'Good Morning America' Legend Appearing on 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 31
After delivering weather updates for more than two decades at ABC, Good Morning America weather anchor Sam Champion is testing his talents at dancing. When Dancing With the Stars kicked off Season 31 Monday night, its first season streaming on Disney+, the long-time weatherman wowed the judges and the audience as he took to the ballroom stage with pro dancing partner Cheryl Burke.
For their debut performance, Champion and Burke, who have been friends for 10 years, danced a weather-inspired foxtrot to "Hold Me Closer" by Elton John and Britney Spears, the pair trotting their way through a cloud of dry ice. Although they did not earn the highest score of the night, they certainly impressed the judges. Bruno Tonioli told the duo, "The forecast is good, my love," adding of Champion, "You were poised, elegant, you're easy to watch." Meanwhile, Carrie Ann Inaba said of the performance and Champion, "That was so tender and so sweet. You were a little nervous out of the gate."
Champion and Burke are just one of 16 pairs dancing this season. The other dancing duos for Season 31 include Jordin Sparks and Brandon Armstrong, Heidi D'Amelio and Artem Chigvintsev, Daniel Durant and Britt Stewart, Jessie James Decker and Alan Bersten, Teresa Giudice and Pasha Pashkov, Wayne Brady and Witney Carson, Cheryl Ladd and Louis van Amstel, Vinny Guadagnino and Koko Iwasaki, Shangela and Gleb Savchenko, Trevor Donovan and Emma Slater, Gabby Windey and Val Chmerkovskiy, Joseph Baena and Daniella Karagach, Jason Lewis and Peta Murgatroyd, Selma Blair and Sasha Farber, and Charli D'Amelio and Mark Ballas. All of the pairs have their sights set on one thing: the coveted Mirrorball Trophy.
In anticipation of this season's fierce competition, Champion put in some time to make sure he was ready. Ahead of Monday's Season 31 premiere, the GMA meteorologist gave fans plenty of behind-the-scenes glimpses of how he was getting ready for the competition. Over the weekend, he even shared a video of himself hitting the gym, the 61-year-old making sure he was fit by lifting weights and doing various other exercises.
All of that hard work seems to have paid off because Champion's debut performance with Burke was enough to send him through to another week of the competition. Lewis and Murgatroyd's routine to Daft Funk's "Get Lucky," which earned them a score of 18 out of 40, was not enough, and the pair became the first duo sent home. Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Disney+.