Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 7)

The seventh season of Dancing with the Stars premiered on September 22, 2008 as a part of ABC's fall line-up. Instead of 12 couples like previous seasons, this was the first season to showcase a lineup of 13 couples. This season also introduced four new dances: the Hustle, the Salsa, the Jitterbug, and the West Coast Swing, as well as Team Dancing.

Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris return as the show's hosts. Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, and Carrie Ann Inaba continue as the judges this season, with Michael Flatley having appeared temporarily as a guest judge for Len Goodman during week six.

Only three 30s were given out this season, and all were given to the winner, Brooke Burke: once for her Foxtrot in week seven, once for her Freestyle in the finals, and once for her repeated favorite dance, the Viennese Waltz, also in the finals.

The official cast announcement was made on the morning of August 25, 2008 on Good Morning America. This is the third season to have its cast announced on GMA.

Couples
The 13 celebrities and professional dancers who competed were:

Scoring chart

 * 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 (or couples) eliminated that week.
 * indicates the returning couple was the last to be called safe (they may or may have not been in the bottom two).
 * indicates the returning couple that finished in the bottom two.
 * indicates the couple withdrew (WD) from the competition.
 * indicates the couple that would have been eliminated had an elimination taken place.
 * indicates the winning couple.
 * indicates the runner-up couple.
 * indicates the third-place couple.


 * Week 1: Brooke Burke & Derek Hough received a$23/30$ (the highest score of the night) for their Cha-cha-cha and received a $26/30$ for their Quickstep. Cloris Leachman received a$16/30$ for her Foxtrot. While Rocco DiSpirito & Karina Smirnoff earned their Foxtrot a $14/30$ and Jeffrey Ross & Edyta Śliwińska received a $12/30$ (the lowest score of the night) for their Cha-cha-cha. The September 23 episode featured competition and elimination on the same night. Each couple that was called safe performed a new routine. At the end of the episode, Jeffrey Ross was eliminated. Ted McGinley was eliminated on the results show the following night.


 * Week 2: Warren & Kym performed an encore for their Paso Doble. Brooke & Derek held the top spot for the second consecutive week, while Cloris Leachman & Corky Ballas were at bottom of the judges' leaderboard with 15/30. Kim Kardashian & reigning champion Mark Ballas were eliminated.


 * Week 3: Brooke & Derek became the first couple to receive a 10 from any of the judges; in this case, it was awarded by Len Goodman. Cloris and Corky danced their wacky Jive leaving the judges speechless and landed at the bottom of the judges' leaderboard for the third consecutive week. Misty May-Treanor was forced to withdraw from the competition after rupturing her Achilles tendon during a training session. Because of her withdrawal, no elimination took place that week. However, it was announced on the results show that, of the remaining contestants, Rocco DiSpirito had the lowest combined total of scores and votes and would've been eliminated. Each couples combined total for that week was added to their total for the following week, in order to determine who would be eliminated next.


 * Week 4: Cloris & Corky received their highest score of the season, $22/30$ for their Tango, but they found themselves in the bottom two along with Rocco & Karina. However, Rocco DiSpirito was eliminated.


 * Week 5: Eight couples performed four new dances: the Hustle, the Salsa, the Jitterbug, and the West Coast Swing. Susan & Tony, and Warren & Kym performed the Hustle, Cloris & Corky, and Maurice & Cheryl performed the Salsa, Brooke & Derek, and Cody & Julianne performed the Jitterbug, and Lance & Lacey, and Toni & Alec performed the West Coast Swing. After the results show, Julianne Hough was rushed to the hospital because of severe stomach pain. She was later diagnosed with endometriosis. Toni Braxton was eliminated.


 * Week 6: For the first time since the start of the competition, Brooke & Derek were not in first place, narrowly losing out to Lance Bass & Lacey Schwimmer. Cloris & Corky received a $15/30$ (the lowest score of week six). They were eliminated, but the audience giving them a standing ovation for the last six weeks.


 * Week 7: Brooke & Derek became the first couple to receive a perfect 30 from the judges, on their Foxtrot. Cody Linley danced with a substitute partner, Edyta Śliwińska, while Julianne Hough had surgery to remove her appendix. During Week 7, the show introduced Team Dancing and the score each team received was added to the score of their first dance of the evening. The producers named Warren and Susan captains, and had them randomly choose dances to perform. They were then allowed to choose teammates: the resulting teams were Team Cha-Cha (Lucci, Linley, Bass, and their partners) and Team Paso Doble (Sapp, Greene, Burke, and their partners). Susan Lucci was eliminated.


