ABC's 'Bachelor Pad' Finale Segues into 'Dancing with the Stars'

In case you haven't noticed, ABC loves to crossover its shows. I've seen one too many Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice crossover events, and a few Bachelor contestants extend their 15 minutes of fame with a subsequent stint on Dancing With the Stars.

Now, in not so surprising move, next week's Bachelor Pad finale will have a DWTS twist- as in a dance contest chock full of Dancing With the Stars regulars like Chelsie Hightower and Louis Van Amstel. Pretty clever move, considering the following week is the Dancing With the Stars Season 11 premiere.

While most of the "competitions" on Bachelor Pad were like co-ed junior high party games (Spin the Bottle, Twister) , next week's finale dance-off is actually kinda classy. It will be nice to see the Bachelor Pad final three couples out of their skimpy bathing suits and into some glamorous dance costumes.

Of course, some will cry foul that Tenley (of Kip-Ten fame) will have an unfair advantage- according to her bio, Tenley worked as a dancer on Disney's "Under the Sea" tour (yes, she played Ariel) so she has plenty of prior dance experience (remember the private dance she performed for Jake Pavelka on The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love)?

But I'd rather watch Tenley and Kiptyn and even Kovacs and Elizabeth attempt an elegant ballroom dance then see gratuitous bikini shots of them all playing Twister.

As a bonus, former Bachelor Jake Pavelka and the very first Bachelorette, Trista Rehn Sutter , will be two of the judges for the dance contest.

The Bachelor Pad dance contest winners will pave the way for the finale and the grand prize of $250 thousand. From the promos that aired last night, it looks like the voted off cast members will all be back and could play a part in deciding the ultimate winner of Bachelor Pad.

And then it's bye bye bikinis and hello ballroom, when Dancing With the Stars season 11 premieres on September 20^th. If you missed that cast lineup, you can read about it here.

The Bachelor Pad season finale will air on Monday, September 13^th at 8:00 PM ET/PT on ABC.

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Sources:

Bachelor Pad, September 6, 2010, ABC

http://www.tenleymolzahn.com/about/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5749872/dancing_with_the_stars_season_11_whos.html?cat=9