‘Dancing With The Stars’ First Official Cast Photo Released By ABC, But It’s Missing Something
Dancing with the Stars fans hoping for a clue about the Season 28 pro dancer pairings will have to wait a little longer.
Us Weekly reports that the first official cast photo for the upcoming season of the ABC celebrity ballroom competition has officially been released, but it contains no trace of the celebs’ pro partner pairings.
The photo features the 12 celebrity contestants — Christie Brinkley, Lamar Odom, Hannah Brown, Ally Brooke, Karamo Brown, Kate Flannery, Kel Mitchell, Lauren Alaina, James Van Der Beek, Mary Wilson, Ray Lewis, and Sean Spicer — all dressed in elegant black-and-white attire, as they pose next to a navy couch and armchair.
While the names of the Season 28 pro dancers have been announced — returning pros include Alan Bersten, Brandon Armstrong, Cheryl Burke, Sasha Farber, Emma Slater, Gleb Savchenko, Jenna Johnson, Val Chmerkovskiy, Keo Motsepe, Lindsay Arnold, Peta Murgatroyd, and Witney Carson — it has not been revealed which stars they will be paired with. Husband and wife Pasha Pashkov and Daniella Karagach have also joined the cast in an unspecified capacity.
Last week, the whole Season 28 crew appeared together at the Dancing with the Stars cast reveal on Good Morning America, but this season marks the first time in the ABC dancing show’s history that the pro and contestant pairings will be announced separately.
This has caused quite a frenzy among Dancing with the Stars fans, who are getting impatient with the super slow cast list reveal. Executive producer Andrew Llinares previously revealed producers wanted to do something a little different this year “to keep the show fresh.”
“We just thought it would be kind of fun to hold off on revealing the partners to the audience until the premiere. … I think it’s a fun little twist.”
But not all DWTS viewers agree, as can be seen by the reaction below.
I want promo pictures. I want pairings. I want info about the premiere. I want the troupe back. I'm tired.
— DWTS Interact (@DWTSInteract) August 24, 2019
I’m sorry but am I the only one that doesn’t like the new #DWTS concept of not knowing partners?!! Like I’m not excited at all!
— Rae kittes (@RKittes) August 29, 2019
Still, die-hard Dancing fans have been using their detective skills to try to piece together the pairings. As The Inquisitr previously reported, fans think James Van Der Beek’s pro partner is Emma Slater based on a photo on the official DWTS Instagram account that matched a now-disappeared story on Slater’s page.
In addition, others speculate that Slater’s husband, Sasha Farber, could be partnered with Bachelorette Hannah Brown. Women’s Health notes that Farber previously commented on a DWTS teaser photo of Brown with, “Yesssss let the games begin!!!!” But other fans are convinced Brown is partnered with Bersten based on social media clues.
Fans will have a few more weeks for the DWTS pro pairings to be confirmed, but that wait is starting to feel like an eternity.
Dancing with the Stars Season 28 premieres Monday, September 16 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
