Entertainment

We only have a little over a month to go before the premiere of the Dancing With the Stars All-Star season, and while we're all anticipating seeing our favorite contestants come back, the show is already shaping up to be pretty predictable. And by predictable, I mean there are already a few couples who have a leg up on the competition because they've been paired with the same DWTS partner they originally competed with.

Half the battle in rising to the top of the leader board on Dancing With the Stars is figuring out how to communicate with your partner and adapting to his/her teaching style. The All-Star cast members who have the same partner are already over that hurdle, which puts them off to a much stronger start than those who have to adjust to a new partner and instruction methods.

Take Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Kirstie Alley, for example. It's really not a huge shock that these two were put together again, because their chemistry really was electric. They seemed to genuinely like each other, and even Maks admits to being thrilled to have the chance to dance with Kirstie again. (Translation: He loves that she's a total cougar for him.)

Other pairs who will be making an encore appearance are Mark Ballas and Bristol Palin, Cheryl Burke and Emmitt Smith, Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson, and Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani. And while Bristol was probably put back with Mark because she'll need a source of emotional support to handle all of the unnecessary criticism that will come her way, the other couples were likely paired because of how well they performed together in the past. It's almost like those contestants are somehow favored to win, so they were given an extra push to get them off to a good start.

The other DWTS All-Star pairings are as follows:

Pamela Anderson & Tristan MacManus
Helio Castroneves & Chelsie Hightower
Shawn Johnson & Derek Hough
Drew Lachey & Anna Trebunskaya
Gilles Marini & Peta Murgatroyd
Kelly Monaco & Val Chmerkovskiy
Apolo Anton Ohno & Karina Smirnoff

Those are some great match-ups, but I have to admit I'm a little bit surprised that they paired Cheryl Burke with Emmitt Smith instead of Drew Lachey. She and Drew were such a power couple on their season, and they really set the tone for how to pull off winning the mirror ball trophy in style. It would've been so enjoyable to see them put out another amazing freestyle performance, but who knows -- maybe Anna Trebunskaya will bring out a side of Drew we haven't had the pleasure of seeing yet.

Who are you most looking forward to watching on the Dancing With the Stars All-Star season?

Image via ABC