A few early favorites emerged during the Dancing with the Stars 8 premiere. But it doesn’t bode well when a former professional cheerleader with 48 hours to learn a routine ties for second in a field of stars who’ve been training for weeks.

Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke — 24

Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas — 23

Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani — 23

Lil’ Kim & Derek Hough — 21

Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough — 20

David Alan Grier & Kym Johnson — 19

Holly Madison & Dmitry Chaplin — 18

Denise Richards & Maksim Chmerkovskiy — 18

Belinda Carlisle & Jonathan Roberts — 17

Steve-O & Lacey Schwimmer — 17

Lawrence Taylor & Edyta Sliwinska — 16

Ty Murray & Chelsie Hightower — 14

Steve Wozniak & Karina Smirnoff — 13

What did you think of tonight’s DwtS 8 debut? Besides high-scoring Gilles Marini, who impressed you?