'Dancing with the Stars' eighteenth-season celebrities and professional partners announced by ABC

Dancing with the Stars' eighteenth-season celebrity cast and professional dance partner pairings have been announced by ABC.


Dancing with the Stars' six male eighteenth-season celebrities are comedian and game show host Drew Carey, Nickelodeon star and Big Time Rush singer James Maslow, Australian pop singer Cody Simpson, former NHL hockey star Sean Avery, Sochi Olympics ice dancing gold medalist Charlie White, and actor Billy Dee Williams.

The female celebrities announced by ABC are actress and former Full House star Candace Cameron Bure, Sochi Olympics ice dancing gold medalist Meryl Davis, actress and former The Wonder Years star Danica McKellar, swimming legend Diana Nyad, The Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes, and double-amputee snowboarding champion Amy Purdy.

Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron and new co-host Erin Andrews announced the celebrities competing on the upcoming edition during a Tuesday appearance on Good Morning America. 

Dancing with the Stars will experience a couple of firsts with Avery, the show's first former hockey player, and Purdy, the reality dancing competition's first Paralympian to compete. White and Davis were also ice dancing partners during the Sochi Olympics and will now be competing against one another.


Ten of the 12 celebrities will be paired with returning professional dancers, while only two will work with first-time pro partners.

Davis will be paired with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and McKellar will be partnered with his brother Val Chmerkovskiy.

Maksim first appeared as a pro on the show's second season. He competed on 14 seasons in total but was absent from Season 16 and 17. Maksim has landed in the runner-up spot twice and third place twice, never winning a title. Val joined Dancing with the Stars five seasons ago and will be participating in his sixth edition. Val finished as the show's sixteenth-season runner-up.

Leakes will be partnered with Tony Dovolani, who will be back for his seventeenth season and won Dancing with the Stars' sixteenth season with all-star Melissa Rycroft.

Purdy will compete with Derek Hough who will be participating in his thirteenth Dancing with the Stars edition and is the show's only five-time professional champion. He just won the reality dancing competition's sixteenth and seventeenth seasons with partners Kellie Pickler and Amber Riley respectively.


Bure will be paired with Mark Ballas, who is returning for his fourteenth season and has two mirror-ball trophies of his own.

Avery will be partnered with Karina Smirnoff, who finished as the runner-up during Dancing with the Stars' seventeenth season and won the show's thirteenth edition with J.R. Martinez. She will be competing in her fifteenth season.

Maslow will be paired with Peta Murgatroyd, who will be participating in her sixth season. She made her debut as a pro on the series' thirteenth season and was the first pairing voted out, however, she went on to win Dancing with the Stars' fourteenth season with celebrity partner Donald Driver.

White will be paired with Sharna Burgess, who made her debut on Dancing with the Stars' sixteenth season. Before that, she was a member of the show's Dance Troupe for three seasons.

Carey will be partnered with Cheryl Burke, who is returning for her seventeenth season and has won two Dancing with the Stars titles. She finished in third place last season.


Williams will be paired with Emma Slater, who served as a pro on Dancing with the Stars' seventeenth season. She had previously been a member of the show's Dance Troupe for Season 14.

Nyad will be partnered with Henry Byalikov, who will be taking the American Dancing with the Stars stage as a pro for the first time but has previously competed on the Australian edition of Dancing with the Stars.

Simpson will be paired with first-time pro and former So You Think You Can Dance contestant Witney Carson, who is making her debut as a pro on Dancing with the Stars' upcoming eighteenth season after being a member of the Dance Troupe for the show's two most recent editions.

Dancing with the Stars' eighteenth season will premiere with a two-hour broadcast on Monday, March 17 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski