More than 200 celebrities have graced the dance floor on "Dancing with the Stars" over the last 10 years and 20 seasons, but there's one high-ranking official that remains on the wish list.
"As always there's an attainable wish, then there are the Clintons," co-executive producer Deena Katz told Headlines & Global News exclusively at The Paley Center for Media's "An Evening with 'Dancing with the Stars'" on May 14. "I swear to God, one day you will see Bill Clinton doing the cha-cha!"
Katz says she was the first one hired by "DWTS" and has wrangled together every group of contestants, from actors to athletes, since season one. She just never believed the show would last this long.
"I thought, 'Live ballroom dancing with celebrities? This thing will never go,'" Katz said. "I guessed maybe three or five seasons, but none of this. Now, there's no end."
The wish list may grow every year, but eventually Katz is able to check off one of those coveted stars. She had been working since day one to get this season's contestants Suzanne Somers and Patti LaBelle.
"The list grows and shrinks," she revealed. "Suzanne Somers was asked every single season until this season. Patti LaBelle was asked every season, Kirstie Alley... there's always a check off the list but there's always more on there."
If any potential contestants need convincing, Season 19 winner Alfonso Ribeiro and Candace Cameron-Bure, who came in third on Season 18, are happy to oblige. Both actors have experienced a career revival after appearing on the show.
"It was a simple yes," Ribeiro told HNGN. He received a text from Katz to do the show. "I'd been wanting to do the show forever."
Cameron-Bure enjoyed her time on "DWTS" so much, she convinced "Shark Tank" judge Robert Herjavec to join this season.
"Robert Herjavec and I had a conversation at the 'Rachel Ray' show. He approached me saying he'd been asked to do 'Dancing' and wasn't sure if he wanted to do it," Cameron-Bure told HNGN. "I was like, 'Do it! Do it! Do it! It's incredible.' I knew he didn't need the money, but the experience is once of a lifetime. Now he can look back and be very happy that he was on the show."
Not only has "Dancing With the Stars" presented incredible opportunities to the stars, it has also helped the professional dancers gain recognition for their remarkable talents.
"I'd won two world titles and no one even noticed," pro dancer Tony Dovolani, who led Melissa Rycroft to her season 15 win, told HNGN. "I'm on 'Dancing With The Stars' and now people notice."
Dovolani, a native of the former Yugoslavia (today known as Kosovo), was crowned the World Rhythm Champion in 2005 and 2006. He won his first and only Mirror Ball with Melissa Rycroft, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, in season 15. The dance competition show gave him a platform to display his craft to an even greater audience.
"The show gave me an opportunity to share the love I have for ballroom dancing with millions of people. Now I can say I'm a world champion and people will embrace that dancing is awesome," the 41-year-old dancer said. "I felt my championship led me to this. If I hadn't gotten ready for that championship, I would never have been prepared for 'Dancing With The Stars."
During it's long run, "Dancing with the Stars" has introduced dance numbers such as the "Paso Doble" and the "Viennese Waltz" in the regular vernacular and become a destination program for millions of viewers to enjoy with no end in sight. The current season saw former pro dancer Julianne Hough join the judges' panel, and her addition could keep the panel at three next season if fellow judge Len Goodman decides to leave.
"I really haven't heard anything about it so we will have to wait and see," judge Bruno Tonioli told HNGN about the rumors surrounding Goodman's departure. "It's show business, anything can happen. We just don't know yet."
Tonioli, the flamboyant fan favorite, has no plans to put down his panel anytime soon and thanks the show's "ability to renew itself and not take anything for granted" as the reason he's still wanting more.
"We approach every show as if it was the first," he said. "The quality keeps getting better and better and you are getting a Broadway show every Monday. I love it. I wouldn't do it if I didn't love the show. Life is just too short."
"Dancing with the Stars" will air the first part of its two-night finale on Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC.
