‘Dancing With the Stars’ reveals new cast
Will an NFL player with all the right moves on the field take over the dance floor this season?
We’ll find out in the upcoming season of “Dancing With the Stars,” as Super Bowl 50 MVP and Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown and former NFL star Doug Flutie join the cast, the show announced Tuesday.
UFC champ and model Paige “12 Gauge” VanZant, “America’s Next Top Model” winner Nyle DiMarco (the show’s first deaf contestant) and Donald Trump’s ex-wife Marla Maples will also compete on the show, which premieres March 21 on ABC.
The celebrities were revealed on “Good Morning America,” which had announced that ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee will also compete on the reality dance show this season.
Once-famous celebrities coming back to dance include “Fuller House” actress Jodie Sweetin; “The O.C.” star Mischa Barton; actress Kim Fields, who starred in “Facts of Life” and “Living Single”; and singer Wanya Morris, a member of R&B group Boyz II Men. Journalist and media personality Geraldo Rivera will also compete.
The celebrities are paired with professional dancers, who teach their stars how to dance and choreograph the routines. The couples will be judged this season by ballroom expert Len Goodman (who skipped last season) and dancers/choreographers Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.
After weeks of competition, one dance pair will win the Mirrorball trophy.
The celebrities — usually a mix of athletes, singers, social media stars, the occasional chef, semi-famous actors, heroes and other people in the news — are aimed at a wide range of viewers.
Pro dancer and six-time Mirrorball winner Derek Hough is taking a break this season to star on Broadway in a stage adaptation of the film classic “Singin’ in the Rain.” His sister, Julianne, who featured as a pro dancer on the show (winning season 5) and was most recently a judge, also isn’t appearing this season.
The professional dancers are Val Chmerkovskiy (dancing with Zee), Keo Motsepe (Sweetin), Sharna Burgess (Brown), Tony Dovolani (Maples), Peta Murgatroyd (DiMarco), Artem Chigvintsev (Barton), Witney Carson (Miller), Sasha Farber (Fields), Mark Ballas (VanZant), Lindsay Arnold (Morris), Karina Smirnoff (Flutie) and Edyta Sliwinska (Rivera).
“Dancing With the Stars” is hosted by Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews. Bergeron’s mother died over the weekend, and he tweeted that he would miss Tuesday’s reveal for her services.
“Thank you so much for your words of support & sympathy,” he wrote. “I’ll miss @GMA Tues. for my Mom’s services, but can’t wait to get back to work 3/21.”
