Disney Channel Star Milo Manheim Joins 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 27

Dancing With the Stars welcomed season 27's youngest competitor on Tuesday: Disney Channel star [...]

By Libby Birk

Dancing With the Stars welcomed season 27's youngest competitor on Tuesday: Disney Channel star Milo Manheim.

The 17-year-old, who rose to fame in this year's Disney Channel original movie Zombies, will be dancing with professional partner Witney Carson. The two appeared on Good Morning America on Tuesday as part of the big announcement.

Manheim admitted to Michael Strahan that the experience was far more challenging than he expected it to be.

"Once we started getting going, it was nothing like I ever imagined," he said of training with Carson. "It's so much more difficult than I thought it would be."

"I'll be dancing with her and thinking I'm doing a really good job, and then I'll look back at the video and I just look terrible," he said, laughing.

Carson is no stranger to whipping partners into shape — she's consistently appeared on the reality dance competition and even won season 19 with Alfonso Ribeiro. She told Strahan that Manheim has "a lot of potential."

"I'm really excited," she said. "This is my tenth season on the show and that's a lucky number for me. He's got the personality, he's got some rhythm and that's all we really need."

"We have so much fun," Manheim said. "I look forward to it every day... But she is tough." He added that's he's "absolutely not" ready to take the ballroom floor in front of millions of viewers, "But I will get there!"

ABC previously announced that Facts of Life star Nancy McKeon (Jo Polniaczek) would be paired with dance pro Val Chmerkovskiy for season 27.

"He is awesome. He is the most amazing partner. More patience than anybody I know. And I'm so lucky," McKeon said on Good Morning America last week of Chmerkovskiy.

The full cast will be revealed Wednesday on GMA. Fans expect to hear the names of Mary Lou Retton, Bobby Bones, Alexis Ren, John Schneider, DeMarcus Ware and Danelle Umstead on Wednesday as well, as Us Weekly reported last week they would all be on the upcoming season, although those six have not been confirmed by ABC.

Retton, 50, an iconic former Olympic gymnast, is the first American woman to win gold in the all-around competition, which she did during the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Bones, 38, is an on-air radio personality known for his country music show, The Bobby Bones Show. American Idol fans will remember him as a mentor on the newly rebooted ABC series.

Ren, 21, a model, has posed for Maxim and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, in which she was named "Rookie of 2018."

Schneider, 58, is best known for playing Bo Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard TV show in the '70s and '80s. He's also appeared on Smallville and The Haves and the Have Nots.

Ware, 36, retired from the NFL after the 2016 season, having played as an outside linebacker and defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.

Umstead, 46, is a blind Paralympic alpine skier who competed in the Winter Paralympics in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

Along with Carson and Chmerkovskiy, returning dancers Jenna Johnson, Cheryl Burke, Sharna Burgess, Emma Slater, Lindsay Arnold, Witney Carson, Sasha Farber, Gleb Savchenko, Artem Chigvinstev, Keo Motsepe and Alan Bersten will all be paired up with famous partners. Newcomer Brandon Armstrong, who previously appeared in the show's troupe, will take the spotlight as a pro for the first time.

Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli will return to the ballroom as the competition's judges.

Dancing With the Stars season 27 premieres Monday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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