“Dancing With the Stars” is back, and according to this season’s cast, all the regulars are back.
The 18-time Emmy Award-winning reality series announced On Wednesday morning, a new batch of talented celebrities compete for the Season 33 Mirrorball trophy. But while the names are new, the casting archetypes they represent are not.
Taking on the role of the scandalized reality TV star (last filled 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 other cast members.
Meanwhile, Reginald VelJohnson of the ’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 swindled New York’s social elite, is your headline-making wild card. (Other notables in this category include Bristol Palin, Kate Gosselin and Schapelle Corby, who served nine years in an Indonesian prison for a drug-trafficking conviction.)
As for the show's high-profile sports personalities, this season features four: NBA champion Dwight Howard, former NFL wide receiver Danny Amendola, and Olympians Ilona Maher and Stephen Nedoroscik, best known as rugby and baseball star “the boy with the pommel horse”.
Nedoroscik, who last month was the first Season 33 contestant to be announced, won an individual bronze medal in 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, she told “Good Morning America” after the announcement. “Maybe a backflip or a handstand.”
Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles and Suni Lee previously competed on “DWTS” in seasons 24 and 30, respectively.
Finally, the ABC-sponsored slot on the show will be shared by “Bachelor” Joey Graziadei and “Bachelorette” Jenn Tran, the latter of whom was cast moments after her season finale Tuesday night, she told UsWeekly on Wednesday. Bachelor Nation’s Charity Lawson competed last season.
Rounding out the baker's dozen are “Beverly Hills, 90210” series regular Tori Spelling, Oscar nominee Eric Roberts (brother of Julia Roberts and father of 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 judging panel. People reported last month.
“Dancing With the Stars” premieres Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. on ABC and Disney+, and will be available to stream the following day on Hulu.
