Dancing With the Stars

Dancing With The Stars might be able to answer when the hugely popular reality competition series returns for its eighth season. ABC posted the list of contestants and as usual, there’s quite a variety going on. This season includes the series’ youngest competitor to date, Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson. Below is the list of Season 8’s Dancing with the Stars competitors.

Again athletes are getting top billing for "Dancing With the Stars" ("DWTS"). The new season of the ABC show begins March 9 and on the website the first two stars listed are former NFL great Lawrence Taylor and gymnastics gold-medalist Shawn Johnson. The third athlete on the new show is rodeo legend Ty Murray.

One of the first things that the 17-year-old gymnast said after winning her gold medal on the balance beam in Beijing was that she wanted to be on "DWTS." Johnson will be the youngest-ever competitor on the show. She had said in Beijing that she was postponing her junior year of high school at least for the first semester while she traveled on a post-Olympics gymnastics tour but it seems high school attendance isn't feasible for the second semester as well.

Gilles Marini

Belinda Carlisle is not only known as the lead singer of the Go-Go’s, the most successful all-female band of all time, but also as one of the late 80’s most glamorous adult pop soloists. The Go-Gos’ 1981 multi-platinum hit debut, “Beauty and the Beat,” spawned mega hits “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat” and made the Go-Go’s the first all-female band (who wrote their own music and played their own instruments) to achieve a #1 album.

The following years saw continued success for the girls with hits “Vacation,” “Head Over Heels,” and “Turn To You.” Belinda led off her solo career with the gold debut “Belinda,” and followed with huge mainstream hits “Mad About You,” “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” and “I Get Weak,” to name a few. Since then, Belinda has released 5 more albums, including 2007’s French pop collection, “Voila,” and continues to tour internationally, both with her Go-Go’s sisters and as a solo artist.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, actor-comedian David Alan Grier, actor Gilles Marini, singer Belinda Carlisle, Access Hollywood host Nancy O'Dell and country singer Chuck Wickes will also feature in the new series. Popstar Jewel and her rodeo champion husband Ty Murray, former New York Giant Lawrence Taylor, and Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson complete the line-up.