Dancing with the Stars Season 14: Rumors and Predictions

The first Dancing with the Stars season of 2012 is almost here. The announcement of the new celebrity cast is expected at the end of this month (Feb. 28, 2012) on Good Morning America. Cast/pro pairings may not come until a day or two later.

Rehearsals for Season 14 begin on February 20 and, though the official contestant announcement will not be until Feb. 28, it is a significant possibility that the paparazzi will leak some of the pairings as the couples come and go from the rehearsal site. The show premiere is on Monday, March 19.

Given the popularity of the Kardashian/Jenner clan and the recent appearances of Kim and Rob on the show along with the recently declining ratings of DWTS, it would seem a sure bet that one of the reality TV clan would again be invited to the show. The strongest whisperings lean toward matriarch Chris Jenner and secondly to her current husband Bruce Jenner. Also rumored as possible participants are the two children they had together—Kylie and Kendall Jenner. The two teenagers would have to be pulled out of school in order to participate, but homeschooling is nowadays a popular option in situations like this.

The DWTS cast usually includes some professional athletes and at least one of them can be expected to be a professional football player. So who might it be this time around? One might expect it to be a player who has been in the news lately or a member of one of the latest Super Bowl teams, but that hasn’t been the case in previous DWTS seasons.

Cheryl Burke has stated publicly that she would like to have Victor Cruz, wide receiver for the New York Giants as a dancing partner after seeing his salsa moves in the end zone during Super Bowl XLVI. She didn’t mention how much sway the professional dancers have in determining their partners but last season it was made public that Maksim Chmerkovskiy had handpicked World Cup champion soccer player Hope Solo as his dancing partner and sure enough they were a pair on Season 13.

Another bet might be Giants’ linebacker Mark Herzlich who recently defeated cancer and against all odds made the Giants team, since the show seems to go for inspiring stories like that of J. R. Martinez last season. Martinez is a U. S. Army vet who was burned over 40 percent of his body when the Humvee he was driving in Iraq rode over a land mine.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Vince Young tweeted his Twitter fans that he had been invited to appear on DWTS this season and asked for their advice whether or not he should take it into consideration. A tweet in reply from his very own Vince Young steakhouse in Austin, Texas assured him, “YES! You would win! Given the past success of football players on DWTS, he may have been given some very accurate advice.

Speaking of Season 13 winner J. R. Martinez and football players, Martinez apparently had a conversation with Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow of tebowing fame recently in which Tebow reportedly told the Mirror Ball trophy winner that he would like to be on DWTS in about a year. But if asked to do it sooner would he turn it down? Both DWTS pros Chelsey Hightower and Karina Smirnoff made it public in January that they would like to tango with Tebow.

Speaking of triumph over tragedy tales: A DSTS insider told HollywoodLife that E! News host Giuliana Rancic was approached by DWTS about being on the show. Rancic made it known in October that she had breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy in December.

The DWTS cast usually includes a member of the more mature generation. Might that older person be 64-year-old Paula Deen? Rumors have it that DWTS producers are ruminating a run for the recipe queen. Deen recently revealed having Type 2 diabetes so she is ripe for a health and body makeover experience. Might she dance with Mirror Ball champion pro-dancer Derek Hough since making his acquaintance when appearing on the same episode of Live! With Kelly last December?

Speaking of the older set: Ryan O’Neill was scheduled to appear with the Season 13 cast but reportedly had to back out due to problems with his knees. Ryan O’Neill at age 70 is expected to appear in Season 14 if his knees hold up.

Speaking of septuagenarians who had to pull out in Season 13, Faye Dunaway apparently had to pull out for the same reason as Ryan O’Neill. She, too, at age 71, is expected to vie for the coveted Mirror Ball in the upcoming season.

Other females rumored to be in the mix: Queen Latifah, actress Jackee Harry, Jenny McCarthy, Dolly Parton (though she has turned down offers repeatedly, perhaps she has changed her mind), Sherri Shepherd, Israeli model Bar Refaeli, Stacey Dash, Tori Spelling, Taylor Armstrong, Good Morning America co-host Lara Spencer, actress Wendy Raquel Robinson from the BET show ‘The Game’, Jenni Farley, Patti Stanger, Courtney Cox, Elle MacPherson, Tiny Fey, and UK singer Cheryl Cole, Lisa Marie Presley. Obviously, not all of these will appear.

The rumored male contestants include Gavin DeGraw, Stevie Wonder, gossip blogger Perez Hilton, Paul Reubens AKA Peewee Herman, Vince Vaughn, Rob Lowe and Regis Philbin, Nick Jonas and Scot Hamilton.

In an interview with Stuart Varney on Fox News, former Presidential candidate Herman Cain confirmed that he had indeed been invited to appear on DWTS this season but turned it down. He jokingly told Varney that his reason for turnng it down was because they wanted him to do an "8-count" and he told them he could only do a "9-count." This was a play-on-words allusion to his much publicized "9-9-9" economic plan.

Billy Ray Cyrus said daughter Miley had been invited to dance on DWTS but he did not give his permission.

DWTS apparently lines up a few alternates in case one of the current cast has to bow out at the last minute. The sister of Kyndra Mayo reported to Wetpaint Entertainment that the former actress on Season 3 of the reality show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange Country has been approached by DWTS scouts and is currently an alternate.

Chelsey Hightower told an interviewer that the pro dancers aren’t told if they will be back on the show until a week before rehearsals begin. However, she and Maksim Chmerkovskiy have both announced they will return in 2012 if asked, as did Cheryl Burke and Derek Hough. Louis Van Amstel, who was left off the list against his will in Season 13, hopes he will get a call for Season 14 too.