Everything to Know About Season 30 of ‘Dancing with the Stars’
ABC/Eric McCandless Reading Time: 5 minutes
The ballroom is back in session! Dancing with the Stars has been renewed for its 30th season. This is a major milestone for ABC and we fully expect the show to have some big surprises in store for this upcoming season.
Who will be Returning for Season 30 of ‘Dancing with the Stars’?
Tyra Banks hosted her very first season of the show in 2020 after long-time host Tom Bergeron and co-host Erin Andrews were shockingly ousted from the show. Banks will be back to host Season 30, so get ready for more rapid outfit changes from the 47-year-old model.
Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli will also be sitting on the judging panel again for Season 30. This new season comes bearing good news because head judge Len Goodman will be back on the judging panel too!
Goodman was unable to sit on the judging panel last season due to COVID-19 travel restrictions preventing him from traveling out of the U.K. Having four judges now means even more eyes on each of the contestants. Everyone better bring their A-game.
As for which professional dancers will be returning, the official list has not yet been revealed. Fans are hoping to see the return of two fan-favorite dancers in Season 30. Pro dancers and real-life besties Lindsay Arnold and Witney Carson were both absent from Season 29 after both announcing their pregnancies and welcoming two healthy children.
“I have every intention of coming back!” Arnold told Entertainment Tonight. “I am ready to go, I feel good, I want to dance again, I’m super excited about it. But as you know, us pros don’t really get to decide if we come back. We can say we want to do it, but at the end of the day, [producers] have to ask us back on the show, which doesn’t happen until the last hour, I swear.”
Other pro dancers that reacted to the news of the ‘DWTS’ renewal were Sharna Burgess and Gleb Savchenko. Both have been very vocal about wanting to return to the show as well.
Will This Be an All-Star Season?
There has been a ton of speculation about whether or not Season 30 will bring back past fan-favorite contestants for a second chance at winning The Mirrorball Trophy. The last time Dancing with the Stars had an all-star season was in 2012. The season was won by Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani and featured both fan-favorite contestants and past winners.
Even as a judge, Hough does not know what the format of the show will be in the upcoming season.
“I’m curious about what we’re going to do for Season 30 because it’s such a huge milestone. I’m curious to know what’s the plan,” he said in an interview. “Is it going to be just like, ‘We’re going to approach this like any other season?’ Or is it going to be sort of a tribute? Who knows? I don’t know.”
Arnold also echoed that she would like to see an all-star season and would love to dance with Boyz II Men’s Wanya Morris or MLB star David Ross again.
“There are so many partners that I’d like to have the chance at a mirrorball again, so I feel like that would be really fun. Just for my sake. I don’t know if anyone else cares to see that, but I would love it!” she said.
Burgess would love a second shot at dancing with race car driver James Hinchcliffe.
“James Hinchcliffe, I’m calling you. You’re coming back! We need to win this thing” she told Entertainment Tonight.
If This is Not an All-Star Season, Here’s Which Celebrities We Think Will Join ‘Dancing with the Stars’
Obviously, a big reason why Dancing with the Stars has been on the air for 30 successful seasons is because of the superstar celebrities that make their way into the ballroom. If Season 30 is not going to be an all-star season, there are quite a few celebrity names being tossed around that might join the cast.
Typically, each season of the show has one member of The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise. Tayshia Adams and her fiancé Zac Clark have both expressed interest in competing on the show. A Fan-favorite contestant from Matt James’ season Abigail Heringer’s name has also been thrown into the mix.
Then we usually see a few actors and actresses pop up on the show. Actress Cassie Scerbo said she would “totally be down” to do Dancing With The Stars despite her rocky romance with Savchenko.
The Masked Dancer judge Brian Austin Green was supposed to appear on the show in Season 29. He was originally slated to dance with Burgess, his now girlfriend but bailed on the show. Season 30 could be his shot. Plus, we saw him show off his dance moves as The Giraffe on The Masked Singer.
One more thing that the show needs in every season is controversial contestants. Hilaria Baldwin caused quite the stir with her accent controversy earlier this year. Political figure Kellyanne Conway is another name speculated on the cast list. We saw her join her daughter Claudia Conway during her American Idol audition this year. The producers could always surprise us and cast Claudia who has a massive TikTok following instead.
As for athletes, UFC fighter Kamaru Usman has expressed his desire to be on Dancing with the Stars back in February.
When Can We Expect the Premiere?
Typically, the show starts announcing some big cast reveals on social media around July or August. The entire cast will then be revealed during an episode of Good Morning America soon after.
It looks like the premiere of Season 30 of Dancing with the Stars will take place in Fall 2021. Our best guess is that it will air in mid-September since no official premiere date has been announced.
SEE ALSO: FORMER ‘DANCING WITH THE STARS’ CONTESTANTS EXPOSE JUDGES FOR THIS…
