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‘RHOBH’ Fans Freak Out As Erika Girardi Is Rumored To Land ‘DWTS’ Gig

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 03:58 PST, Feb 27, 2017

Erika Girardi is the latest Real Housewife to take a stab at the Dancing With the Stars mirrorball trophy. According to E! News, Girardi, who’s a cast member on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and goes by the stage name Erika Jayne, will be a contender on the 24th season of the ABC celebrity ballroom competition. However, while past alums of the Bravo franchise haven’t fared very well, Erika Girardi could have what it takes to bring the mirrorball back to Beverly Hills.

E! notes that ABC has not yet confirmed Erika Girardi’s DWTS casting—that will happen live on Good Morning America on March 1—but that her spot on the show is a done deal. There is no word on which DWTS pro dancer Erika will be partnered with, but new dad Maksim Chmerkovskiy has confirmed his status as a DWTS pro for Season 24.

Real Housewives fans are already familiar with Erika Girardi’s alter ego, pop star Erika Jayne. Girardi’s pop star persona and archive of songs like “How Many F***ks” and “Xxpensive” are a stark contrast to her buttoned-up life with her high-power attorney husband, Tom Girardi.

Erika Girardi is a Bravo fan favorite, so news of her DWTS casting has many Real Housewives fans ecstatic. Fans hit social media to express their excitement over the fact that Girardi will trade her club moves for ballroom dance steps. It’s clear that Erika already has a loyal, built-in fan base.

Erika Girardi is a shoe-in to make it far on the road to the mirrorball trophy. Girardi, who was actually named after DWTS Season 7 contestant Susan Lucci’s All My Children character, Erica Kane, regularly shows off her dance moves during her concerts, and she even has two RHOBH castmates to turn to for advice. Erika’s co-stars Lisa Vanderpump and Lisa Rinna have both competed on DWTS, in 2013 and 2006, respectively.

Real Housewives fans know that it was a long time coming for stars from the Bravo franchise to get cast on Dancing With the Stars. In 2011, a DWTS insider told the Huffington Post that ABC didn’t want any of the Bravo Housewives stars on the DWTS cast, despite endless pitches from Real Housewives cast members.

“They have no interest in having any of the ladies on the show,” the Dancing insider told HuffPo. “Season after season the housewives pitch themselves to grace the dance floor, and season after season the show says thanks but no thanks.”

While current RHOBH star Lisa Rinna competed on DWTS in 2006, that was years before she was a Bravo reality star. Former Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel even campaigned to get on DWTS on 2009 to no avail, and RHOBH Kim Richards had expressed interest in the ABC dance-off but was shot down.

It wasn’t until 2013 that ABC had a change of tune. Sixteen seasons in, Girardi’s RHOBH co-star Lisa Vanderpump became the first current Housewife to land a spot on Dancing With the Stars. Vanderpump was partnered with Gleb Savchenko and was the second celebrity eliminated that season.

But now that DWTS has opened up the dance card to include Real Housewives stars, the show has seen a steady stream of mirrorball hopefuls from the franchise. In fact, Erika Girardi is the sixth Real Housewives alum to sign on to Dancing With the Stars. In addition to Vanderpump and Rinna, fellow franchise alums Kim Fields, NeNe Leakes and Kim Zolciak-Biermann have all competed on the ABC dancing competition.

You can see Erika Girardi on Dancing With the Stars’ GMA casting announcement on March 1. Dancing with the Stars premieres Monday, March 20 on ABC.

[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Sharknado]

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