Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 12)

Dancing with the Stars returned for its twelfth season on March 21, 2011. Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Len Goodman returned to the show as judges, while Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke returned as hosts.

It was the Superbowl champion Hines Ward who won the competition over actress Kirstie Alley and Disney star Chelsea Kane, who took 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Overview
On the official website, a page gave people the chance to recommend celebrities they wanted to see on Season 12 of the show through comments. Pro-dancer Derek Hough, who was the incumbent champion, did not return for Season 12 in order to film an upcoming movie but returned for Season 13. Along with Seasons 2 and 10, this was one of only three seasons where the incumbent professional champion did not compete.

The cast was revealed on February 28, 2011, during The Bachelor, and the professional partners were revealed on March 2, 2011. Hip hop artist Romeo, injured before the beginning of broadcasts of season 2, and replaced during that season by his father, Master P, was one of the competitors in season 12.

Couples
The 11 celebrities and professional dancers who competed were:
 * Kirstie Alley returned to season 15 to compete with the other all-stars.

Scoring chart

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

Averages
This table only counts for dances scored on a traditional 30-points scale (the scores for the Winner Takes All Cha-Cha-Cha from Week 9 are not included).

Highest and lowest scoring performances
The best and worst performances in each dance according to the judges' marks are as follows:


 * Petra Nemcova is the only celebrity not to land on this list.

Couples' highest and lowest scoring dances
According to the traditional 30-point scale:

Week 1
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.


 * Running order

Week 2
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
 * Running order

Week 3: Personal Story/Memorable Year Week
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
 * Running order

Week 4: Classical Week
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
 * Running order

Week 5: American Week
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
 * Running order

Week 6: Guilty Pleasure Week
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
 * Running order

Week 7: Ballroom Greats Week
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Donnie Burns, Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
 * Running order

Week 8: Instant Choreography Week
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
 * Running order

Week 9: Semi-Finals
Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
 * Running order

Winner Takes All Cha-Cha-Cha

Week 10: Finale Week

 * Running order (Night 1)


 * Running order (Night 2)

Dance chart
The celebrities and professional partners danced one of these routines for each corresponding week:
 * Week 1: Cha-Cha-Cha or Foxtrot
 * Week 2: Jive or Quickstep
 * Week 3: Rumba or One Unlearned Dance (Personal Story/Most Memorable Year)
 * Week 4: One Unlearned Ballroom Dance (Classical Week)
 * Week 5: One Unlearned Dance (American Week)
 * Week 6: One Unlearned Dance (Guilty Pleasure Week)
 * Week 7: One Unlearned Dance and Team Dance (Ballroom Greats Week)
 * Week 8: One Unlearned Ballroom Dance and Instant Dance (Instant Choreography Week)
 * Week 9: Two Unlearned Dances and Winner Takes All Cha-Cha-Cha
 * Week 10 (Night 1): Judges Choice Dance and Freestyle
 * Week 10 (Night 2): Favorite Dance of the Season


 * Highest scoring dance
 * Lowest scoring dance
 * Danced, but not scored

Guest performances on results episodes
In addition to recapping the week's earlier performances by the competitors, each results show features one or more guest musical performers/acts who perform at least one song. During each song, the Dancing with the Stars dance troupe or guest dancers perform a choreographed dance. Unless otherwise noted, the Dancing with the Stars dance troupe performed during the musical number.

