{"id":2027579,"date":"2025-09-17T00:34:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T00:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2027579"},"modified":"2025-09-17T00:34:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T00:34:29","slug":"dancing-with-the-stars-team-on-casting-season-34-choosing-pros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/dancing-with-the-stars-team-on-casting-season-34-choosing-pros\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dancing With the Stars’ Team on Casting Season 34, Choosing Pros"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tThe milestone 20th year of \u201cDancing With the Stars<\/a>\u201d is shaping up to be one to watch. From top dancers (including the return of pro Mark Ballas), experienced and long-awaited celebrities, and exciting surprises, the team is bringing their A-game like never before. Last season, the show broke multiple voting records (more than 32 million votes for the finale) and saw the highest ratings<\/a> in three years.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI feel the pressure to try and keep it up. I think it\u2019s a great story for any broadcast show 20 years from its inception, to still be growing in key areas,\u201d showrunner Conrad Green tells Variety. \u201cIn the last few years, I think we\u2019ve found a whole new younger audience who\u2019ve re-engaged with the show and feel like it\u2019s their show now. And the truth is, it\u2019s always everyone\u2019s show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut \u201cDWTS,\u201d produced by BBC Studios, has changed immensely over the last 20 years, as have the viewing patterns.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s a difference now, there\u2019s such energy and buzz around the show\u2026 My daughter and friends literally watch the show because they need to keep up on TikTok,\u201d says executive producer and head of casting Deena Katz. \u201cIt\u2019s turned into must-see TV in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKatz, who has worked on the show since its inception, says younger viewers are also rewatching old seasons, much like they do with \u201cGossip Girl\u201d or \u201cThe O.C.\u201d:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s not just this season, it\u2019s this excitement of other seasons. It\u2019s taken on a whole new life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Season 34 cast<\/a> includes quite a plethora of celebrities \u2014 from former child stars like Danielle Fishel and Corey Feldman, to \u201cSecret Lives of Mormon Wives\u201d influencers Whitney Leavitt and Jen Affleck. Throw in athletes, musicians and TV personalities, Green says this group has a \u201creal enthusiasm\u201d among them \u2014 which is the whole point.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tSeason 30 cast, judges<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tABC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cNothing beats people really being excited about doing the show for any kind of reasons,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s really positive energy. Quite a lot of our people have had some experience of dance before, so I do think the dance level is going to be really high, which will be interesting to watch progress. Our audience loves seeing both great dancing and great progression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKatz admits she gets \u201cso worried\u201d every season when it comes to casting<\/a>: \u201cI always say it\u2019s like I\u2019m putting together the best dinner party where there\u2019s 14 guests, and you may not know all of them, but it all kind of makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor years, she\u2019s been asking Fishel to be on the show, but the time was never right. Now, she couldn\u2019t be happier. There are some people \u2014\u00a0Bill Clinton, to be specific \u2014\u00a0that she will continue to ask every season.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t take it personally if you say no. If you say you\u2019re never going to do it, I might listen to you, I might not. I also joke with some, \u2018I\u2019m going to stalk you.\u2019 And I think I told Danielle, \u2018You\u2019re gonna have to say yes someday, because I\u2019m not going away,’\u201d says Katz. \u201cThere are people on that list I\u2019ll just keep asking, because I think they\u2019re really right for this show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, it\u2019s also about finding the right pairings between professional dancers and the celebrities. Throughout the year, some pros will text Katz suggestions and sometimes, celebrities will ask for specific pros. While she considers all comments, she tells everyone the same: trust her.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I was with Dylan Efron, I knew immediately at lunch that he should be with Daniella Karagach. I think about it right away as I\u2019m locking in the celebrities, and sometimes I make changes. It\u2019s a fun show, but it is stressful,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re not the kind of show that tries to make couples that are going to be antagonistic, because we think it\u2019s good television. We\u2019re trying to do really good pairs, trying to do things that the audience hasn\u2019t seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDanella Karagach and Dylan Efron<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tKatz, who also handles casting for \u201cThe Masked Singer\u201d and \u201cThe Traitors,\u201d is constantly thinking of who is best for each \u2014\u00a0because each has very different qualifications.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2018Masked Singer\u2019 is fantastic and the silliest game you\u2019ll play \u2014 for singers or actors, people who don\u2019t know can sing, it\u2019s great. It\u2019s also a different time frame. \u2018Dancing\u2019 is a long commitment and it\u2019s about sharing your emotional journey. It\u2019s hard for some musicians; you have to be available. \u2018Traitors\u2019 is more people who are game players. I think in general, because of the shows I do, people know, if you\u2019re not right for something, you might be right for something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter seeing how much Efron exploded as a fan favorite on \u201cThe Traitors,\u201d she knew she wanted him for \u201cDancing.\u201d Of course, some also wanted to see Boston Rob Mariano, the \u201cSurvivor\u201d alum who became fast friends with Efron in the ballroom. