Meet the New ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Cast
A married couple, an Olympic champ, yet another former NFL star and the man who serves up “Chocolate News” will be “Dancing with the Stars” in a month’s time.
ABC announced the cast for the eighth cyle of its popular dance-off on Sunday night (Feb. 8), dropping names during its prime-time schedule. The 13 stars will begin competing on Monday, March 9.
Singer Jewel and rodeo champion Ty Murray are not the first husband and wife to have been part of “Dancing with the Stars” — that honor falls to Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin. They are, however, the first married couple to compete against one another in the same season (Rinna danced in the show’s second season, and Hamlin followed her in season three).
The cast also includes NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, who joins the likes of Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Jason Taylor and Warren Sapp in transitioning from the football field to the dance floor. Shawn Johnson, one of the stars of the U.S. gymnastics team at the 2008 Olympics, will also compete. So will comedian David Alan Grier, the host of Comedy Central’s “Chocolate News.”
Here’s the full cast:
Name: Belinda Carlisle
Famous for: A music career with the Go-Go’s and as a solo artist
Name: David Alan Grier
Famous for: ” In Living Color,” “Chocolate News”
Name: Jewel
Famous for: A Grammy-nominated music career, hosting “Nashville Star”; married to fellow competitor Ty Murray
Name: Shawn Johnson
Famous for: Her four-medal (one gold, three silver) performance in gymnastics at the 2008 Olympics
Name: Lil Kim
Famous for: A Grammy-winning hip-hop career, outrageous fashion choices
Name: Gilles Marini
Famous for: Making Samantha have impure thoughts in the “Sex and the City” movie
Name: Ty Murray
Famous for: Winning seven world all-around rodeo championships; married to fellow competitor Jewel
Name: Nancy O’Dell
Famous for: Hosting “Access Hollywood”
Name: Denise Richards
Famous for: “Wild Things,” “The World Is Not Enough,” a rocky marriage to Charlie Sheen and currently an E! reality show
Name: Steve-O
Famous for: Being a “Jackass”
Name: Lawrence Taylor
Famous for: Terrorizing quarterbacks in a Hall of Fame NFL career
Name: Chuck Wicks
Famous for: Country-music hit “Stealing Cinderella,” dating “Dancing” pro Julianne Hough
Name: Steve Wozniak
Famous for: Co-founding Apple Computer
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