'Dancing With the Stars': New Host Tyra Banks Teases Celebrity Lineup for Season 29

Tyra Banks is getting Dancing With the Stars fans hyped for her first season as the ABC show's [...]

By Anna Rumer

Tyra Banks is getting Dancing With the Stars fans hyped for her first season as the ABC show's host. Ahead of the upcoming 29th season premiere on Sept. 14, the supermodel revealed the celebrity lineup will be announced Wednesday on Good Morning America. "You ready for a new season of dancing?" she asks in a new promo for the season. "Well we are back in the ballroom. But who are the stars?"

As of Friday, Dancing With the Stars had announced just two of its celebrity dancers — the Backstreet Boys' AJ McLean and former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe. The pro lineup consists of veterans Sasha Farber, Pasha Pashkov, Jenna Johnson, Emma Slater, Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten, Val Chmerkovskiy, Peta Murgatroyd, Gleb Savchenko, Cheryl Burke, Sharna Burgess, Artem Chigvintsev and Keo Motsepe, as well as newcomers Britt Stewart and Daniella Karagach.

After McLean was announced Wednesday, he told Good Morning America of his background in the Backstreet Boys, "I mean, this is a little bit of a different style of dancing than what I used to do growing up. I've been dancing since I was about six years old, but this is gonna be a little bit different. ...There's definitely no Foxtrot in the past 27 years, I can promise you that."

Bristowe, who was announced back in June as a contestant, wrote on Instagram earlier this month that she has kicked up her exercise, diet and mindfulness. "I've been working so hard on my mental and physical health over the last 14 weeks," she wrote. "Reading, meditating, resting, working out, lifting heavy, Pilates, boxing, going to physical therapy for mobility and strength, getting sports massages, dry needling. My body at 35 feels strong and ready to dance."

This will also be the first DWTS season that Banks will serve as host since Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews were fired from their longtime hosting position. "As we embark on a new creative direction, [Bergeron] departs the show with our sincerest thanks and gratitude for his trademark wit and charm that helped make this show a success. Erin will also not be returning, and we appreciate all that she brought to the ballroom," ABC said in a statement last month. "Fans have been rooting for her since she originally competed as a contestant back in 2010, and her signature sense of humor has become a hallmark of the show."

Banks was announced days later as the new host, telling Good Morning America, "It is gonna be so next level. I am having meetings with the producer that I walked in to join, Andrew Llinares, and... he's like, 'Tyra, you just don't know. It's gonna be next level. We're doing all this crazy stuff, taking to the next level, but still keeping the stuff that we know America loves. But you need to get ready, 'cause it's gonna be different."

0comments
Start the Conversation

of