Ox Notes: March 11, 2009

There's still plenty of Dancing with the Stars news to catch up on two days after the Season 8 premiere. Access Hollywood and ET recorded video interviews backstage with the contestants after their debut. People has an article about What You Didn't See behind the scenes at the premiere.

Samantha Harris recorded a video blog for The Insider just before the season premiere, which includes a shot of the tiny piano bench inside the confessional room where the contestants sit as they rant about the judges' scores.

Access Hollywood has more DwtS video interviews with Melissa Rycroft and Jewel, who commiserated with Nancy O'Dell about having to leave the competition due to injury. Nancy O'Dell will be sharing her thoughts on the performances with TV Guide after each episode.

ET caught up with Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke and Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough the morning after the premiere. Julianne told Us that Chuck is still working on trying to smile while he dances.

The cast of E!'s Girls Next Door shared their thoughts on castmate Holly Madison's opening night performance. Hugh Hefner and Kendra Wilkinson spoke to People about Holly's dancing, and Bridget Marquardt talked to Us.

Engaged pro dancers Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy talked about DwtS and their wedding preparations with ET. I like Karina's plan: "I want a small wedding but the biggest honeymoon in history."

Fox Sports has a photo gallery of all of the athletes and sports figures who've appeared on Dancing with the Stars.

New culinary competition The Chopping Block premieres on NBC tonight at 8 ET. The show stars eccentric celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, who conducted a phone interview with several media outlets recently. The Futon Critic and Zap2It feature some of White's quotes in their articles about the show.

I'm curious to watch The Chopping Block if only to see Chef White. Here's Mario Batali's account of his brief time working under White in London: