Dancing with the Stars is the name of a group of international television series based on the format of the British series Strictly Come Dancing. Not all the international versions share this title. The format is distributed by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC. Australia was the first country to adapt the BBC show, and versions have also been produced in the USA with Dancing with the Stars (U.S. TV series), Brazil, Bulgaria, Argentina , Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Panama, Peru, Romania, Russia, Serbia,Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, and Ukraine. The format has become popular internationally and was the world's most popular television programme across all genres in 2006, reaching the Top 10 in 17 countries.Fact: date=September 2008 The show pairs a number of celebrities with professional ballroom dancers, who each week compete by performing dances, which are then given scores by a panel of judges. Viewers are given a certain amount of time to place votes on their favorite dancers, either by telephone or (in some of the shows) by the Internet. The couple with the lowest combined score (judges plus viewers) is eliminated and does not go on to the next week. This process continues until there are only two or three couples left, at which point one couple is declared the champion.

Franchise history

Cheryl Burke and Julianne Hough made Dancing With The Stars USA history by becoming the only professional dancers to win two championships, each. Furthermore, they both made Dancing With The Stars USA history by becoming the only professional dancers to win back to back titles. Cheryl Burke won her first Dancing With The Stars Championship with 98 Degrees boy band member Drew Lachey in the second season and won her second championship with NFL star Emmitt Smith in the third season. Julianne won her first championship with, Olympic Speed Skating Gold Medalist Apolo Anton Ohno in the fourth season and her second championship with Indy 500 Champion star Helio Castroneves in the fifth season. Raimondo won his first championship on the Italian version of Dancing With The Stars called Ballando Con Le Stelle with former Miss Italia and Television presenter Cristina Chiabotto in the series' second season. He won a second time with Olympic Long Jump Silver Medalist Fiona May during the third season of the show. In New Zealand, Stefano Olivieri was the first pro dancer to win the series twice in Season 3 with Suzanne Paul and Season 4 with Temepara George.

In New Zealand, Carol-Ann Hickmore is the only female pro dancer to win. She won the 1st season with former rugby player Norm Hewitt. Carol-Ann later became a judge in Season 2 and 3 after Season 1 judge Donna Dawson left.