Apolo Ohno Makes His Pick For ‘Dancing With The Stars’ All-Athletes Season
Dancing With the Stars fans are gearing up for the four-week, special edition of the show set to premiere this spring. The cast for the upcoming 26th season of ABC’s celebrity ballroom competition will be comprised entirely of athletes.
E! News previously revealed that the all-athletes edition of Dancing With the Stars will include 10 participants from “all corners of the sports world,” so it’s no surprise that past athletes from the show have opinions on who they would like to see compete for the mirrorball trophy.
In a new interview with Hollywood Life, Olympic gold medalist and Dancing With the Stars Season 4 champ Apolo Ohno revealed the athlete that he would like to see compete on Season 26 of the ABC dancing competition. Ohno, who is a correspondent for the 2018 winter Olympic games in South Korea, revealed he would love to see fellow Olympian, figure skater Michelle Kwan on Dancing With The Stars.
“I would love Michelle to do it and have her be on the show,” Apolo told Hollywood Life. “She is multi-talented and she has a beautiful personality that I think the world deserves to see more!”
Apolo said that in addition to her career as a figure skater, Kwan is a philanthropist and a really good person. While Apolo Ohno admits Michelle Kwan doesn’t need to do Dancing With the Stars, he thinks it would be a great experience for her.
“She doesn’t need to do it, that’s the thing, you know. But I tell her that it is more than that,” Ohno said.
“Obviously on the surface level it’s a produced reality show but inside that show, people find a lot of value. It’s really cool. People go through huge transformations and I have seen that from the beginning. Some people think this part is cheesy or that part is cheesy but at the end of the day, you have gone through the process and really poured your heart out. You come out as a different person and a stronger person.”
Apolo Ohno competed in two seasons of Dancing With the Stars. In addition to his winning season with pro dancer Julianne Hough, Apolo competed on the show’s all-stars edition with Karina Smirnoff back in Season 15. Apolo said “you learn a lot about yourself” while competing in the ABC ballroom competition.
In addition to Apolo’s suggestion of Michelle Kwan, the Dancing With the Stars casting agents may want to give Kobe Bryant a call. NBA star Derek Fisher, who recently competed on Season 25 of the show, told TooFab that Kobe is a huge fan of Dancing With the Stars and that his name “keeps coming up.”
“He loves the show. He and the family watch it,” Fisher said. “[Producers] should at least try and call him!”
Over the past 25 seasons, many sports stars have competed on Dancing With the Stars, including winner ball champs Emmitt Smith, Hines Ward, Donald Driver, Rashad Jennings, Kristi Yamaguchi, Shawn Johnson, Meryl Davis, and Laurie Hernandez. In fact, the very first season of DWTS included pro boxer Evander Holyfield.
Check out the video below to see Apolo Ohno and Julianne Hough’s famous freestyle on Dancing With the Stars.
Dancing With the Stars Season 26 will premiere this spring on ABC.