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI am the biggest \u2018Survivor\u2019 fan, so he\u2019s on my little manifest dream board,\u201d she says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have done it this season, because I don\u2019t think I would have done two \u2018Traitors.\u2019 Dylan, I locked in a long time ago. But I will never say never to a Boston Rob!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJust as much as the cast, fans of \u201cDWTS\u201d are invested in the pros. This season, some fans were upset that Emma Slater got paired with one of the less experienced dancers, Andy Richter, for the second season in a row. (Last year, she was teamed with Reginald VelJohnson.)<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeople get mad. I have to keep it fair, too. I can\u2019t give one person the winner every time \u2014 that\u2019s not fair to the pros, that\u2019s not fair to the audience. The pros are spectacular and I want every single one of them to shine,\u201d Katz says. \u201cSometimes it looks like there\u2019s a couple of seasons that someone didn\u2019t get someone [great], but if I took out my chalkboard and showed you who everybody has gotten, it\u2019s really even. I don\u2019t make anyone audition, so I don\u2019t know [how a celebrity will do]. I can do my guesses, but I\u2019m wrong half the time, too. No one would have thought Tommy Chong was going to make the semifinals. I don\u2019t know!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Season 34 doesn\u2019t have any controversial contestants (more on that later), some viewers have been vocal on social media about being sad over the absence of Sasha Farber. The pro has competed on 12 seasons, including the last eight in a row.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLargely, it\u2019s about trying to get the right dancer or the right celebrity, working out pairings, and trying to be surprising in how we pair people,\u201d says Green. \u201cBoth our dancers and the stars are big reasons for people to keep coming and watching, but our dancers are our recurring cast, as it were, so we do mix and match\u2026 People come and go, sometimes people leave to have children, sometimes people leave to do other things as well, so it\u2019s a constant process of refreshing and regenerating that cast.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWhitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tBallas is a big returner this season and will likely earn a great deal of votes dancing with Leavitt. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe\u2019s a great choreographer and great performer. He always brings so much to it,\u201d says Green. \u201cI think he\u2019s going to be probably one of the favorites. But this is a super hard season to call, to be honest, with the quality of the dancers and the celebrities we\u2019ve got, I have no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the past, the show has had a political or specifically controversial figure in the bunch \u2014 ie. Sean Spicer or Anna Delvey. This year steers clear of that. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGenerally, we\u2019ve tried to not lean into politics too heavily. Politics is such an ever-present thing and quite a painful subject for a lot of people in different ways, over the last few years,\u201d Green explains. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re a show that aims to work on division. We\u2019re a show that aims to work on unifying people and celebrate the things that all of us as Americans can enjoy together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKatz adds that while she felt she had to cast Delvey<\/a> \u2014 \u201chow could I not?\u201d \u2014 this year, it was important to steer clear of politics completely.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think we\u2019re so divided right now, and there\u2019s so much tension. The show is for everybody. We\u2019re not preaching here,\u201d she says. \u201cThis needs to just be a space where you can just enjoy this. I don\u2019t need it to be divisive. I feel like right now that we really just need to be here. There\u2019s gonna be some people you may like or not like, but not politically.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Season 30, the show broke barriers with the first female-female partnership with Jenna Johnson and JoJo Siwa. And in the future, they could cast a male-male duo. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt absolutely worked with JoJo and Jenna,\u201d says Katz. \u201cI\u2019m not ever going to do something like that just to do it. I have to have the right couple that I think would be great. And when I find that couple, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for this season, viewers can expect a great deal of celebration around the 20 years with a big episode filled with \u201cmemorable elements,\u201d Green tells Variety.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSome of the things we\u2019ll be doing in the episode, we haven\u2019t seen in the last 20 years, in terms of both the competition and in terms of people coming, so it\u2019ll be a real celebration,\u201d he says. Katz teases, \u201cYou\u2019ll see so many past celebrities, and we\u2019re going to do things with past winners and past pros. We\u2019re going to absolutely honor that we\u2019re 20 years in and still going strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDancing With the Stars\u201d airs live on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Hulu.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The milestone 20th year of \u201cDancing With the Stars\u201d is shaping up to be one to watch. From top dancers (including the return of pro Mark Ballas), experienced and long-awaited celebrities, and exciting surprises, the team is bringing their A-game like never before. Last season, the show broke multiple voting records (more than 32 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2027580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[41508],"class_list":["post-2027579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-dancing-with-the-stars"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Dancing-With-the-Stars-Team-on-Casting-Season-34-Choosing.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2027579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2027580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}