Dancing with the Stars – Season 20 Odds

Dancing With the Stars recently announced its celebrity contestants for season 20, which premieres March 16 on ABC.

The dance card finds plenty of familiar faces, including actress Suzanne Somers, singer Patti LaBelle, openly gay football player Michael Sam, and LMFAO singer RedFoo. (As for the professional dancers, the list features Mark Ballas, Val Chmerkovskiy, Peta Murgatroyd, Tony Dovolani, and reigning champ Witney Carson.)

Inevitably, the contestant list will feature some names you’re not familiar with, and some people whose dancing abilities are complete question marks. As fans hurriedly Google all the budding Baryshnikovs, we thought we’d save you some time and provide a brief run-down of all the contestants along with their initial odds to win season 20.

Each week, we’ll update the odds as the contestants strut their stuff/are eliminated.

Dancing with the Stars Season 20 Odds (Prior to Episode 1)

Nastia Liukin (with Derek Hough): 3/1

• Athletes tend do well on DwtS. Liukin is a former Olympic gymnast. She comes armed with freakish strength and coordination, not to mention something of a dance background. She and Hough will make a serious play for the mirror ball trophy.

Suzanne Somers (with Tony Dovolani): 5/1

• Three’s company and two’s a crowd; but one Suzanne Somers, with her thoroughly mastered thighs, could surprise many.

Riker Lynch (with Allison Holker): 6/1

• This year’s DwtS cast includes two out-of-leftfield selections. One is R5 singer – and Glee actor – Riker Lynch. Lynch has some dance training, though, and an excellent pedigree: he is the cousin of Derek and Julianne Hough (which, I suppose, makes his selection a little less surprising; nepotism for the win!).

Michael Sam (with Peta Murgatroyd): 7/1

• Openly gay football player Michael Sam returns to the public eye for his Dancing with the Stars debut. Some may think Sam is too big to be successful as a dancer, but one of the knocks on Sam as a football player was that he wasn’t big enough to be an offensive lineman in the NFL. I think the 6’2″, 261 pound sack machine will prove surprisingly nimble. (We’ve already touched on the success of athletes.)

Noah Galloway (with Sharna Burgess): 9/1

• Combat soldier turned motivational speaker Noah Galloway will have the sympathy vote on his side, but he’s not going to want it. Galloway, who lost his left arm and leg fighting in Iraq and then fell into a deep depression, boasts the ultimate can-do attitude and will be a fierce competitor on DwtS, as in every aspect of his life.

Willow Shields (with Mark Ballas): 12/1

• Actress Willow Shields, best known for playing Primrose Everdeen in The Hunger Games, won’t have big sister Katniss to keep her out of this cutthroat competition. Former winner Ballas could have his work cut out for him as he teams with Shields (age 14), the show’s youngest contestant ever.

RedFoo (with Emma Slater): 15/1

• Another out-of-leftfield contestant is LMFAO’s RedFoo. He may “dance” for a living, but I don’t think the Juicy Wiggle is going to impress the judges, nor Emma Slater.

Patti LaBelle (with Artem Chigvintsev): 25/1

• If only Patti LaBelle knew what was in store on DwtS. Look for the 70-year-old soul singer to be on her own soon enough as her Russian dance partner won’t find a winner in LaBelle.

Charlotte McKinney (with Keo Motsepe): 25/1

• Charlotte McKinney, a.k.a. Kate Upton 2.0, wowed (some) Super Bowl viewers with her commercial for Carl’s Jr.  But this model/actress (and not the other way around) doesn’t have much of a dance background and, evidently, isn’t keen on following instructions. This could be another early exit for Keo Motsepe.

Rumer Willis (with Valentin Chmerkovskiy): 30/1

• Actress Rumer Willis, eldest daughter of Bruce and Demi, needs the publicity DwtS will provide. But backstabbing and deception won’t help this pretty little liar with the judges. Ukrainian professional Valentin Chmerkovskiy once again has a tough draw.

Robert Herjavec (with Kym Johnson): 50/1

• Every DwtS season has its token long-shot. This season, that role goes to Canadian businessman and Shark Tank panelist Robert Herjavec. No one will question Herjavec’s business acumen, but I’d be stunned to see him last past the halfway point. That said, Johnson does have a track record. In the past she turned Donny Osmond and Hines Ward into mirror ball trophy winners.

One more contestant will be announced prior to the premiere, and that celeb will have the good fortune of partnering with last year’s professional winner, Witney Carson.

Check back after March 16. We’ll add in the final celebrity and re-assess based on the performances in week 1.

Some of the celebs are sure to prove more spry than I imagine, while others will going to reward my faith with two left feet. (If you just thought to yourself, “not Galloway”, you’re a terrible person.)

Enjoy the show!

(Photo credit: Ailura (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 at (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/at/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)