Woz can dance?

The new season of “Dancing Season with the Stars” will feature three couples and — with the show’s touch for the improbable — one computer guru. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is among 13 celebrities who will compete on the ABC series’ eighth season that begins March 9, the network said Sunday.

Romantic relationships may be put to the test this time around, with couples taking to the dance floor with and against each other. Pop star Jewel and her husband, rodeo champion Ty Murray, will compete for bragging rights, ABC said, while country singer Chuck Wicks will take the floor with his girlfriend, two-time “Dancing with the Stars” champion Julianne Hough.

Last November, Hough had said she planned to focus on her newly launched country music career and didn’t plan to return to the show.

Professional dancers and series regulars Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff, who are newly engaged, will be waltzing in the arms of others.

Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shawn Johnson gets to make her mark just by showing up: At 17, she’s the youngest competitor to date, ABC said. Another star athlete in the field is Lawrence Taylor, the former New York Giant and Hall of Famer.

The other celebrity hoofers are Go-Go’s lead singer Belinda Carlisle; rapper Lil’ Kim; actress Denise Richards; actor-comedian David Alan Grier (Comedy Central’s “Chocolate News”); Gilles Marini, who played the neighbor ogled by Kim Cattrall’s Samantha in the “Sex and the City” film; Steve-O (MTV’s “Wildboyz”) and TV host Nancy O’Dell of “Access Hollywood.”

“Dancing with the Stars” is hosted by Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris, with Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba judging the contestants.

* * *

Posted: 03/30/2009 12:00:00 AM PDT

America has questions about the mystery that is Steve Wozniak and "Dancing with the Stars." We have the answers — sort of.

To recap: Over the past two weeks, Wozniak — Woz to one and all — has managed to survive on "Dancing" even though his footwork is more reminiscent of Fred Flintstone than Fred Astaire. The Woz has emerged as a fan favorite who finished at the top of the leader board last week even after being eviscerated by the judges. The trio awarded him a 10 following his worm move that was more Squirm than Worm. That's 10 combined — not 10, a perfect score, from each.

So, as Woz prepares to dance again tonight, you might ask, what's going on here?

Q Is Woz the worst dancer ever on "Dancing"?

A NOT. EVEN. CLOSE. Master P., the rapper without rhythm, holds that dubious distinction after his "performance" in season two. He set two records: the lowest total score (8) and, the lowest score from a single judge (2) for a Paso Doble that was Paso Doughboy.

Q Still, how can Woz still be around entering week three of the competition?

A Let's start with the scoring, not quite as Byzantine as figure skating, but close. The judges — Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno (the Woz Wacker) Tonioli — can each award up to 10 points on each dance. But the key is the judges' "shares," which are calculated as the percentage of the total number of points awarded for all the dancers that evening. So if Woz and his partner, Karina Smirnoff, should miraculously score a 20 and if all the teams had a combined score of 200, they get a 10 percent. This is then combined with the percentage of the viewer votes scored by the team to get the final score.

Q The Woz secret?

A Woz, a god among geeks, must have scored really big numbers with the folks at home. We will never know how well the Woz did on that front. Reality competition shows — "Dancing," "American Idol" — have long-standing policies of keeping the vote totals secret. A source with "Dancing" did reveal, however, that the gap between the judges and the viewers on Woz's performance was the biggest anyone on the show's staff could remember.