Season fourteen of Dancing with the Stars premiered on March 19, 2012, on the ABC network.
Starting the week of April 16, and for the next two weeks after that, the bottom two couples competed in a dance duel. Both couples performed at the same time, at which point the judges decided who would be eliminated that week.[1]
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd won the competition over British classical singer Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas, who finished second, and Cuban-American Telenovela star William Levy and Cheryl Burke, who finished third.
This season introduced "Ballroom Battles" where Cheryl Burke, Mark Ballas, Louis van Amstel, Lacey Schwimmer, Karina Smirnoff, and Tony Dovolani trained a pair of amateur dancers to compete against other amateur couples. The teams of Burke, Dovolani, and van Amstel competed in the final stage by performing a jive. Burke's team were named the champions by the judges with Dovolani's and van Amstel's teams taking second and third places respectively.[2]
This season featured twelve celebrity contestants. Two new professionals were added to the dance troupe: Henry Byalikov and Emma Slater. They joined Sharna Burgess, Kiki Nyemchek, Oksana Dmytrenko, and Sasha Farber.
Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke Charvet returned as co-hosts, while Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli returned as judges. The Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers provided the music throughout the season.
The highest score each week is indicated in bold green with a dagger (†), while the lowest score each week is indicated in italicized red with a double-dagger (‡).
Color key:
Individual judges' scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.
Couples performed either the cha-cha-cha or foxtrot, and are listed in the order they performed.
Couples performed either the jive or quickstep, and are listed in the order they performed.
Couples are listed in the order they performed.
Couples are listed in the order they performed.
Couples are listed in the order they performed.
Couples are listed in the order they performed.
Couples are listed in the order they performed.
All six couples chose one professional who was either previously eliminated or participated in the dance troupe to perform with them in their Latin routine. Two couples were eliminated at the end of the night. Couples are listed in the order they performed.
Couples are listed in the order they performed.
Couples are listed in the order they performed.
The couples performed the following each week: