A 'Bachelorette,' a convicted con artist and the pommel horse guy join 'DWTS' cast
“Dancing With the Stars” is back, and according to this season’s roster, all the regular characters are accounted for.
The 18-time Emmy-winning reality series announced Wednesday morning its fresh batch of celebrity talent competing for the Season 33 mirrorball trophy. But while the names are new, the casting archetypes they represent are not.
In the role of Scandalized Reality TV Star — last held by Season 32’s Ariana Madix — is Phaedra Parks, who recently rejoined “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” after a six-year hiatus. Parks was fired from the Bravo show in 2009 after she confessed to starting a date-rape rumor involving fellow cast members.
Meanwhile, Reginald VelJohnson of ’90s show “Family Matters” is this season’s fan-favorite sitcom alum — a title previously held by “How I Met Your Mother” star Alyson Hannigan and, before her, Florence Henderson of "The Brady Bunch" and her TV son Barry Williams. Anna Delvey (Sorokin), the “fake heiress” who infamously conned New York’s social elite, is its headline-making wild card. (Other notables from this category include Bristol Palin, Kate Gosselin and Schapelle Corby, who served nine years in an Indonesian prison on a drug-smuggling conviction.)
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As for the show's staple high-profile sports personalities, this season boasts four: NBA champion Dwight Howard, former NFL wide receiver Danny Amendola and Olympians Ilona Maher and Stephen Nedoroscik, better known as the rugby star and the “pommel horse guy.”
Nedoroscik, who last month was the first Season 33 contestant to be announced, won an individual bronze medal at the men’s gymnastics team final in Paris and helped his team win bronze as well — Team USA's first individual medal since 2016 and first team medal in 16 years.
"I want to bring some of that gymnastics” to the dance competition, he told “Good Morning America" after the announcement. "Maybe a backflip or handstand.”
Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles and Suni Lee previously competed in "DWTS" on seasons 24 and 30, respectively.
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Finally, the show's sponsored-by-ABC slot will be shared by “Bachelor” Joey Graziadei and “Bachelorette” Jenn Tran — the latter of whom was tapped just moments after her season's Tuesday evening finale, she told UsWeekly Wednesday. Bachelor Nation’s Charity Lawson competed last season.
Completing the baker’s dozen are “Beverly Hills, 90210” series regular Tori Spelling, Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts (brother to Julia Roberts and father to Emma Roberts), Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Brooks Nader and Disney Channel star Chandler Kinney.
Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro return as co-hosts, with Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough on the judges’ panel, People reported last month.
“Dancing With the Stars” premieres Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. on ABC and Disney+, with next-day streaming on Hulu.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
