Dancing with the Stars Season 1

Dancing with the Stars Season 1 was a much smaller event than what fans are now used to. The season lasted only 10 episodes and spanned the summer of 2005. As a summer addition to the television lineup, ABC's executives clearly weren't sold on whether it would catch on with the American public. Summer is not considered a prime time to start a new program, since this is when people are presumably on vacation, watching their kids play sports, or outside in the yard when prime time programs are playing.

So it was a pleasant surprise when Dancing with the Stars began to get buzz immediately when the program aired. Without competition from winter and spring heavyweights like American Idol or the fall lineup of new network programming, Dancing with the Stars got enough ratings to warrant a second season. Fans thrilled to the dancing exploits of both celebrities and professional dancers, but the real attraction was a chance to see famous celebrities out of their comfort zone and behaving like real people.

Dancing with the Stars Season 1 Judges: Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli

Dancing with the Stars Season 1 Co-Hosts: Tom Bergeron, Lisa Canning

Dancing with the Stars Season 1 Time: Summer 2005

Dancing with the Stars Contestants - Season 1

Here's a list of Dancing with the Stars contestants from Season 1.

While stars Evander Holyfield and Rachel Hunter were probably the best-known celebrities on Season One, the fan favorites soon became John O'Hurley and Kelly Monaco. Coming into the Season 1 final, John O'Hurley, best known for his role of J Pederman on the Seinfeld tv show, was considered the favorite to win. Kelly Monaco, who had some notoriety for her role on General Hospital, ended up winning the inaugural season.

Dancing with the Stars Season 1 Dancing Pairs

Here's a list of Dancing with the Stars dancing pairs from Season 1.

Dancing with the Stars would return six months later with a larger stable of contestants and a new co-host (Samantha Harris). The first season still contained most of the essentials that people still love six years later: ballroom dancing, dancers like Louis Von Amstel and Edyta Sliwinska, the three judges, and the velvety tones of Tom Bergeron.