PureDWTS DWTS Junior, Season 1 – Let’s Talk About the Cast (So Far)
Because it was pointed out to me that the comments are no longer open on the original post (which is supposed to happen after a post is over a month old – a nice little feature John added to prevent trolls from stirring up trouble on old, dead posts), and the original post was getting kinda long, I figured I’d move everything to a new post so everyone can discuss the recent developments we’ve posted 🙂 I’m not going to copy/paste everything from the original post, so for other details beyond the cast, go here. And if you want to be completely surprised by the cast when DWTSJ airs starting in September, PROCEED NO FURTHER – SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
The DWTS Junior Pros (confirmed):
Rylee Arnold
Hailey Bills
Brightyn Brems
Kami Couch
Kamri Peterson
Elliana Walmsley
Artyon Celestine
JT Church
Tristan Ianeiro
Lev Khmelev
Jake Monreal
Sage Rosen
The DWTS Pro Mentors (confirmed):
Lindsay Arnold
Cheryl Burke
Witney Carson
Hayley Erbert
Jenna Johnson
Emma Slater
Brandon Armstrong
Alan Bersten
Artem Chigvintsev
Sasha Farber
Keo Motsepe
Gleb Savchenko
Hosts (confirmed):
Frankie Muniz
Jordan Fisher
Judges (confirmed):
Val Chmerkovskiy
Mandy Moore
Adam Rippon
*There is no head-judge; audience vote would be used in the event of a tiebreaker procedure*
Troupe (confirmed):
Makeila Lawrence
Cody Bingham
Reese Hatala
Sebastian Jozuka
Kid celebs (confirmed):
Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson
Miles Brown
Hudson West
Sophia Pippen
Ariana Greenblatt
Sky Brown
Tripp Palin
Mandla Morris
Jason Maybaum
Kenzie Ziegler
Addison Osta Smith
Akash Vukoti
Confirmed teams:
Miles & Rylee, mentored by Lindsay
Tripp & Hailey, mentored by Jenna
Akash & Kamri, mentored by Witney
Mandla & Brightyn, mentored by Cheryl
Jason & Elliana, mentored by Emma
Hudson & Kami, mentored by Hayley
Sky & JT, mentored by Alan
Kenzie & Sage, mentored by Gleb
Alana & Tristan, mentored by Artem
Sophia & Jake, mentored by Sasha
Ariana & Artyon, mentored by Brandon
Addison & Lev, mentored by Keo
**(For Court’s partnership predictions, go HERE. For rules/schedule/scoring/format questions, go HERE.)**
Update #1, 7/16/18, 6:29 PM EST: Since so many were curious, I got confirmation – there is, indeed, a troupe, and it’s going to be (4) dancers – (2) girls, (2) boys; Makeila is going to be in the troupe, so she isn’t going to be completely out in the cold. The other 3 dancers are all from a studio in the L.A. area (source wasn’t sure on their names), but it looks like Kami is from a studio in Yorba Linda, so I’m guessing she’s LIKELY one of them (but I’m leaving the question mark until I hear more). Instagram, start looking for boy dancers from the L.A. area 😎 As for the cast announcement – there is still going to be one on GMA, it will be taped in L.A., and they are just trying to figure out a time for it. Happy Monday 🙂 -Court-
Update #2, 7/16/18, 7:35 PM EST: After reconvening with a few sources, I’m about 85% sure Kami & Makeila switched places – meaning Kami is now a pro, and Makeila is in the troupe. This makes sense when you see pix of of both Kami and Makeila next to Kamri (the tiniest of the junior girl pros) – Makeila looks like she’s got a good 4-5″ on Kamri, while Kami looks like she only has an inch or two. Height matters, y’all – especially with kids who are going through different growth spurts. -Court-
Update #3, 7/17/18, 9:36 AM EST: Got our first two confirmed junior pro/mentor pairings – and they are what a lot of you predicted. Thoughts? -Court-
Update #4, 7/18/18, 1:55 PM EST: So some pictures have leaked of some of the mentors and junior pros out and about – maybe you guys can convince Vogue to post them 😉 I’m trying to confirm with source, but I can’t imagine any of the mentors hanging out outside of the studio with a junior pro that wasn’t theirs. Thoughts on these pairings? Before anyone asks, I don’t have anything I can share about the male pairings – other than Lev did NOT get Gleb (which surprised me, because Lev goes to Gleb’s studio). -Court-
Update #5, 7/19/18, 8:54 PM EST: With Alana and Miles being confirmed by US Weekly, and some of the pros/junior pros/celebs not exactly being subtle, I feel ok confirming the first “trio” competing on DWTS Jr. And I also think they’re gonna take the MBT. Thoughts? -Court-
Update #6, 7/21/18, 8:27 PM EST: I knew you guys would get crafty and figure out some of the names I couldn’t say – I just didn’t realize some of you would do it so quickly 😉 I can confirm that Hudson West (from General Hospital) is part of the cast, and he’s paired with Kami and being mentored by Hayley. He was originally paired with Makeila, but Makeila towered over him and so they had to switch her out with Kami, who’s sufficiently shorter. I wasn’t really familiar with him, but when I told Mama Spence (an avid GH watcher) the name, she got excited and said “he’s got just the right personality for DWTS!”
