‘Dancing with the Stars’: countdown to season 7

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Last season, I started having anxiety dreams about “Dancing with the Stars.” You know, instead of dreaming that I’d forgotten to go to a class all semester and the exam was in a few hours, I would dream about being on “DWTS” and not being prepared. Well, with the approach of season 7, those dreams have started up again –- just a few nights ago, I dreamed that we were five or six weeks in and I’d made some big mistake in my performance. I knew that I wouldn’t be saved by my fans -- because I don’t have any fans. Since I am not a celebrity. Which made me wonder why I’d agreed to be on “DWTS” in the first place. It all made for some high anxiety, and I was as relieved when I woke up as I am when I dream about getting a really bad haircut.

Well, luckily for me, I am not really on “DWTS,” but 13 hardy (or desperate or deluded) souls are, and the action starts tonight in the first installment of the three-night premiere. One star, Lance Bass, is blogging about the show each Monday over at Us Weekly’s website. His first post details his preparations.

Does anyone want to make a bold prediction –- before having seen even one performance -- about who’s going to take home the glittery disco ball trophy?

Personally, after I read that 82-year-old Cloris Leachman trash-talked the young Cody Linley while holding a margarita in her hand, I decided to root for her.

-- Sarah Rogers

(Photo Lance Bass courtesy Craig Sjodin / AP)