Melissa Rycroft is returning to reality TV.
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CMT has announced it has ordered Melissa and Tye: A New Reality, a new reality show which will follow Rycroft as she moves from Texas to Los Angeles to pursue her Hollywood dreams.
The new tentatively-titled eight-episode series, which will premiere on CMT in April, will chronicle Rycroft and husband Tye Strickland attempting to make a long-distance relationship work as fairly new parents to their 11-month old daughter.
Reality viewers were first exposed to Rycroft when she appeared on the first two seasons of CMT's Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. She then went on to compete as one of the bachelorettes vying for Jason Mesnick's heart on The Bachelor's thirteenth season, which was filmed in late 2008 and aired in early 2009.
She got engaged to Mesnick during the taping of The Bachelor's Final Rose Ceremony -- but he later dumped her on-air in favor of runner-up (and eventual wife) Molly Malaney during the January 2009 taping of the season's After the Final Rose special.
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However Rycroft quickly entered into a new relationship of her own and reunited with Strickland, her former boyfriend whom she had previously dated on and off after meeting three years earlier, and the couple subsequently got engaged in June and wed in December.
After her rejection by Mesnick, Rycroft also accepted an offer to join Dancing with the Stars' Spring 2009 edition as a last-minute replacement for injured Access Hollywood co-anchor Nancy O'Dell. She eventually finished third behind Gilles Marini and eventual champ Shawn Johnson.
Since then, Rycroft has worked as a correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America, contributed to the network's 2010 Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest broadcast, and also served as a special Entertainment Tonight correspondent. In addition, she served as the co-host of Bachelor Pad's first season, which aired in 2010.
Melissa and Tye: A New Reality is being produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions with Ryan Seacrest, Jayson Dinsmore and Eliot Goldberg serving as executive producers.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski