Adam Rippon Is Joining 'Dancing With The Stars: Juniors' In This Amazing Role

Adam Rippon isn't fading into the background now that the Olympics are over. The figure skater is taking on a new job, and that means he'll be back on fans' TVs this fall. Adam Rippon will judge Dancing With the Stars: Juniors, and even people who haven't watched DWTS in the past will be interested in his new role on the spinoff.

Rippon may not be a professional dancer, but his figure skating experience is more than enough to qualify him for the job. Plus, fans will remember that in May, Rippon won Dancing With the Stars: Athletes. And being the proud winner of the franchise's Mirror Ball trophy means he's more than capable of judging the show.

The Olympian will be in good company, too. His fellow judges include Mandy Moore — as in, the La La Land choreographer, not the This Is Us star — and Valentin Chmerkovskiy, one of DWTS' professional dancers, ABC News reported. This will be the first season of the Juniors spinoff, but with such high-profile names on board, it's safe to guess the new show will be a hit.

As for the premise of the new show, ABC News explains that, like the original DWTS, the Juniors version will pair stars with professional ballroom dancers. But in the spinoff, the celebrities and the dancers will be children. (There's no word yet on who the contestants on the new show will be.)

Before joining the DWTS franchise, Rippon gained fame as the first openly gay person to qualify for the Winter Olympics on Team USA. The figure skater gained attention before the Olympics even happened, after he said he wouldn't want to meet with Vice President Mike Pence. Pence led the 2018 Olympic delegation for the United States, USA Today explained, and Rippon criticized the vice president during an interview with the paper.

"You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy? I'm not buying it," Rippon told USA Today. "If it were before my event, I would absolutely not go out of my way to meet somebody who I felt has gone out of their way to not only show that they aren't a friend of a gay person but that they think that they're sick."

Rippon quickly became an icon for LGBTQ representation in the sporting world, and he's stayed famous long after the Olympics. He's vocal on Twitter about criticizing President Trump's policies. And when he's not talking politics, Rippon is super funny, too. Even when he's talking about topics that aren't exactly fun, he manages to inject his signature sense of humor into the message. Take, for instance, the now-viral tweet he posted during the Winter Olympics:

Even Rippon's stories about simple things, like childhood spelling bees, are entertaining the way he tells them.

And he knows what's really important about '00s nostalgia, too.

Rippon's turn on Dancing With the Stars: Juniors is sure to include plenty of his signature zingers. And the show will undoubtedly be worth watching for that alone.