Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 2)

The second season of the American edition of Dancing with the Stars premiered on the ABC network on January 5, 2006, and ended February 24, 2006. This season expanded to ten couples from six in the previous season.

The second season expanded each program from an hour to ninety minutes, and added an hour-long results show the following night (in the first season no couples were eliminated in the first week; the first couple was eliminated at the end of the second episode, the second couple at the end of the third episode, and so on). Two couples were declared safe in an earlier portion of the show, the remaining couples were then named off until only the bottom two were left (the last two couples had the lowest amount of votes, with the exception of week seven, where the show explicitly stated that the order of all but the eliminated couple was random).

Drew Lachey, the celebrity winner of this season, returned to compete in the "All-Stars" version of the program and was the third celebrity eliminated.

Couples
The 10 celebrities and professional dance partners were:


 * Romeo Miller scheduled to appear in this season, but suffered an injury before the first show and was replaced by his father, Master P. Romeo participated in the 12th season and was partnered with Chelsie Hightower.

Season summary
In the second season, Drew Lachey and Stacy Keibler broke out as the early frontrunners, as both had solid early performances, and some prior dance experience: Lachey's stage performances with 98 Degrees were extensively choreographed, and Keibler had childhood dance training as well as being a professional cheerleader. Although both Keibler and Lachey were assumed to have some form of a fan base, there was no way of knowing whether 98 Degrees fans or WWE fans were responsible for their success—Drew credited the people of Cincinnati, Ohio for helping him stay in the competition. Lachey was lauded for his passion and willingness to take risks, and Keibler for her long legs and technical perfection. In regard to the judges' scoring, in nearly every week, Lachey and Keibler held the top two spots in the scoring (either first-second or tied for first). In addition, Lachey and Keibler were the only dancers in season 2 to receive a perfect score (Keibler four, Lachey three), and have three of the four "encore" performances (Lachey twice, Keibler once). In week six, Stacy and Tony became the first couple in series history to receive two 30s (maximum judges' score) in a row. Drew and Cheryl were always among the top two highest scores and along with Jerry Rice and Anna Trebunskaya, were the only couple never chosen for the bottom two. The judges repeatedly told Keibler and Lachey that they were the best or among the best dancers in any of the international versions of the series. Also, Master P and his partner Ashly DelGrosso scored the lowest score in the history of the show, an 8 (4,2,2) out of 30. Despite making it to the finals, the three Finalists had one unlearned dance that they did not perform. Drew & Jerry had not learned the Waltz, and Stacy had not learned the Paso Doble.

Musical guests such as the Pussycat Dolls (Nicole Scherzinger was on season 10), Jesse McCartney, Natasha Bedingfield, Michael Bublé, Bill Medley, Burt Bacharach, Mary J. Blige, Scissor Sisters and Barry Manilow performed while the professional dancers demonstrated various routines. In week four the results show introduced an encore of what the judges considered the previous night's best routine—twice going to Drew Lachey (the paso doble in week four and the Rumba (dance) in week seven), once to Stacy Keibler (the Samba (ballroom) in week five) and once to Rinna (the quickstep in week six).

Fan voting influence
The fan voting for Master P. and Jerry Rice received some controversy during this season. Master P. received very low points from the judges during his time on the show and the fans and judges were disappointed that he outlasted Tatum O'Neil and Giselle Fernandez. This circumstance would also happen again in Season 11 of the show, with Bristol Palin getting the lowest scores in many consecutive weeks and higher scoring couples being eliminated. Towards the end of the competition, Jerry Rice received negative feedback and scores that were much lower than his competitiors but he advanced to the finals. Even though Rice improved during the finals, some viewers and critics were disappointed with Rice getting 2nd place over Stacy Kiebler.

Judges' Scoring summary

 * Red numbers indicate the couples with the lowest score for each week.
 * Green numbers indicate the couples with the highest score for each week.
 * indicates the couple that was eliminated that week.
 * indicates the couple who was called last to be safe.
 * indicates the winning couple.
 * indicates the runner-up couple.
 * indicates the third place couple.