It was a sea of celebrities and sequins in tonight’s premiere of Dancing With The Stars.
Sonia Kruger and new co-host Dr Chris Brown introduced the 12 celebrities competing for the coveted Mirror Ball Trophy before dividing them into two groups, each set to take the dance floor on alternating weeks.
Star of stage and screen, Lisa McCune, kicked things off. Her fiery Tango scored an impressive 30 points, as judge Helen Richey exclaimed: “that’s what a tango should look like!”
Fashion designer and model Nadia Bartel wowed the audience with her energetic Cha-Cha-Cha, but failed to impress the judges, receiving only 17 points. Craig Revel Horwell declared: “The hip and leg action was not there in the slightest.”
SAS Australia’s Ant Middleton brought military manoeuvres to his Paso Doble and scored 18 points. Sharna Burgess commented: “I love that you charge it around the floor. I love that you had power.”
Helen Richey didn’t hesitate to call Home and Away star James Stewart a “sexy beast” after witnessing his sizzling Cha-Cha-Cha that earned him 25 points.
Julie Goodwin was forced to withdraw from dancing in tonight’s episode after suffering two serious tears to her calf muscles in rehearsal. Unable to make her dancefloor debut, Julie hopes to dance again ahead of the series’ first elimination.
Despite putting his best foot forward, AFL legend Ben Cousins found himself at the bottom of the leaderboard, scoring just 14 points for his Foxtrot. While the dance wasn’t executed perfectly, all the judges agreed it was highly watchable, with Sharna Burgess describing him as “infectious to watch”.
The final leaderboard for the night:
- Lisa McCune and Ian Waite: 30
- James Stewart and Jorja Freeman: 25
- Ant Middleton and Alex Vladimirov: 18
- Nadia Bartel and Lyu Masuda: 17
- Ben Cousins and Siobhan Power: 14
- Julie Goodwin and Andrey Gorbunov: Unable to dance
