‘Dancing with the Stars’ 20 cast: Robert Herjavec, Michael Sam, Redfoo, and likely Chris Soules
You surely knew that a “Dancing with the Stars” cast announcement was going to be coming on Tuesday, and now that we’ve seen the full list of participants, it is fairly easy to describe it using one term: Ambivalence. There are some cast members we’re extremely excited for, and then three or four completely bizarre choices of people who are not even remotely on our radar. If we work in this business and have no clue who you are, that’s not good.
These participants were announced today on “Good Morning America,” and we’ll have further analysis on them as we get closer to the March 16 premiere of the show.
Charlotte McKinney and Keo Motsepe – Remember the Super Bowl? Well, she was the star of that Carl’s Jr. commercial. That seems to be her major claim to fame, though she is also a model.
Chris Soules (?) and Witney Carson – Not confirmed, but all signs to this being the case. They always wait to announce the “Bachelor” participant until the end of the season.
Michael Sam and Peta Murgatroyd – While we don’t think this will help his odds to find an NFL team, at least this is a new platform for the first openly gay player to ever be drafted by a team.
Nastia Liukin and Derek Hough – The former Olympian goes to school at NYU, and apparently this was a last-minute way to convince Derek to stay on while he also performs at Radio City Music Hall.
Patti LaBelle and Artem Chigvintsev – This is a major challenge for Artem, working with a woman who is by far the season’s oldest contestant.
Noah Galloway and Sharna Burgess – This is tricky, since he may be the least-famous person ever on the show. However, he is an inspirational story as a veteran and double-amputee, so we respect him taking this one.
Redfoo and Emma Slater – This is the first time that a former guest judge has turned up as a contestant. A little awkward, no?
Riker Lynch and Allison Holker – He’s a part of a band named R5, and he’s also the second cousin of Derek and Julianne Hough. Groan accordingly.
Robert Herjavec and Kym Johnson – We love “Shark Tank,” and we also love Robert. With this being said, he has an uphill battle given that he comes from a completely different walk of life.
Rumer Willis and Val Chmerkovskiy – We’ve at least heard of her, and we figure she’ll probably be okay at this.
Suzanne Somers and Tony Dovolani – It feels like Somers was already on the show years ago, even if she wasn’t.
Willow Shields and Mark Ballas – At 14, the “Hunger Games” star is the youngest ever contestant.
Left out this season are rumored names like Malcolm Butler and Robert Kennedy Jr., while notable pros not taking part including Karina Smirnoff and Cheryl Burke, who announced her exit last season.
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