Dancing with the Stars Season 12

Dancing with the Stars Season 12 featured a particularly strong group of contestants, whose exploits and interests were wide ranging. Those of us who grew up in the 1980s had to hope Ralph Macchio could learn how to overcome adversity on the dance floor, just as he once did in a (fictional) dojo. Fighting and perseverance were major themes of Season 12 of Dancing with the Stars, as macho men like Sugar Ray Leonard, Hines Ward, and Chris Jericho filled the ranks of the contestants. Even the rapper among the bunch, Romeo, had a sports background and was once rated as the 18th most fit man in the world.

The female contestants made their contributions, too. Kirstie Alley played the underdog role to the hilt, helped by Latin dance specialist Maksim Chmerkovskiy to a second-place finish. You couldn't help but think Disney star Chelsea Kane and her all-too-capable dance partner, Mark Ballas, didn't get robbed by the voters of a chance to go one-on-one with Hines Ward and Kym Johnson. Still, Season 12 met expectations, keeping viewers on the edges of their seats while presenting one of the strongest overall talent pools in the history of the show. Through it all, the inimitable Tom Bergeron presided over the ceremonies with one of his strongest seasons yet.

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

Dancing with the Stars Co-Hosts: Tom Bergeron, Brooke Burke

Dancing with the Stars Time: Spring 2011

Dancing with the Stars Contestants - Season 12

Below is a list of Dancing with the Stars contestants from Season 12:

Hines Ward had a fascinating back-story. Hines Ward was born in Seoul, South Korea to a Korean mother and an African-American father (U.S. soldier stationed in South Korea). Ward grew up in Atlanta with little understanding of his Korean heritage, instead starring in football. He attended the University of Georgia and became a star for the Pittsburgh Steelers, eventually helping them to a victory in Superbowl XL, where he was voted Most Valuable Player.

Having risen to the pinnacle of football stardom, Hines Ward suddenly became an unlikely national hero in his native South Korea. Having never had a Superbowl MVP, the Korean people embraced their multiracial hero. Hines Ward made a visit to the country in the offseason and met with groups of multiracial Korean children, who bear a social stigma greater than they do in the United States. Hines Ward worked to inspire these children and to help change attitudes in South Korean, while eventually founding a charity (Hines Ward Helping Hands Foundation) to continue the work.

Dancing with the Stars Season 12 - Celebrities

Here's a list of Dancing with the Stars celebrities in Season 12:

Season 12 Dancing with the Stars

Season Twelve of Dancing with the Stars took place over the Spring of 2011 and continued to have top ratings in its time slot.

Season 12 Final Four and Finalists

The final four contestants in Season 12 were Ralph Macchio, Chelsea Kane, Kirstie Alley, and Hines Ward. When Ralph Macchio was eliminated one step before the finals round, most people expected to see the final come down to a contest between Hines Ward and Chelsea Kane. On the judges' scorecards, that's how the competition developed, but the American audience voters had a different ending in mind. For the first time in the show's history, a first-place score was voted into 3rd place, as Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas were eliminated in a shocker.

That left Hines Ward and Kym Johnson versus Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy for the crown, but it was all-but-inevitable at this point. Hines Ward and Kym Johnson were clearly the class left in the competition, despite the charm of Kirstie Alley and the dancing genius of Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Just as in Superbowl XL, Hines Ward proved the MVP.