Names for new season of Dancing With The Stars tipped

Among those reported to be competing are Teuila Blakely, Colin Mathura-Jeffree and Ben Barrington. Photos / NZ Herald, Supplied

The dance card is filling up fast for the latest must-watch reality show bound for New Zealand TV screens.

A sixth season of Dancing With The Stars will screen on TV3 this year, and the network has named its hosts, judges and one dance couple, radio breakfast show host Jay-Jay Harvey and South African dancer Enrique Johns.

The identities of the nine remaining celebrity contestants will be announced live on TV3 tomorrow night, but the Herald on Sunday has learned a feisty former politician, a pro surfer and a bevy of Kiwi TV stars are among those hoping to go from flat-footed to fleet-footed before the eyes of the nation.

Several have reality TV pedigree - former Next Top Model host and judge Colin Mathura-Jeffree is understood to have signed on the dotted line, as has livewire former MP Pam Corkery, who once planned to open a male brothel for women and base a reality TV show around the hiring of its sex workers.

Surf champ Maz Quinn, also understood to be among the contestants, has also tasted reality TV stardom before when he featured on Celebrity Treasure Island.

Meanwhile, former Shortland Street actress Teuila Blakely, Ben Barrington of Almighty Johnsons fame and Siobhan Marshall - who played the rascally Pascalle West in Outrageous Fortune - are also believed to be among those joining the show.

Not everyone wanted the chance at dance-floor glory.

The Herald on Sunday has heard The Block NZ fan favourite Damo Neal turned down an invitation to appear, as did fashion maven Denise L'Estrange-Corbet. Speculation has also simmered that former All Saints singer Mel Blatt, a judge for The X Factor NZ, is being courted by the show's producers.

TV3 will name the Dancing with the Stars line-up during tomorrow night's episode of The X Factor NZ.

Former politician and now Herald on Sunday columnist Rodney Hide, who famously dropped his dance partner Krystal Stuart during the 2006 season of Dancing with the Stars, had some tongue-in-cheek advice for this year's contestants.

"Just let go and enjoy it enormously. It's a wonderful opportunity ... I would put it as one of the great experiences of my life."