Murray chose to continue on the show, while Jewel appeared during the season as a special musical guest.

Nancy O'Dell, then co-host of Access Hollywood, was also originally announced to be on the show, but was forced to withdraw from the competition due to a torn meniscus, which required surgery.

Shawn Johnson, Gilles Marini, and Melissa Rycroft later competed in the All-Stars season, where Johnson was paired with Derek Hough, Marini was paired with Peta Murgatroyd, and Rycroft remained with Tony Dovolani.

Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba returned as judges.

Color key: Individual judges scores in charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.

Due to an injury, Steve-O was unable to dance on the live show, so his rehearsal footage was shown and scored instead.

Due to an injury, Melissa Rycroft was unable to perform her jive or participate in the team dance on the live show.

Lacey Schwimmer filled in for her on the team dance, while Rycroft's rehearsal footage for her jive was shown and scored instead.

On the first night, each couple competed in a group paso doble, where they each received their own set of scores, and then performed their freestyle routines.