‘Dancing with the Stars 23’ cast: Rick Perry, Calvin Johnson, Vanilla Ice among surprise inclusions
The full cast of “Dancing with the Stars” season 23 was unveiled this morning on ABC, and for the most part, the rumors that were out there were right. We’re going to go through all of the cast now briefly; we’ll have some more opportunities to discuss specifics down the line as we get closer to the premiere next month.
Ryan Lochte – Controversial Olympic swimmer, one who still stands by at least parts of his narrative of what happened in Rio. Paired with returning pro Cheryl Burke.
Laurie Hernandez – Member of the gold-medal winning Final Five gymnastics team. Paired with Val Chmerkovskiy.
Rick Perry – Former Texas Governor / Presidential candidate. Paired with returning pro Emma Slater. This is going to be trainwreck of EPIC proportions.
Calvin Johnson – Former NFL wide receiver, who recently retired at a fairly young age. Paired with Lindsay Arnold.
Terra Jole – Star of “Little Women: LA,” and the first little-person contestant for the show. Paired with Sasha Farber.
Vanilla Ice – Rapper, and the first contestant on the show we’ve met in person. Paired with Witney Carson.
Jana Kramer – Former star of “One Tree Hill.” Paired with returning pro Gleb Savchenko.
James Hinchcliffe – IndyCar driver, and the show’s first since champion Helio Castroneves. Paired with Sharna Burgess.
Maureen McCormick – Former star of “The Brady Bunch.” Paired with Artem Chigvintsev.
Marilu Henner – Former star of “Taxi.” Paired with Derek Hough.
Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds – Singer. Paired with returning pro Allison Holker.
Amber Rose – Model / actress / host. Paired with Derek Hough.
To us, the most interesting thing about this cast is the concentrated effort to move away from casting as many reality stars. You can argue that Rose and Vanilla Ice have some clout in that genre, but they’re also known for other things. It’s an interesting group, and we’ll see what happens when they hit the ballroom.
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