Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry Joins 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 23
Former Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry is part of the cast of Season 23 of "Dancing With the Stars," ABC's reality competition series, with a 27-year-old British woman, Emma Slater, as his professional dance partner.
"My @dancingabc partner, @EmmaSlaterDance, is a great teacher but she's got her work cut out for her. #DWTS" 66-year-old Perry, a Republican and Texas' longest-serving governor, tweeted onTuesday.
"Dancing With the Stars" returns Sept. 12.
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Slater, who was raised in Tamworth, Staffordshire, in England, is a professional dancer and choreographer, and has been participating and winning dancing competitions since she was a small girl.
Slater has been on "DWTS" since 2012, or season 14. "Howdy Partner. @governorperry and I need a team name, what do you guys reckon? Let's hear it!" she said on Instagram and Twitter late Tuesday.
Perry wrote on his Facebook page that he's going to use his appearance on the show to help veterans, saying: "I'm dedicated to doing everything I can to help build awareness for improving the lives of our nation's veterans, and I'm going to use 'Dancing With the Stars' as a stage — literally and figuratively — to do that. I'm excited to have some fun, dance, and probably get into the best shape I've been since I served in the Air Force."
Perry is not the first Texas Republican to join the show. Tom DeLay, the former majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, contested during season 9.
Others in the Mirror Ball trophy race this season include Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, dancer and model Cheryl Burke, Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez, Ukrainian-American professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy, former "Brady Bunch" star Maureen McCormick, and Russian-American professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev.
Announcing the full cast of "DWTS" season 23 on "Good Morning America" Tuesday were Lochte and Hernandez.
"The past two weeks have been the lowest point of my life. It's been really hard. But the fans, my family, my friends, they've all been really positive, keeping me going," said Lochte, who made headlines in Rio for both winning medals and a robbery report, according to ENews. "And that's what I wanna do. And this is perfect with the show because I want to put that behind me. I'm never one to dwell on the past. I just want to move forward and I want the whole world to move forward. Everyone's got to be sick and tired of hearing about this. I know I am."
The format for "DWTS" consists of a celebrity paired with a professional dancer. Each couple performs predetermined dances and competes against the others for judges' points and audience votes.
Past celebrity contestants have included professional and Olympic athletes, models, actors, singers, reality television stars, chefs, talk show hosts, journalists, entrepreneurs, magicians, politicians, newsmakers, internet personalities and an astronaut.
