Who Is Officially "Dancing With the Stars"?

This morning, Tom Bergeron, Carrie Ann Inaba and Apolo Anton Ohno officially announced the contestants for this fall’s edition of “Dancing With the Stars.”

And they are…

Melanie “Mel B” Brown (aka “Scary Spice”), who will be teamed with Maksim Chmerkovskiy…

Sabrina Bryan (“The Cheetah Girls”), who will be paired with Mark Ballas…

Helio Castroneves (Two-time Indy 500 winner), who will be paired with defending champ Julianne Hough…

Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks), who will be paired with Kym Johnson…

Jennie Garth (“Beverly Hills, 90210”), who will be paired with Derek Hough, Julianne’s older brother…

Josie Maran (supermodel), who will be paired with season one winner Alec Mazo…

Cameron Mathison (“All My Children”), who will be paired with Edyta Sliwinska (who, by the way, is engaged to Alec Mazo)…

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (boxer), who will be paired with Karina Smirnoff…

Wayne Newton, who will be paired with two-time winner Cheryl Burke…

Marie Osmond, who will be paired with Jonathan Roberts…

Albert Reed (supermodel), who will be paired with Anna Trebunskaya…

Jane Seymour, who will be paired with Tony Dovolani…

This is the largest number of competitors in the show’s history.

Usually, the star paired with Cheryl is the immediate favorite. I don’t think that’s going to be the case this year. However, I would look for Wayne Newton to stick around longer than he should because of Cheryl’s popularity.

As for early favorites, I’ve got to go with Helio and Julianne since she’s such a choreography wiz and he’s fearless (Those Indy cars are death traps. Plus, he started the tradition of climbing the fence after winning.) and Karina may have finally found another person who can handle her tough ways in undefeated boxer Floyd…

The competition begins with a three-night event Monday, September 24th through Wednesday, September 26th. On Monday, the six female stars will perform either the Foxtrot or the Cha Cha Cha. On Tuesday, the six male stars will perform the same. On Wednesday, September 26th, one team will be eliminated. Dolly Parton will appear on Wednesday’s live results show to sing “Better Get to Livin’” from her new album and “9 to 5.”

Beginning the next week (October 1st), the show will air on Mondays and Tuesdays.

With all of that set, there’s just one more mystery—Who will fill in for Samantha Harris as co-host?

As you may recall, Harris is pregnant with her first child and is due in early October. She’s hoping to appear briefly at the beginning of the season and then return for the end.

My guess for a fill-in? Season one winner Kelly Monaco…

So what do you think? Will you be watching?