This morning, John talked with the Post Gazette about the rumor and odds of Pittsburgh Steeler’s Antonio Brown joining Dancing With The Stars. Read on…
John Lynn founded the PureDWTS.com site in Season 5 of the show. He said a combination of factors suggests the odds of Mr. Brown’s participation are at “80 percent.”
Pro athletes and TV celebs meet all the time at events and end up following each other on social media. “Saying ‘I’m going to follow “Dancing With the Stars” ’ is not the kind of thing that casually happens after a party or whatever. The two in combination seems to indicated it’s pretty likely he’s going to be on the show,” Mr. Lynn said.
“Of course, negotiations can always break down, and that’s where you have to be careful.”
Mr. Brown’s agent has not yet responded to the speculation.
Jacoby Jones placed third on “DWTS” as a Baltimore Ravens wide receiver awhile back; he recently was released by the Steelers. Football players generally do better than other athletes for a number of reasons, Mr. Lynn said. If they are likable (“charisma and personality, and Antonio Brown has that in spades,” he added), dance well (check out the AB moves on YouTube) and bring a solid fan base (hello, Steeler Nation), they are well on their way.
Generally, the celebrities meet their partners in the weeks leading up to the cast announcement. The first “Dancing With the Stars” episode is March 21. There always are leaks — “That’s our job,” Mr. Lynn said — so it’s possible to know who’s in the cast before then.
To read more (well done, John!), visit the Post Gazette. To read when we first reported on this rumor, see this previous post.
ETA – I take this as confirmation, personally. 😀 ~Heidi
ETA2: Thanks to CM for the heads-up on this, as I am Snapchat-illiterate 😛 Guess Antonio has thrown subtlety out the window completely – the jacket is kind of a dead-giveaway, as are the plastic containers in the background that say “Keo” & “Mark”…but who the hell is Dennis?????? And who is Shannon????? 😯 -Court-