 * Week 8: During the Latin round, each celebrity was required to dance a 15-second solo, apart from his/her partner. Cody Linley danced with Edyta again this week, while Julianne recovered from her surgery. Warren Sapp & Kym Johnson earned their first 10 for their Tango and received the encore for the week. Maurice Greene was eliminated.


 * Week 9: Julianne Hough returned to the show to dance with Cody Linley. Brooke & Derek earned their jive a $21/30$, their lowest score of the season, while Lance & Lacey earned their highest scores of the season for their Mambo a $28/30$ and the Jitterbug a $29/30$(10,9,10), giving them total of $57/60$ the highest score of week 9. Cody Linley came in last place and was eliminated.


 *  Week 10: Burke received a score of $28/30$ for the Group Samba and earned a perfect $30/30$ for the Freestyle round. During the Tuesday night finale, the eliminated couples returned to the dance floor for their final performances including the unstoppable Cloris Leachman. Jeffrey Ross performed a stand-up comedy routine, in which he "roasted" the three finalists. Lance Bass & Lacey Schwimmer received third place, Warren Sapp & Kym Johnson received second place, Brooke Burke & Derek Hough became the Champions of Dancing with the Stars Season 7. This was Kym Johnson's second time finishing in second place, the first time being in season four with celebrity partner Joey Fatone.

Average score chart
This table only counts for dances scored on a traditional 30-points scale.

Season notes

 * Cloris Leachman became the oldest woman on Dancing with the Stars.
 * During rehearsal of their first dance, Jeffrey Ross was accidentally poked in the eye by Edyta Śliwińska, suffering a scratched cornea. Against doctor's advice, Ross continued the competition. They were the first couple to be eliminated.
 * On Friday, October 3, 2008, Misty May-Treanor was injured during practice. She received immediate medical attention. At the end of the next episode, on Monday, October 6, May-Treanor announced that she had ruptured her Achilles tendon, and thus had to withdraw from the competition; moreover, she had surgery scheduled for October 7. She plans to return to volleyball competition after her recovery, stating that she had already planned to take some time off, so this injury did not affect her career. On the results show the next night, Bergeron revealed that no one would be eliminated that week because of May-Treanor's withdrawal; instead, the Week 3 scores would be combined with the scores from Week 4. He also revealed that Rocco DiSpirito would have been eliminated.
 * On Sunday, October 19, 2008, Brooke Burke was injured during the camera blocking for her Jitterbug with partner Derek Hough. She was doing a front flip and came down too hard on her right foot. She put ice on it immediately, but ended up going to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Monday morning, October 20, 2008, for treatment and X-rays. There, it was determined that she had severely bruised her foot, but as of Monday afternoon, an ABC spokesperson told People magazine that Burke and Hough were still planning to perform on that night's live show. They did just that, and went on to receive a 29 for their Jitterbug, remaining at the top of the leaderboard for the fifth straight week.
 * On the Monday, October 20 show, Tom Bergeron announced that Susan Lucci had fractured two bones in her foot, but she would still dance her Hustle that night.
 * On the Tuesday, October 21 results show, Tom Bergeron announced that Michael Flatley would sit in as a guest judge for Len Goodman during Week 6. Goodman got one week off due to an "impossible schedule," as stated by Samantha Harris.
 * Forty minutes after the Tuesday, October 21 results show Julianne Hough was taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for increasingly painful stomach pains. Initially Hough said she was taking a day off from the group rehearsal to relax and try and feel better. However, on October 27 she was diagnosed with endometriosis. She announced on the October 27th show that she would undergo surgery to remove her appendix on October 28, and that she would bow out of the competition until she recovers. Her partner Cody Linley worked with Edyta Śliwińska for Weeks 7 and 8 of the competition. Hough returned to the show for Week 9, the semi-finals, on November 17.
 * Julianne Hough's scheduled performance for the October 21st results show was pre-recorded and postponed. It aired during the November 18th results show with Mark, Derek, and Lacey performing a choreographed routine along with Julianne.
 * On Thursday, October 30, Lacey Schwimmer reported that she has endometriosis but she would continue the show because her condition would not require surgery.
 * Due to ABC's television coverage of the 2008 Presidential Election on November 4, 2008, the Week 7 results show was moved to Wednesday, November 5.
 * Tuesday, November 25 marked the first time since Season 3 that a couple (or two) did not receive a perfect 30 for their favorite dance of the season, as Lance Bass received a 28 and Warren Sapp received a 27.
 * During the season, Toni Braxton had a tumor under her breast and was scheduled not to go on tour, though after it was removed, she reported she would.