Melissa Rycroft Shines Bright on Season Premiere of Dancing With the Stars

Being dumped by the bachelor may be the best thing that ever happened to Melissa Rycroft!

The reports were true. Melissa was the star chosen to replace injured Nancy O'Dell in the Dancing with the Stars cast this season. With only two days of practice, the former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and her new partner Tony Dovalani hit the stage for a well-danced Viennese Waltz on Monday night - and earned one of the highest scores of the night!

Melissa, who got a standing ovation from the crowd and plenty of praise from the judges, received a total score of 23 -- not too shabby on a night when the judges were dishing out mostly fives and sixes. The highest score  of 24 was earned by Sex and The City actor Giles Marini and his partner Cheryl Burke.  Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson and her partner Mark Ballas were also up there on the leaderboard, tying Melissa and Tony with a 23. Rapper Lil' Kim and partner Derek Hough scored a respectable 21. Country singer Chuck Wicks and his real life girlfriend Julianne Hough earned a 20. Meanwhile, the other teams were stuck in the teens.  The other scores are below (and I should note that Holly Madison of Playboy and Girls Next Door fame was also a last minute replacement for injured singer Jewel).

• Belinda Carlisle and Jonathan Roberts - 17
• Lawrence Taylor & Edyta Sliwinska-16
• Steve-O and Lacey Schwimmer: 17
• Holly Madison & Dmitry Chaplin - 18
• Ty Murray and Chelsie Hightower - 14
• Denise Richards and Maksim Chmerkovskiy - 18
• David Alan Grier and Kym Johnson - 19
• Steve Wozniak and Karina Smirnoff  -- 13

Scores aside, Dancing With the Stars was a treat on Monday night.  From rapper Lil' Kim dedicating her performance to the girls she left behind in prison, to Denise Richards boo-hooing during rehearsals, to Steve Wozniak being compared to a teletubby on the dance floor, the season premiere gave us just a taste of what's to come during season eight!