"Dancing with the Stars" Season 8: New cast revealed

Los Angeles, February 10: The latest to join the list of 'Dancing With The Stars' contestants are Grammy-award winning female rapper Lil' Kim and Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, ABC confirmed on Monday.

The network introduced its new cast of 13 celebrity dancers during its prime time lineup, Sunday night, apparently in an attempt to derail the Grammy on CBS.

Here’s the list of the celebrities who will perform on the eighth season of ABC’s bizarre hit show “DWTS”:
Pop singers Jewel
Grammy winning rapper Lil’ Kim
Belinda Carlisle
country singer Chuck Wicks
bull rider Ty Murray
comedian David Alan Grier
Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson
Apple co-founder Steve “The Woz” Wozniak
NFL legend Lawrence Taylor
“Access Hollywood” co-anchor Nancy O’Dell
actress Denise Richards
reality-TV star Steve-O
"Sex and the City" actor Gilles Marini

The 33-year-old Grammy Award winning, American multi-platinum rapper/singer/actress Lil' Kim is a native of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, who is known just as much for her brushes with the law, censors, and fashion police.

In March 2005, she was found guilty of conspiracy and perjury for lying to a grand jury about her friends' involvement in a 2001 shooting outside the Hot 97 studios in Manhattan, and was sentenced to one year in prison.

Jewel, who was the host of “Nashville Star” and guest-judge on “American Idol”, will compete against her rodeo cowboy, husband Ty Murray on the show.

At 17, Johnson, who won an Olympic gold medal at the Beijing games in 2008, is the youngest competitor ever on the hit U.S. dance competition series.

Based on a British show called "Strictly Come Dancing", "DWTS" is one of TV's biggest hits in which professional dancers and celebrities with no expertise in dancing are teamed to compete weekly in dance routines.

The show has had seven seasons in the United States and its format has spread to as many as 29 countries including Poland, India, Chile and Germany.

Three judges rate the ball-room and one couple is eliminated each week after a combined score of viewer votes and the judges' scores, until one pair wins.

The last season of the DWTS, which has proved a ratings smash for ABC, ended in September 2008, drawing in about 19 million viewers per episode. The eighth season would returns with a two-hour season premiere on Mar. 9.