Dancing with the Stars 26

Adam Rippon, Tonya Harding, and the other Dancing with the Stars: Athletes contestants

Tonya Hardin, Sasha Farber, Dancing with the Stars Athletes
Dancing with the Stars: Athletes contestant Tonya Hardin and her partner, Sasha Farber. (Photo by Lou Rocco/ABC)

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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:

  1. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon with Jenna Johnson
  2. NCAA champion basketball player Arike Ogunbowale with Gleb Savchenko
  3. Luge gold medalist Chris Mazdzer with Witney Carson
  4. Snowboarder and Olympian Jamie Anderson with ArtemChigvintsev
  5. Softball pitcher and Olympian Jennie Finch Daigle with Keo Motsepe
  6. MLB champion Johnny Damon with Emma Slater
  7. NFL cornerback Josh Norman with Sharna Burgess
  8. NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with Lindsay Arnold
  9. Olympic figure skater Mirai Nagasu with Alan Bersten
  10. 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.

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Andy Dehnart

Andy Dehnart’s writing and criticism about television, culture, and media has appeared on NPR and in Vulture, Pacific Standard, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications. He has covered reality television for more than 18 years, and created reality blurred in 2000.A member of the Television Critics Association who serves on its board of directors, Andy, 41, also directs the journalism program at Stetson University in Florida, where he teaches creative nonfiction and journalism. He has an M.F.A. in nonfiction writing and literature from Bennington College. Learn more about reality blurred and Andy.

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reality blurred is your guide to the world of reality TV and unscripted entertainment, with reality show reviews, news, and analysis. It was created in 2000 by Andy Dehnart. He's still writing and publishing it today.

reality blurred is regularly updated with highlights from the world of reality TV: news and analysis; behind-the-scenes reports; interviews with reality TV show cast members and producers; and recaps and reviews of these reality TV shows, including Survivor, Big Brother, The Great British Baking Show, Shark Tank, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, Project Runway, Dancing with the Stars, Top Chef, and many more.

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