It's official: Lance Bass will be on "Dancing With The Stars" and will dance with a female partner...

This is no big surprise: cutie pie Lance Bass will be on the new season of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" this fall. The big mystery was whether the openly gay Lance would be paired with another man or with a woman, as is tradition. While I think it would have been kinda HOT to see the two guys together - especially if it was the delicious Marksim Chmerkovskiy (sigh...), it will be more of a level playing field for Lance if he is with a woman.

The rest of the line-up is a bizarre and very fun mix. Soap queen Susan Lucci, who is such a lovely lady, is a great choice and should be very popular with viewers. Here's the real hoot: 82-year-old Cloris Leachman! She's always been incredibly fit but it will be interesting to see how she handles the physical part of it all. Cloris is as colorful personality as there is out there - and she is out there - but she's also a brilliant actress who not only has an Academy Award, but has won nine Emmys!

Other celeb participants: Grammy Award-winning singer Toni Braxton, 18-year-old Cody Linley, a cast member on the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana," two-time Olympic gold medal-winning beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor (hooray!!!);,Maurice Greene, the men's 100 meter winner at the 2000 Summer Olympics; television personality Brooke Burke; celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito; Kim Kardashian, the star of the E! Entertainment unscripted series, "Keeping up with the Kardashians," comedian Jeffrey Ross and former NFL player Warren Sapp.

As far as beefcake, I'm stoked to see the still handsome after all these yearsTed McGinley included on the roster. This handsome devil has been on more successful TV series than almost anyone - even though his specialty has been joining the shows several seasons into a long run. He went from "Happy Days" to "The Love Boat" to "Dynasty" to "Married With Children." But he started with "Faith and Hope" which I thought was really funny. It only lasted three seasons but he and Faith Ford were a riot together.

The "Dancing with the Stars" season premiere is set for Sept. 22, with all 13 couples competing during the two-hour episode. One couple will be eliminated on Sept. 23 before the remaining 12 couples dance again.