Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Category: File - :Dancing With the stars world map3.png|300px|right|thumb|International versions of Dancing with the Stars

Dancing with the Stars is the name of a group of international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide - the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to more than 30 countries, Australia was the first country to adapt the BBC show, and versions have also been produced in the United States with Dancing with the Stars, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, and Ukraine. As a result, this contest became the world's most popular television program among all genres in 2006 and 2007, according to the magazine Television Business International, reaching the Top 10 in 17 countries.

The show pairs a number of celebrities with professional ballroom dancers, who each week compete by performing dances. These are then given scores by a panel of judges. Viewers are given a certain amount of time to place votes on their favorite dancers, either by telephone or (in some countries) by the Internet. The couple with the lowest combined score (judges plus viewers) is eliminated, and continue in the next week. This process continues until there are only two or three couples left, at which point one couple is declared the champion.

Dancing with the Stars is a reality show airing on ABC in the United States. The show is based on the United Kingdom BBC Television series Strictly Come Dancing and is part of BBC Worldwide's international Dancing with the Stars franchise.

The show is currently hosted by Emmy Award-winning game show host and television personality, Tom Bergeron alongside Lisa Canning for the first season, before former E! reporter, Samantha Harris took over the role as co-hostess from 2006 to 2009.EXCLUSIVE: Samantha Harris Leaving Dancing with the Stars The show debuted in a short run from June to July 2005, then returned the following January and February. Beginning in the fall of 2006, ABC has scheduled the show to air two seasons per year, one running from September to November and the other from March to May. The show's ninth season premiered on September 21, 2009 at 8 pm.

The tenth season of Dancing with the Stars will premiere on Monday, March 22nd 2010 on ABC.ABC to Premiere "Dancing with the Stars" Tenth Season of March 22, Reality TV World, January 12, 2010

Some ABC affiliates have their own local versions of Dancing with the Stars. WEWS-TV in Cleveland, for example, did its own Cleveland version of the show using Cleveland-based celebrities.

In "TV Bootleg Favs", (a book of lists about the questionable but thriving practice of copying TV shows from networks and reselling on DVD), "Dancing with the Stars" ranks third, (Top seven: NCIS, The Simpsons, Dancing With The Stars, CSI, Gunsmoke, The Facts Of Life, Mayberry RFD). Many of these series are not yet fully available on DVD).