Entertainment

The New 'DWTS' Cast Includes A Bachelorette, A 'Queer Eye' Guy, & An 'Office' Alum

by Jake Viswanath
ABC/John Fleenor

She might not have left The Bachelorette with an engagement ring, but Hannah Brown could have a shot at taking home the coveted mirror ball. The Dancing With The Stars Season 28 cast was announced on Good Morning America Wednesday, Aug. 21, and includes the Bachelorette, along with other reality TV stars such as Queer Eye's Karamo Brown, and former NBA star and Keeping Up With The Kardashians alum Lamar Odom. Of course, the stars competing this season come from varied backgrounds, not just the world of reality TV.

Competing on DWTS Season 28 in addition to Hannah, Karamo, and Odom are Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek, model icon Christie Brinkley, All That alum Kel Mitchell, country singer Lauren Alaina, former NFL player Ray Lewis, Fifth Harmony singer Ally Brooke, The Supremes' Mary Wilson, The Office star Kate Flannery, and former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. That's right, it's 2019 and the controversial former member of the current administration will be learning how to two-step alongside America's actual sweetheart, the Bachelorette.

As for who this season's contestants will be paired up with, in a surprise new twist, the show is keeping that information secret until the premiere. However, GMA did confirm that professionals Cheryl Burke, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Sasha Farber, Alan Bersten, Brandon Armstrong, Gleb Savchenko, Keo Motsepe, Witney Carson, Peta Murgatroyd, Lindsay Arnold, Jenna Johnson, and Emma Slater would be returning to the stage, alongside new dancers Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov.

The new DWTS contestants appeared on GMA to announce the big news, and the White House jokes have already begun before the show has even premiered. Host Tom Bergeron told Spicer that he would be in charge of assessing the size of the audience this season, an obvious dig at his announcement that the 2017 presidential inauguration had the largest audience ever after viral photos showed low attendance, a remark that even Spicer himself now regrets.

Fans of The Office will undoubtably be thrilled that Meredith will be competing this season, and Flannery is more than ready for a change of pace. “I had nine seasons of the most unglamorous character on TV," she said on GMA. "So we're going in a different direction. Bring on the Spanx, bring on the spray tan. Whatever you got, bring it on!" With that drive, Flannery is sure to bring it on the dancefloor.

Brooke, however, is competing with a purpose. The singer opened up about how some of the ridicule she received for her dance moves during her time with Fifth Harmony motivated her to do the show. "I feel like sometimes, some of the dance moves were a little harder, and some people would leave not-so-nice comments and it wouldn't be good," she explained. "So this is an opportunity for me to not only prove to them, but to myself, that I can really tackle this. And I want to be able to help those people who felt like that too, anything that they are insecure about or they feel uncomfortable with, that they can go and do it too."

The new season of DWTS will premiere on Monday, Sept. 16, and given that it has motivational comeback stories, a small dose of the Fab Five (hopefully more of them will be in the audience), and the Bachelorette, it's sure to be an action-packed season.