Dance Your Ass Off is an American reality competition television series created by Kate Rigg, Sally Ann Salsano and Lisa Ann Walter and produced by 495 Productions in which overweight competitors are paired with professional dancers and compete for $100,000 - losing weight in the process.
The series premiered in the USA on the Oxygen network on 29 June, 2009. It was renewed for a second season.
Dance Your Ass Off premiered in South Africa on M-Net on Friday 20 November 2009, at 19h00. New episodes air weekly. There are 10 hour-long episodes in the first season.
Synopsis
Twelve finalists, 1,360 kilograms, one goal - to go from an eating machine to a dancing machine in the dance/weight loss competition series Dance Your Ass Off, hosted by Marissa Jaret Winokur.
Bringing dance and diet together, Dance Your Ass Off features talented, full-figured contestants who will have to lose to win.
Each contestant is paired with a professional dance partner who will train him or her for weekly stage performances - ranging from Hip Hop, to Ballroom and even Pole Dancing.
Then they shake and rattle their rolls in front of a live studio audience and a panel of expert judges. The judges score the routines, and then the contestants weigh in to reveal their weekly weight loss.
The dance score and the weight loss are combined for an overall score, which determines who is sent home each week.
In the judges' panel are Danny Teeson, a lifestyle coach and dancing expert; actress Lisa Ann Walter; and professional dancer Mayte Garcia.
Dance Your Ass Off is produced by 495 Productions with Sally Ann Salsano serving as executive producer and Joel Zimmer as co-executive producer, with concept by Lisa Ann Walter and Kate Rigg also serving as executive producers.