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‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 23 Spoilers: Eight Names Confirmed By ABC As Returning To Show

By Heather Tooley
Published on: 16:27 PST, Aug 23, 2016

In just one more week, fans will learn which celebrities will comprise the Dancing with the Stars Season 23 cast. Fans are enduring their fair share of teasers from reports online and social media buzz.

While everyone awaits who makes the final cut, ABC confirmed eight names as returning to the show. On Tuesday, it was revealed on Good Morning America which pro dancers will be back on the show.

Us Weekly ran down a list of the pros returning to Dancing with the Stars for Season 23. The dancers coming back include Val Chmerkovskiy, Witney Carson, Sharna Burgess, Lindsay Arnold, Artem Chigvintsev, Sasha Farber, Allison Holker, and Gleb Savchenko.

Val Chmerkovskiy expressed his enthusiasm in his appearance on GMA.

“It’s going to be amazing! We’re going to have an incredible cast, as always,” he said. “But I’m also excited for the pros. We have a lot of different pros coming back. Some pros from back, back in the day, so I’m excited.”

Val added that Season 23 of DWTS is going to be a “new show” and that it’s “constantly evolving.” He said the fresh addition of “young kids” that “bring out the essence of this generation” balances out nicely with “some more classic, conservative dancers from the past as well.”

Pros not returning to Dancing with the Stars this season are Derek Hough, Peta Murgatroyd, and Kym Johnson. Derek is working on Hairspray Live! for NBC to air later this fall, Peta and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are expecting their first child together, and Kym Johnson just married her Season 20 celebrity dance partner, Robert Herjavek. The pair finished in sixth place.

Johnson told Entertainment Tonight that she’s ready to leave the show.

“I love the show and I love to still be part of it but, you know, I still want to hang up my dance shoes and what a way to end,” Johnson said. “It’s like, ‘thank you, Dancing With the Stars.'”

Johnson and Herjavek got married last month and enjoyed an enviable honeymoon in Bora Bora.

A handful of names hold strong in the rumor department as to which stars have already signed on for the new season. So far The Bachelorette’s JoJo Fletcher, soap opera star, Emma Samms, and The Fosters star, Justin T. Austin, are said to be locked in. Hollywood Life confirmed these three will be on the show for certain.

“All the rumors are true for JoJo, Jake and Emma,” the insider told HL. “They have all been asked and are doing the show.”

E! News reports that Amber Rose will be a contestant on DWTS. Several sources told the entertainment news outlet that she’s the latest to sign on with the show for the upcoming season.

When it comes to Olympians, Ryan Lochte was a mere possibility, but due to the scandal surrounding his conduct at the Rio Olympics, it appears he’s out. Another Olympic candidate was thought to be Simone Biles, but she recently told E! News that scheduling for the show wouldn’t work with due to her obligation for a three-month gymnastics tour.

Several reports published during the games suggest that ABC was eyeing which athletes had strong appeal among U.S. viewers before reaching out to them. It remains to be seen if any Olympic fan favorites will be on the show.

The entire cast of 13 contestants will be officially announced on GMA on Tuesday, August 30.

Dancing With the Stars Season 23 premieres on ABC on Monday, September 12, at 8 p.m. ET.

[Photo by Sergi Alexander/Getty Images]

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