ABC revealed the season 18 cast of Dancing with the Stars yesterday. The cast consists mostly of athletes, pop stars, and uber popular 90s sitcom stars. Then there's NeNe Leakes. Then there's a real [movie] star. Bloop.
New this season are Erin Andrews, who has replaced Brook Burke as Tom Bergeron's co-host, and the Switch Up twist. For the first time ever, the stars will dance with new pro partners – chosen by America's votes – at some point in the season.
Personally, I'm not excited about either addition, Erin or the twist that reeks of desperation, but oh well. Also – no Tristan MacManus. 🙁 Someone at ABC hates me. Anyway, check out the cast photos and bios below, as well as a few candid shots of NeNe and Tony.
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Amy Purdy with Derek Hough
Amy lost both of her legs due to Meningitis at the age of 19. She went on to be the top ranked adaptive snowboarder in the U.S. and a three-time World Cup Para-snowboard winner. Amy also competed on the Amazing Race.
Billy Dee Williams with Emma Slater
Actor Billy is best known for playing Louis McKay in Lady Sings The Blues and Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi. He also appeared on Lost, Private Practice, and Scrubs.
Candace Cameron Bure with Mark Ballas
Candace, actress, producer, and inspirational speaker, played D.J. Tanner on Full House. Candace and her husband, former NHL star Val Bure, have been married since 1996 and have three children.
Charlie White with Sharna Burgess
Charlie and his partner, Meryl Davis, are the longest-running ice dancing partnership in the history of USA figure skating. They are 2014 Olympic Gold Medalists. Charlie, a student at the University of Michigan, hopes to attend law school someday.
Cody Simpson with Witney Carson
Cody is an Australian pop star. He's currently dating Gigi Hadid.
Danica McKellar with Val Chmerkovskiy
Danica, best known as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years and Elsie Snuffin on The West Wing, is a NY Times bestselling author and a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA.
Diana Nyad with Henry Byalikov
Diana, a long distance swimmer, is the first person to swim – without a shark cage – from Cuba to Florida.
Drew Carey with Cheryl Burke
Drew, comedian, actor, and host of The Price is Right, is well known for The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
James Maslow with Peta Murgatroyd
James is best known to the "tweens" as the star of the hit Nickelodeon show Big Time Rush and as a member of the boy band of the same name. I have to add, my seven-year-old daughter, who loves all things dance, is giddy with excitement about this addition to the cast, as well as "D.J." from Full House. 🙂
Meryl Davis with Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Meryl and her ice dancing partner, Charlie White, are 2014 Olympic Gold Medalists. She, too, is a student at the University of Michigan.
NeNe Leakes with Tony Dovolani
As you know, NeNe stars on the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Once upon a time.. NeNe went all I'm a star in Hollywood on us… but she's back. In Atlanta. Not to be confused with Hollywood.
Sean Avery with Karina Smirnoff
Sean, model and former NHL player, is on the Board of Directors of Athlete Ally, a nonprofit raising awareness about homophobia & transphobia in sports.
Dancing with the Stars returns Monday, March 17 on ABC.
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Photo Credit: ABC
