'Dancing With the Stars' 19th season cast: Who will be competing this fall?
The new 'Dancing With the Stars' cast includes 'Back to the Future' actress Lea Thompson, talk-show host Tavis Smiley, and Olympic athlete Lolo Jones. 'Dancing With the Stars' premieres on Sept. 15.
'Dancing with the Stars' added athlete Lolo Jones to its new cast.
Danny Moloshok/Reuters
Actress Lea Thompson, "Duck Dynasty" cast member Sadie Robertson, and NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip are making tracks for the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."
ABC on Thursday announced the 13 contestants for its fall round of the dancing competition. They also include talk-show host Tavis Smiley, "Pretty Little Liars" star Janel Parrish, Olympic athlete Lolo Jones, actor Antonio Sabato Jr., and fashion designer Betsey Johnson. Other amateur hoofers include comedy veteran Tommy Chong, YouTube star Bethany Mota, Ultimate Fighting champ Randy Couture, "Mean Girls" star Jonathan Bennett, and actor-dancer Alfonso Ribeiro.
The new lineup was unveiled on "Good Morning America."
Ribeiro, who starred on the show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” with actor Will Smith, reminisced about the famous dance he would do on the sitcom in an interview with the New York Daily News.
“We will absolutely give the fans what they would love to see, which is the Carlton Dance,” he said of the routine named after his character on the show. “I gotta give the audience a reason to keep me on.”
Meanwhile, Robertson told USA Today, “I am so excited. I've wanted to do this for a long time… I haven't done any dancing. I had lessons when I was 3 like every little girl does. It ended at 4. I don't remember anything of it. I'm starting very fresh.”
The 19th season of "Dancing" premieres Sept. 15. Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews return as co-hosts, while former “Dancing” pro competitor Julianne Hough is judging this season with Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Len Goodman.
“My role is to encourage and be supportive, and to also be candid and honest and try not to beat around the bush, to be too politically correct," Hough said of her duties as a judge in a recent interview with People. "I want to give critiques so they can improve. I'm not there to be harsh or cause a controversy. I won't be mean or malicious. That's not who I am. That's not my role at all.”