The Darker Side of Dancing With the Stars

ABC/KELSEY MCNEAL

Just call it Tanning With the Stars. We're sure you've noticed by now that everyone on Dancing With the Stars—the professional hoofers and the celebs—seem to have that glow about them.

Spray tanning at DWTS is second only to a good Viennese waltz. I checked in with the show's head makeup artist and St. Tropez spokeswoman, Melanie Mills, to get the colorful details. "Edyta and Karina are my worst culprits," Mills says with a laugh. "Not only do they do spray tanning, but they do the sun beds, too!"

Read on to learn which former DWTS contestants keep coming back for more, whose had one of the worst on-set tanning emergencies and what it's like working with nearly naked men like Gilles Marini and Cameron Mathison.

How do the celebs react when they learn they have to do the tanning?
Because we have the spray tanning set up on the second floor of a CBS building and it's this florescent, hideous lighting, it's this completely shocker experience for them. But once they get through it the first time, they're absolutely addicted. Even four seasons later, people that I've spray-tanned then are still calling me.

So who has come back for more?
Well, Kim Kardashian is a huge fan. Jane Seymour is a huge fan. Cameron Mathison loves it. Every time he's in town, he comes back for it.

So what is it like tanning men like Cameron and Gilles?
It's funny and a big laugh. They want it, but they're trying to be manly.

How naked do they have to get?
Preferably just in their underwear. But there are plenty of people who just don't want the tan line at all. We've never had that with the men, but women don't want tan lines.

Have you ever had any tanning emergencies? I'm not exactly sure what that would be, but…
Shawn Johnson I think was into it even before the show. There was a point where we were spray-tanning her and then she went and got spray-tanned again by somebody else and it left all these odd markings. We had to spend a lot of time trying to exfoliate all those markings off and then having to re-spray her and even it out. She was like, "OK, I've learned the hard way."

What about the judges? I remember them making fun of Bruno on a recent show about being so tan.
We don't spray him, so I don't know if he gets sprayed. But I do know he loves to lay in the sun. On that particular day he might have asked the makeup artists to do him a little more than is desired.