Instead of the usual celebrities competing on the "Dancing with the Stars" (DWTS) stage, a different breed of stars will put on their dancing shoes for season 26. According to reports, the casting department for the show are now looking at enlisting 10 athletes from the 2018 Winter Olympics and from past runs to join the lineup.
DWTS co-hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews announced this during the last season's finale episode, and recently, the show's casting director Deena Katz said in an interview with 11Alive that the cast will be revealed on April 9, three weeks before the competition officially begins.
Katz mentioned that the obvious picks would be the figure skaters, as they were the breakaway stars from the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Spoilers indicate that they may be choosing from picks such as Adam Rippon, Nathan Chen, Mirai Nagasu, and the siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani. Following her less-than-stellar performance in the women's figure skating final, Nagasu revealed in an interview with USA Today that she has now shifter her focus onto being part of DWTS. "I would like to be on 'Dancing with the Stars' because I want to be a star," said Nagasu.
Other U.S. athletes' names that are being floated around are champion snowboarder Shaun White and skier Lindsey Vonn. This will not be the first time that the show gets athletes on board to make them compete on a whole different playing field. In season 4, champion speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno took home the Mirrorball throphy, while figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi and Meryl Davis twirled their way to the top in seasons 6 and 18, respectively.
Gymnasts have also been known to climb toward the championship, as evidenced by Shawn Johnson and Laurie Hernandez in seasons 8 and 23.
When asked by EW, bobsledders Aja Evans and Carlo Valdes, ice dancer Zach Donohue, hockey player Meghan Duggan, snowboarder Maddie Mastro, and luger player Chris Mazdzer all expressed positive sentiments regarding the potential of being part of the show.
The next season of "Dancing with the Stars" will begin on Apr. 30 at 9/10 p.m. EST on ABC.
