KEY POINTS:
An Ironman, a former Silver Fern, a musician and a Kiwi connected to David Bowie complete the line-up of celebrity contestants for the fourth series of Dancing with the Stars.
The Herald on Sunday can reveal that world lifesaving and ironman champ Cory Hutchings, netballer Temepara George, Th'Dudes frontman Peter Urlich and former model turned restaurant manager Geeling Ng will be strutting their stuff on the show next month.
The quartet join those already confirmed - Monty Betham, Martin Devlin, Miriama Smith and Tina Cross - for the TV One series, which sees celebrities pair off with professional dancers to raise money for charity.
Toned and tanned Hutchings, who will support Surf Life Saving New Zealand, has braved the world's oceans but said he was more worried about performing on stage, and less scared about wearing lycra and shirts split to the navel.
"I don't really mind - I mean, I was running around in a pair of speedos for 12 years."
Female viewers might also be interested in Hutchings' Dancing with the Stars-themed Christmas present from his 8-year-old daughter, a black g-string with silver stars.
When it was suggested he might be providing the sex appeal for the series, Hutchings quipped: "Is that because the other guys are like Martin Devlin and that?"
George, who represented New Zealand 59 times, is playing netball in North Queensland as she prepares for the series.
But previous dancing experience at the rugby sevens in Wellington, doesn't bode well.
"This guy wanted to have a dance challenge," she said. "There were just the two of us, with a lot of people watching. He went first and was breaking out these amazing moves.
"Then it was my turn, and I started doing the moonwalk, then the bop. Yes, the bop."
George is yet to choose her charity, as is former Pop's Ultimate Star judge Urlich. A fan of the show, the George FM breakfast host had some reservations about the unflattering costumes he might have to wear, particularly "too-high pants".
Urlich said he might have to consult a hypnotist to memorise all the steps. "Obviously I've been dancing to dance music and rock 'n' roll all my life, but this is a completely different bag... man. But I'm in to win. I'm quite competitive."
Ng, who starred in David Bowie's China Girl music video in 1983, was surprised by her inclusion in the "celebrity" category, but can't wait to start. "The last time I did dancing was probably at the third or fourth form ball at school, where you learn how to waltz, but I certainly have wiggled my booty on the dance floor on several occasions, in an informal way, though."
Her chosen charity is the Breast Cancer Research Trust.
Dancing with the Stars is one of TV One's biggest ratings winners.
The 2007 series drew an average audience of 876,000 with more than one million watching the final. The new series will start in late February. Dance partners and judges are yet to be announced.
