Dancing With The Stars Season 18: What To Expect

The new season of “Dancing With The Stars” is ready to kick off on Monday, March 17, 2014 and we’ve got the scoop on what you can expect from season 18. In case you hadn’t heard, the show has already axed veteran co-host Brooke Burke-Charvet in favor of Erin Andrews. If that wasn’t enough to cope with, the producers have also introduced a new twist. Apparently, viewers will get the opportunity to vote to switch up who gets partnered with whom!

PARTNER SWITCH

Executive Producer Conrad Green revealed, “It’s always a question that superfans of the show have, which is, how much is the celebrity good because they’re with that partner, or how much is it because they’re good themselves?”

He went on to say, “It’s a very good test of the stars, how good they actually are at dancing. And also, it’s a real test for our pro dancers.”

The show’s host, Tom Bergeron said, “If I was the pro and suddenly I had a new partner, and then I knew that I was going to go back to my old partner later, I wonder if I’d choreograph to the best of my ability while I was with the other person. Which is not to cast dispersions on anybody’s professionalism. I’m just thinking diabolical strategy.”

VOTING

With regard to the voting, Green said, “Effectively, we will know who’s going home Tuesday morning. So what will happen is, every couple will compete the following week, but one of those couples will be the one who is carrying the black mark of elimination with them, as it were. And there’s really not much they can do. None of these systems are ideal…but I do think at least this way the public gets the final say and they get to vote in response to the judges, rather than the judges having effectively the final say.”

ERIN ANDREWS

Of Andrews taking over duties from Burke-Charvet, Green said, “I think Erin has a unique take on [the show] because not only has she been a competitor on it, but also her day job, a sideline reporter in the NFL, it means she’s very good at understanding what it is to be in a competition, and making live moments work with people who are in competition, and doing interviews.”

NEW BAND

Ray Chew of “American Idol” fame is replacing the band leader Wheeler and his band. Of that, Green said, “The decision to bring on Ray was partly a reflection of the kind of music we’ve been doing more recently, trying to get a band that is well able to cover those modern songs. We wanted to try and get the balance back a bit more towards as much live music as possible.”

Are you looking forward to this season of “Dancing With The Stars”?