Not much longer to wait, Dancing with the Stars fans — ABC will announce the season 12 contestants tonight, during The Bachelor! Who will it be? Will we love them? Hate them? Love to hate them?

Probably. But here is a small taste of Dancing with the Stars news to keep you going until tonight’s momentous announcement.

The Big Announcement
It will be tonight.

At some point during The Bachelor (I’m guessing late in the show, so that we’ll be forced to watch the whole thing), ABC will announce all of season 12’s celebrity contestants. So be ready to watch!

Or, alternatively, tune in to BuddyTV throughout the evening. We will have the announced names on our site, thereby freeing you from the necessity of watching Brad Womack and the ladies awkwardly stumble toward “love.”

Do you have guesses as to the celebrities for this season? Fond desires? Fears? Let us know!

Did you hear what I heard?
I kind of hope not. Because if you did hear what I heard, you didn’t hear much.

Last night, during the broadcast of the Academy Awards ceremony, ABC aired a brief promo for the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars. No video, nothing special. Until right at the end — when they revealed that the voices we heard actually were the cast of DWTS.

Too late for me to get anything out of it. Did anyone else do better? Did you recognize anyone?

Maksim Chmerkovskiy — Stuck in Ukrainian High School
Maksim Chmerkovskiy, the beautiful professional dancer we’ve come to love/hate on DWTS, seems to have finished his stint as the inaugural Ukrainian Bachelor. And it doesn’t sound like an entirely positive experience.

According to a report that appeared on People.com, Maks found the entire process to be difficult and like he was “back in high school.” The dancer was unimpressed by the need to reject women constantly throughout the show. And there is no word about whether he found true love or not.

The good news out of all this (for us, anyway)? Maks sounds very, very ready to return to Dancing with the Stars. As he told People, “If I knew then what I know now, I would never have signed up. I would do Dancing with the Stars for the rest of my life before I do something like this ever again.”

Excellent choice, Maks. Excellent choice.

(Image courtesy of ABC)

Laurel Brown

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include ChuckModern FamilySupernaturalMad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.