Harcourts Dancing with the Stars fundraiser announce celebrity judges

Last year's Harcourts Dancing with the Stars event. Photo/File

This year's Harcourts Dancing with the Stars couples will be feeling the pressure and excitement building, with the celebrity judges now announced.

This year's judging panel is made up of Olympian Dame Valerie Adams, Tamati Coffey, Suzanne Paul and d'Artagnan Kennedy.

Rotorua Hospice's biggest fundraiser of the year is set to take place on Saturday July 28 at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre.

Twenty local Rotorua identities are paired as dance partners and given 16 weeks to practice. They then perform for one night only to an audience of about 2000 people.

The event raised $150,000 for Rotorua Hospice last year.

Dame Valerie, who is originally from Rotorua, is best known for her successful shot-putting career, and this will be her first time judging the event.

Coffey was the MC for the previous two Rotorua Hospice events.

Having won the Dancing with the Stars television programme in 2009 he is well qualified as a judge.

Rotorua-born Kennedy featured on the first series of the televised programme as a professional dancer.

He is qualified as a teacher, adjudicator and scrutineer and is a member of the New Zealand Federation of Dance Teachers.

Paul brought infomercials to New Zealand in the 1990s and has gone on to become a best-selling author, motivational speaker and dancing queen.

She won the Dancing with the Stars television programme in 2007.

"I love a new challenge- Dancing with the Stars was a wonderful experience from start to finish. I'd always wanted to learn how to do Ballroom and Latin.

"And I'm a big show off from way back, so the show was perfect for me.

"I'm a real girly girl. I love dressing up, all the hair and makeup and gorgeous frocks-what's not to love?"

Suzanne says she loves everything about the Harcourts Dancing with the Stars event - "The frocks, the glitz and glamour, the dancing, the excitement of the fact that anything can go wrong".

As a judge, she will be looking for passion, sparkle and shine, and to see that the couples are enjoying themselves and giving it everything they have got.

"I think Hospice is a great cause to support. We never know if one day it will be ourselves needing their support and care. They do a great job."