Edyta Sliwinska, who has competed in all 10 seasons!) wound up at the bottom of the board with 14, 15 and 16 judges’ points, respectively. Up at the top, the night belonged to Nicole with 25 and Evan with 23.

But it was busty Pamela who really shined -- more as a comedienne than a dancer, but her fancy footwork was pretty good, too. Plus, she’s a 42-year-old mother of two! Pamela, who starred here with Dutch magician Hans Klok at Planet Hollywood and wed in between performances, grabbed overnight headlines for her effervescent attitude. She’s the brightest personality added to the new lineup and will likely last right to the end with Australian newcomer Damian Whitewood. Comedienne Niecy Nash of Reno 911 with partner Louis Van Amstel also will last a while with her humor, sass and large-and-in-charge confidence.

So what are the predictions after just one night? Expect to see Nicole and Evan when it comes down to the battle for the mirrored disco ball May 25 and Pamela in there with them as part of the top three the night before. Will Aiden and Kate be among the first to be kicked off the show? I hope viewers keep Buzz on the show longer than The Bachelor airline pilot stud Jake Pavelka, who is partnered with our Las Vegas pro dancer Chelsie Hightower in her third season, and Shannen Doherty, who is partnered with Mark Ballas.

Who will be that first celebrity axed and sent home? They all get to dance again next Monday, and then the two weeks of judges’ scores are tallied up with all the viewer votes for the first elimination next Tuesday. Vegas DeLuxe will have coverage next week on both nights right after the live L.A. broadcasts to the East Coast.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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