‘Dancing with the Stars’ season 17 spotlight: Brant Daugherty and Peta Murgatroyd
Over the course of the past several years, ABC has developed this little habit of ensuring that they have at least one current Disney Channel star on “Dancing with the Stars” in an effort to promote it. Since Corbin Bleu is actually more of a soap star these days from “One Life to Live,” that slot seems to be replaced more with a star from an ABC Family show: “Pretty Little Liars” actor Brant Daugherty.
Before we get into the rest of the profile about Brant, how about a few interesting things about him. At 28, he’s probably a couple of years older than you would realize. Also, older audiences would know him better this year from stints on “Days of Our Lives” and “Army Wives.” He’ll probably be marketed more on the show for playing Noel on “Pretty Little Liars,” mostly thanks to the connections to the parent company.
Professional partner – Peta Murgatroyd. A former champion! Even though she didn’t win last year with Sean Lowe, we think this at-times silly experience, coupled with her victory tour with Donald Driver, helped her out immensely to get fans on a show that has many pros who have been around much longer.
Strengths – He’s in good shape and a gifted performer, and this should at least help with the story of the dance. He’s also got the young fans potentially out there who could cast a number of votes his way, and a partner who should at least get him through the first week or two.
Weaknesses – This is where some problems could pile up. Getting young fans to vote, especially those who don’t watch the older-skewing show, could be a tricky task. We just don’t know if there’s a base for him right now outside of the “Pretty Little Liars” community. We also don’t know if he has any history at all with dance, or if he has rhythm. Being an actor really doesn’t help you for the technical part of the competition.
Prediction – Brant seems like a nice enough guy, and his schedule in the past year proves that he knows the value of hard work. We’re unfortunately just not confident he will be around past the final six or seven, mostly because he is probably the most-unknown member of the cast by most viewers. He was a supporting character when he was on “Pretty Little Liars,” and even though we’ve seen the majority of the show, we still had to Google his name. If he’s not a good dancer, we see him only making it a couple of weeks.
If you want to read the rest of our “Dancing with the Stars” spotlight articles, just be sure to click here. Meanwhile, vote in the poll below to give your take on Brant this season!
Photo: ABC Family