‘Dancing with the Stars’: Let’s calm down on the Rachel Lindsay rumors — for now

Yesterday, the news was finally made official that Rachel Lindsay was going to become the first-ever African-American star of “The Bachelorette,” which is a big deal for a franchise that has been on the air for so long. (At the same time, we don’t want to be one of those sites that acts as though her race is the only interesting thing about her — she’s also highly intelligent and has an established career already as an attorney.)

Now, let’s turn to something completely ridiculous — the idea of her already joining “Dancing with the Stars” one day after the announcement. This rumor seems to be started by HollywoodLife, who claimed that ABC was heavily considered Rachel mostly because of the fact that they could carry momentum from one show into the other.

Here are the HUGE problems with this idea for now.

1. There’s no way that she could do it this spring – “The Bachelorette” is filming during almost the entirety of the “Dancing with the Stars” window, and this is a show that effectively takes you all over the world do a wide array of different places. Maybe it’s possible that Nick Viall gets the gig, but that’s really the only feasible option. (Note that in spite of however many people are criticizing the show and Nick at the moment, it’s still getting pretty huge ratings.

2. It’s far too early to speculate on the fall season – Nobody knows how she is going to be perceived when the show airs over the summer, or she’s loved, hated, or something in between. ABC is not in the business of making decisions on the future of the show so early. Remember for a minute or two here that they have cast people at the very last second for “Dancing with the Stars” before.

Rachel still has at least one more episode of “The Bachelor” coming up this season; we know that she’s not going to win obviously, but she could be around as long as the finale.

If you do want to learn when you’re going to get a chance to see the entire “Dancing with the Stars” cast this season, be sure to head over here for that! (Photo: ABC.)