'Dancing With The Stars' Isn't Easier With Youth, Chelsea Kane Says

LOS ANGELES — Age ain't nothing but a number for Chelsea Kane.

The 22-year-old Disney star and current "Dancing With the Stars" contestant is paired up with 24-year-old Mark Ballas, which makes the pair among the youngest on the show this season. But taking a look at how the scoring has been going so far, Kane points out, that means nothing.

"Sometimes I feel like it's a disadvantage, in the sense where I think people automatically assume because we're younger that we're going to pick up the choreography easier and that we have this upper hand in the competition," Kane told of her age. "Which I don't think is the case at all. We're three dances in, and so far some of our oldest contestants have been at the top of the leader board. I don't think anything can prepare you for this experience."

So that's the downside to being younger. The upside? Kane laughs that she and Ballas can exist off of little sleep.

"The nice part is that I feel like we're able to go with less sleep, and we like to go out and still have fun and we don't have families or anything to worry about yet! So that's the advantage. We get to enjoy this," she said, laughing.

When MTV News caught up with the pair at their rehearsal for Monday night's (April 11) dance, we asked them to so size up their competition. The front-runner they're most worried about is Ralph Macchio, who is 49.

"I feel like Ralph is really going to be a challenge, just because he works so hard," Kane said. "Every time we come to the studio, he's been here all day, takes no breaks, whereas Mark and I are in the kitchen eating Ralph's anniversary cake that he had dropped off. We're so bad!"

Do you think being young is an advantage on "Dancing With the Stars"? Let us know in the comments!