Dancing With The Stars - All About the Men

Last night was the second episode of Dancing With the Stars. While the premiere night featured the women, last night was all about the men.

Fracas will be reviewing* each show for her faithful fraccers, and as such, has some opinions about the men last night but first, will include just as she did for the women, the bios of each celebrity dancer as written about at the Dancing With The Stars website.

I know you could go read them there, but that would force you to click back and forth to place a picture with a name and my opinion… you’d get all frustrated and annoyed, and you might have to let out with a loud f-word of some sort.

Now, that might look bad for you, especially if you happen to be reading the fracas blog from work. If you are… don’t worry, just tell your boss that you were looking for the ”How to keep desk clutter at bay” post that I promised. It’ll be here later.

Getting back to the men…

Helio Castroneves

PROFESSION:
IndyCar Series driver; two time Indianapolis 500 winner

PARTNER:
Julianne Hough

BACKGROUND:
The two time Indianapolis 500 champion began the celebratory tradition of climbing the racetrack fence in 2001, racing for Team Penske. A native of Brazil, Castroneves is partner and owner of the NasrCastroneves racing team, which competes in the Brazilian Stock Car V8 Championship. He has amassed twelve wins and forty nine top five finishes during his IndyCar career.

Mark Cuban

PROFESSION:
Dallas Mavericks Owner

PARTNER:
Kym Johnson

BACKGROUND:
When Mark Cuban purchased the Dallas Mavericks on January 14, 2000, the face of the organization began to change immediately. Once again Mavericks games had a party atmosphere as Reunion Arena rocked with the return of the “Reunion Rowdies.” Mavericks games became more than just ordinary NBA games they were a total entertainment experience.

Cuban was not only successful at instilling a sense of pride and passion into Mavericks fans by presenting himself as the ultimate role model by cheering from the same seats he had in years past, but he also became the first owner in team sports to encourage fan interaction through e mail on his personal computer. He has personally responded to thousands of emails, and several suggestions from fans have led to innovative changes such as a new three sided shot clock, which allows line of site to the 24 second clock from anywhere in the arena.

Cuban’s whatever it takes attitude and commitment to winning has everyone’s attention. From his first introduction to the team to the end of his first season as owner, the players responded with a 31 19 record, including a 9 1 mark in April 2000. In addition to hiring special coaches for offense, defense and shooting, Cuban has promised to do everything in his power to improve the team. This goal was achieved as the club finished the 2000 01 season with a 53 29 record en route to their first playoff appearance in 11 years where they became just the sixth team in NBA history to be down 0 2 and come back to win a five game series vs. Utah in Round 1.

Before the start of the 2001 02 season, American Airlines Center, the Mavs new home, opened and Cuban co founded HDNet, an all high definition television network on DIRECTV channel 199 which launched in September 2001.

Prior to his purchase of the Mavericks, Cuban co founded Broadcast.com, the leading provider of multimedia and streaming on the Internet, in 1995, selling it to Yahoo! in July of 1999. Before Broadcast.com, Cuban co founded MicroSolutions, a leading National Systems Integrator, in 1983, and later sold it to CompuServe.

Today, in addition to his ownership of the Mavericks, Cuban is an active investor in leading and cutting edge technologies and continues to be a sought after speaker.

Cameron Mathison

PROFESSION:
Actor

PARTNER:
Edyta Sliwinska

BACKGROUND:
Cameron Mathison joined the cast of All My Children in January 1998 as Ryan Lavery, the smart, slick talking, and sexy con man that has lifted a little cash and a few hearts since he arrived in Pine Valley. His role grew over time, becoming one of the show’s most popular characters. Mathison won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Male Newcomer in 1999 and earned Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2002 and 2005. In 2000, Mathison was named by People magazine as one of America’s 100 Most Eligible Bachelors.

Cameron exited his All My Children role in July 2002, an exit that at the time was called temporary. He returned to the cast a year later after roles in CSI & The Drew Carey Show. He is also presently hosting the fourth season of SOAPnet’s reality series, I Wanna be a Soapstar.