Chris Brown performed "Yeah 3x" and a medley of "Forever"/"Beautiful People" while his own dancers performed. The dance troupe also performed to the song Dance to the Music. Music was provided by the house band.
 * March 29, 2011

OneRepublic performed "Good Life" while Dmitry Chaplin and Lacey Schwimmer danced, and "All the Right Moves". On the same episode, Selena Gomez and the Scene performed "Who Says" featruing Mark Ballas and Chelsie Hightower dancing.
 * April 5, 2011

David Garrett performed "Walk This Way". Jennifer Hudson performed "Don't Look Down" while Louis Van Amstel and Karina Smirnoff danced, and followed up with "Feeling Good" featuring dancing by Ashleigh Di Lello, Ryan Di Lello, Snejana Petrova and Damian Whitewood.
 * April 12, 2011

Toby Keith performed two songs: "Should've Been a Cowboy" (with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Lacey Schwimmer in addition to the dance troupe), and "American Soldier" (with Jonathan Roberts and Anna Trebunskaya dancing).
 * April 19, 2011

The Macy's Stars of Dance segment was choreographed by Jamal Sims (choreographer for Step Up, Footloose and the American version of So You Think You Can Dance). Featured dancers included Jamal Sims, Kayla Radomski, Ashlee Nino, and Paula Van Oppen.

Hanson performed "MMMBop" during the opening of the episode which aired April 25, which featured Tony Dovolani, Lacey Schwimmer and the dance troupe. On the subsequent results show, Hanson performed "Give A Little" during the opening to the "Road to the Finals" special.
 * April 26, 2011

The April 26th episode also featured two duets between New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys, who performed "Don't Turn Out the Lights" accompanied by dancers Tony Dovolani and Lacey Schwimmer, and the dance troupe, and "I Want It That Way"/"Step by Step" with Peta Murgatroyd, Anna Trebunskaya, Joey McIntyre and Donnie Wahlberg dancing. On the same episode, Pia Toscano performed "I'll Stand By You" with Mark Ballas and Karina Smirnoff dancing.

Nicki Minaj performed "Moment 4 Life" with Chelsie Hightower, Kiki Nyemchek, Sonny Pederson and Lacey Schwimmer dancing. Priscilla Ahn performed "Dream" while Patricia Zhou danced, and James Blunt performed "I'll Be Your Man", with Dasha Chesnokova and Val Chmerkovskiy dancing.
 * May 3, 2011

Adele performed "Rolling in the Deep", which featured Travis Wall, Nick Lazzarini, Jaimie Goodwin and Chantel Aguirre dancing. Delta Goodrem (replaced Adele and performed "Natural Woman" while Cheryl Burke and Louis Van Amstel danced. A duet by Michael Bolton and Delta Goodrem followed, with the pair singing "I'm Not Ready" while Dmitry Chaplin and Anna Trebunskaya danced.
 * May 10, 2011

Stevie Nicks performed "Secret Love" and "Landslide". Her first song featured Dmitry Chaplin, Anna Trebunskaya, Peta Murgatroyd and Damian Whitewood dancing, and the second showcased Cheryl Burke and Tony Dovolani. On the same episode, Pitbull (featuring Ne-Yo and Nayer) performed "Give Me Everything", which also featured his own dance troupe.
 * May 17, 2011

Brooke Burke (season 7 champion and current co-host), Apolo Anton Ohno (Season 4 champion), Donny Osmond (Season 9 champion), Warren Sapp (Season 7 finalist) also returned to provide color commentary on their memorable individual freestyle routines. In addition, the dance troupe and professional dancers performed two medleys. Season 2 winners Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke also returned and performed their fan favorite freestyle, "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy."

The final results show featured performances by The Black Eyed Peas ("Don't Stop the Party"), The Go-Go's ("We Got the Beat") and Sara Evans ("A Little Bit Stronger"). The second song featured dances by Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Lacey Schwimmer, Cheryl Burke and Chelsie Hightower.
 * May 24, 2011

Dance Troupe
1st season with dance troupe. The dance troupe consists of six dancers: Oksana Dmyrenko, Tristan MacManus, Peta Murgatroyd, Kiki Nyemchek, Nicole Volynets and Ted Volynets.

American television ratings
Season 12 was the most watched season, and numerous episodes were the most watched show in the USA for the week. The show tied with Modern Family, a sitcom which also airs on ABC, for the season's No. 5 spot in the age 18-49 demographic of viewers, and placed at No. 3 on the rankings of the overall season.