ABC announced the cast of its short, condensed spring season of Dancing with the Stars, which is subtitled “Athletes” because it’s an all-athelets season. The cast includes Olympians and national champions, and covers at least six sports.
The season will last just four weeks and debuts April 30.
As usual, the show has cast people who’ve been in the news recently, including breakout Olympian Adam Rippon and Oscar-nominated biopic subject Tonya Harding.
The full cast, with their professional partners:
- Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon with Jenna Johnson
- NCAA champion basketball player Arike Ogunbowale with Gleb Savchenko
- Luge gold medalist Chris Mazdzer with Witney Carson
- Snowboarder and Olympian Jamie Anderson with ArtemChigvintsev
- Softball pitcher and Olympian Jennie Finch Daigle with Keo Motsepe
- MLB champion Johnny Damon with Emma Slater
- NFL cornerback Josh Norman with Sharna Burgess
- NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with Lindsay Arnold
- Olympic figure skater Mirai Nagasu with Alan Bersten
- Former figure skater Tonya Harding with Sasha Farber
Athletes and dancers are usually accused of having an advantage, and I wonder if some will have the same reaction to the range of athletic skill here. Ice skaters and basketball players certainly have different skill sets, after all.