Floyd Mayweather

PROFESSION:
WBC Super Welterweight Boxing Champion

PARTNER:
Karina Smirnoff

BACKGROUND:
Mayweather is the world champion in five different weight classes and the current RING and World Boxing Council Welterweight Champion of the World, with an astounding undefeated record of 38 0, with 24 knockouts. He is universally recognized as pound for pound the best fighter in the world.

His nickname, “Pretty Boy,” was given to him by his amateur teammates because his face never had cuts or bruises after fights a result of the brilliant defensive techniques that his father taught him. The name has stuck throughout his boxing career.

He won a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta in the Featherweight division. That was the last time Mayweather ever lost a fight.

Wayne Newton

PROFESSION:
Las Vegas entertainer and singer; “Mr. Las Vegas”

PARTNER:
Cheryl Burke

BACKGROUND:
The Legend, Mr. Las Vegas, is enjoying a career that few dare even dream about, having performed more live shows than any other single performer in Las Vegas history, with no signs of slowing down. He has been mentored by such talents as Jackie Gleason, Lucille Ball, Bobby Darin, Jack Benny and Frank Sinatra, which has inspired him to great success in motion pictures, television and recordings. As Chairman of the USO Celebrity Circle, Newton recently said, “I want to use my head for myself and my heart for mankind.”

Wayne has recorded and released 165 albums to date. There is a Wayne Newton star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he was bestowed the first star on the Las Vegas Walk of Fame.

Albert Reed

PROFESSION:
Model

PARTNER:
Anna Trebunskaya

BACKGROUND:
Model Albert Reed has been featured in national ad campaigns for Abercrombie & Fitch, Diesel Clothing, Arrow Clothing, Rayban and Reebok, to name a few. The free spirited 22 year old has walked the catwalk for Chanel, Levis and Michael Kors. Growing up in Miami, Reed surfed competitively into his late teens, winning several titles. He is also an actor, musician and artist.

Fracas Figures:

If performances are to be judged soley on ability and talent, then Helio Castroneves and Albert Reed are the ones to watch. However, being the first show, there was a lot of “let’s not upset the contestants this early in the series” placating on the part of the judges.

Wayne Newton was charming for sure, but unless he puts forward a massive effort into fitness training, he’s going to have trouble mastering any dance requiring a real exertion of energy. Admitting he hadn’t realized how much energy dancing really requires, he may be around for a bit by gaining the “Oh my gosh it’s Wayne Newton” vote, but that’s all.

Mark Cuban was also, charming, but it’s clear his recent hip replacement might become the issue for him. Given points from the judges for the effort he put into his performance coming from the non-entertainment world, fracas wonders why that was even a consideration. Castroneves could hardly be considered part of the “entertainment world”, and yet delivered a good performance.

Fracas figures two of the most amusing portions of the show were judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s obvious flusterings over some of the night’s offerings, and temporary host Drew Lachey’s observation and opinion about Albert Reed’s bare chest.

Tsk, tsk. Carrie Anne and Drew. The show is supposed to be about dancing.

Wednesday night is the throw down… err… away. Someone gets sent home.

Fracas is guessing it will be Josie Maran, Floyd Mayweather or perhaps even Melanie Brown. After all, the audience for Dancing With The Stars just isn’t the former Spice Girl Fans and so in the end, her bad attitude in the training clips might lose her the votes she needs. Maybe not this episode, based on her mark from the judges factoring in, but it’s safe to say that Wayne Newton might have the dancing talent of a John Ratzenberger, but he’s got some loyal women out there who’ll keep him on for a bit. Melanie Brown had best try remember that this isn’t 1998 and the “Scary Spice” routine won’t win her audience votes. Those fans are off watching Prison Break.

Image Sources:
Helio Castroneves
Mark Cuban
Cameron Mathison
Floyd Mayweather
Wayne Newton
Albert Reed

*Reviewing is just a fancy term for sticking my two bits worth where you can read it.

Previous Dancing With The Stars posts/reviews:

Dancing With The Stars Premiere - Women