Sandra Bullock, Sarah Palin, Justin Bieber among Barbara Walters' 'Most Fascinating People' [Updated]

As dependable as Santa's naughty and nice lists, the annual release of names on Barbara Walters' "Most Fascinating People" list reminds us that the holidays are here.

This year, Walters curates a list of the 10 people (only eight will be revealed prior to the broadcast) who captivated our attention in 2010 -- including scandal survivor Sandra Bullock, teen sensation Justin Bieber, polarizing politico Sarah Palin and princess-to-be Kate Middleton. 

The sit-down is significant for Bullock, who has turned up publicly only for a couple of awards, a "Today" interview pegged to charitable work, and her mildly candid People spread about adopting baby Louis. Read: Expect the juice to flow.

Palin, an alumna of the 2009 list, makes the cut again, while heartthrob Beiber hits it for the first time. Betty White, LeBron James, Jennifer Lopez and the cast of "Jersey Shore" (yes, you read that correctly) will also appear.

Walters will reveal the ninth name, in addition to the identity of her "most fascinating" person, when the show airs Dec. 9. 

Can you guess which luminary will fill the empty spot? Lady Gaga again? Final-season Oprah Winfrey? Mel Gibson? Perhaps a repeat performance from the recently-more-fascinating Brett Favre?

Tell us in the comments section below. 

[For the record, 11:56 a.m.: Justin Bieber's last name was misspelled in an earlier version of this post. As for initially calling Kate Middleton "Katie," well, that's just our little pet name. Thanks to commenter @Emmy for the catch.]

-- Matt Donnelly
twitter.com/MattDonnelly 

Photo: Sandra Bullock at the 2010 People's Choice Awards. Credit: Getty Images

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Comments

[ChaChaheels]

J-Bieber and Sarah Palin are fascinating??? Really?? Bubble-gummy bopper who's just as fascinating as dry wall and the vapid, media hungry & unintelligent crazy Grizzly is as fascinating as John Boehner when he's sober...Babs is going for low-brow persons of interest I see...so sad!

[Bradley]

Is Sandra Bullock actually getting interviewed ?

[Michelle]

Barbara Walters needs to wait until she actually has some fasinating people before she does these specials. Chief among the people she and others in the media continue to keep out there in our faces is Sarah Palin. Sarah is good with the one liners but does anyone in this country think we need a smart alleck as our leader? I like Sandra Bullock, but is getting a divorce fascinating? The Bieber kid - what is that? What has he done so fascinating? Barbara needs to look for accomplished people and stay away from the low hanging fruit.