That was followed by a confirmation via press release from the President of Harpo, Tim Bennett.

He said, “Tomorrow, Oprah will announce live on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ that she has decided to end what is arguably one of the most popular, influential and enduring programs in television history. The sun will set on the ‘Oprah’ show as its 25th season draws to a close on September 9, 2011.”

The Playmate and the Woz are done dancing.

Playboy model Holly Madison and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak were booted from the “Dancing With the Stars” ballroom Tuesday during the ABC show’s first midseason double elimination.

Wozniak, 58, consistently earned the lowest score during the show’s four weeks of competition so far. Judges gave him and professional partner Karina Smirnoff just 12 points out of a possible 30 for their Argentine tango on Monday, and the pair earned a meager 10 points the week before for their samba.

“There is an improvement from last week,” judge Len Goodman told the couple Monday. “Last week was so terrible that almost anything that happened would have been an improvement.”

Judge Bruno Tonioli told Wozniak his tango “really stunk.”

Ever positive, Wozniak said he “gave it a good try.”

“This is a great show, a great process, a great system,” he said. Wozniak previously criticized the show’s scoring system and later apologized to producers.

He said performing on the program made him feel like “the luckiest person in the world.”

Madison could have used a little luck Monday. The “Girls Next Door” reality show star forgot part of her Argentine tango and earned the night’s third-lowest score: 16 points.

“It was a bad start, and it kept getting worse,” judge Tonioli said.

Madison and partner Dmitry Chaplin beat out fellow low-scorer Steve-O by one point, but fans failed to keep the couple in the competition.

Still, Madison said she was grateful for the chance to appear on the show. The 29-year-old was asked last minute to replace TV host Nancy O’Dell, who was injured during pre-show training.

“It was a lot physically harder than I thought it was going to be, but it was so much fun,” Madison said Tuesday. “And I love the costumes. That’s my favorite part.”

Tuesday’s show also featured performances by Kevin Rudolph and Boyz II Men.

Besides Steve-O, remaining competitors include rapper Lil Kim, rodeo champ Ty Murray, former football star Lawrence Taylor, Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, country singer Chuck Wicks, “Bachelor” star Melissa Rycroft and actors David Alan Grier and Gilles Marini.

An appearance by Senator John McCain on Thursday night boosted David Letterman to his best ratings in almost three years. Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, returned to Mr. Letterman’s CBS show after several weeks of battering from the host for his abrupt decision to cancel an earlier appearance. According to initial overnight ratings, the Letterman show attracted 6.53 million viewers, well above Mr. Letterman’s usual total of about 3.5 million viewers and the best he has scored since Dec. 1, 2005. (That night’s guest was another noteworthy figure with whom the host had had an on-and-off comic feud: Oprah Winfrey.) Mr. Letterman, who usually trails Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” by a significant margin, easily eclipsed that NBC star; Mr. Leno had 4.57 million viewers Thursday night for a show whose guests included Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Reality show and sex-tape star Kim Kardashian, caustic comic Jeffrey Ross and Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor are among the latest celebrities to try their feet at “Dancing With the Stars.”

ABC yesterday ended months of speculation and online chatter over who might get the call by revealing the 13 contestants. Also among those who will compete are Lance Bass, Toni Braxton, Brooke Burke, Rocco DiSpirito and Susan Lucci.

Kardashian, who has a reality show on E!, cut her foot Sunday on a glass table. She said yesterday on multiple TV appearances that she had the gash glued shut, rather than stitched, to cut healing time.

“The timing was just perfect now,” Kardashian told Kathie Lee Gifford on NBC’s “Today.”

Lucci, famous for playing Erica Kane on “All My Children” and for being nominated 19 times for an Emmy before finally winning, said, “I just feel blessed that they asked me to do this. When else in your life would you really take all of these amazing dance classes?”

Lucci said she’d been asked to be on the show before but turned it down. “I just wasn’t sure if I could fly back and forth across the country,” she said via phone on “Good Morning America.”

Lucci said she spoke to fellow “AMC” star Cameron Mathison after he did both shows last season. “I thought, I really want to do this,” she said. “I’m so excited to be part of this.”

The new season, which gets underway Sept. 22, will have its youngest contestant ever in 18-year-old Cody Linley from “Hannah Montana” and its oldest in TV and film veteran Cloris Leachman, who is 82.

Other “Dancing” stars this time around are Olympic gold medal sprinter Maurice Green, sitcom star Ted McGinley and former football-great-turned-NFL commentator Warren Sapp.

Last season, the show’s Monday segments were the highest-rated, averaging 21.15 million viewers to finish third behind two nights of “American Idol.” That’s up from the 20.4 million viewers posted on the Tuesday editions of the 2006-07 season, that season’s highest-rated shows.

Producers are also mixing up the format a little this season. For the first time, all 13 teams must prepare two dance routines for the first week of competition. The first routine will be performed on the premiere. But at the start of the second night, Sept. 23, one of the couples will be sent packing.

A second team will be dismissed on Sept. 24. Adding to the potential ratings draw for that first official results show will be performances by the Jonas brothers and Jesse McCartney.

From one bachelorette to another…

Trista turns to momlogic exclusively to pass on tips to the new lucky lady. Plus, Trista makes her pick for the best man for DeAnna.

1. Like any other relationship, it takes work. Regardless of whether you met on TV or in church, you need to be 100% committed to each other and create a life that you can both be invested in and proud of.

2. Move away from the craziness that will surely follow you! It’s one thing to attend fun events and enjoy a getaway to Hollywood every now and then. However…living away from the chaos allows you to truly focus on your relationship and not the spotlight that you will be in immediately following the show.

3. Appreciate that you’ve been given a gift…a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thank your lucky stars (and the producers!) for showing you the path to your someone special…someone you would most likely have never met before!

4. Be open about what happened on the show. Obviously, your guy will see everything eventually when it airs on ABC, so be sure to communicate with him about anything you may have said or done that could take him by surprise.

5. As you said on the first episode, DeAnna…it is your time. Enjoy it, embrace it, and don’t listen to any pessimists out there who want to bring you down. You have to live your life for yourself, so continue on the path you’ve gracefully chosen to find the man of your dreams, and hopefully you will find the fairy tale that I’ve found with Ryan!

And, my personal fave is Graham. He seems like an all-around good guy…motivated, real, didn’t try too hard the first night, easy on the eyes, and genuine. I’m all about genuine guys with beautiful blue eyes!!

All my best,

Trista