Update #7, 7/22/18, 10:40 PM EST: TMZ confims that Sophia Pippen is, indeed, part of the cast. I haven’t the foggiest idea who she might be paired with, though – the male junior pro/mentor and female celeb pairings are proving to be much trickier to suss out than the female junior pro/mentor and male celeb ones…
Update #8, 7/24/18, 3:19 PM EST: Since so many were curious, I tried to get the tea on Kenzie Ziegler – I was able to confirm that she’s “somehow involved” with the show, but source couldn’t elaborate further. So I’m putting her in the same judge/host “somehow involved” category as Jordan – we know she’s doing SOMETHING on the show, we just aren’t sure what, specifically. I did not get the impression that she’s in the troupe or one of the celebs, though. -Court-
Update #9, 7/25/18, 7:17 PM EST: Due to Frankie Muniz’s cryptic tweet about heading to L.A. today, had a few people asking if he was maybe involved with DWTS Jr. – source was being coy on this one, and would only respond with a smirking emoji 😛 It’s not an outright denial, so I’ll go ahead and qualify Frankie as “likely involved” – and considering that tomorrow is the first camera blocking, I’m going to go ahead and guess that he’s more likely one of the hosts, as opposed to being a judge…and given that he’s a former child star himself (and doesn’t really have any dance expertise), I think that role makes a lot more sense for him, and makes me lean more towards Jordan & Kenzie being judges. Anyone else have an opinion? -Court-
Update #10, 7/29/18, 12:33 AM EST: Currently getting slammed with tweets, DM’s, and emails from people who were at the first taping…and…wow. First of all, whose bright idea was it to have Kenzie Ziegler AS A CONTESTANT??? That’s Heather Morris-level ringerdom – if anything, she should be one of the junior pros…or even a judge. And speaking of judges – really? A Val-Mandy-Adam triumvirate is a conflict of interest in a LOT of ways…I’ll give them a chance to prove me wrong, but I’m not optimistic. Points for Jordan & Frankie as hosts, which we had kind of guessed – although I have to say, a lot of this casting feels a bit…cobbled together. Like they just grabbed from recent seasons without much regard for anything else. And can anyone give me more info than “the spelling bee kid”? Ummm…Akash & Kamri may be the most adorable team this show has ever seen. It’s too late for this, I need sleep…-Court-
Update #11, 7/30/18, 1:37 PM EST: Was getting an unusual volume of questions concerning a potential tie-breaker – in the event that two couples end up tied at the bottom of the leaderboard, what would determine who went home? While I don’t really see this being a huge issue (bear in mind, they’ve only had use tiebreaker procedures maybe a handful of times during 26 seasons of regular DWTS), I did manage to get an answer: the in-studio audience vote would be the tiebreaker, since there isn’t a “head judge” (on regular DWTS, Len’s vote is usually the tiebreaker, by virtue of him being the head judge). As for what the judges are like, Val is “definitely the technical judge”, Mandy “is very nurturing and encouraging to the kids”, and Adam “is just hilarious” – this is coming from multiple people who attended the taping. -Court-
TO CLARIFY ON THE ?? MARKS: I’ll go ahead and confirm it now, since most of you had guessed anyway: Jordan is involved with the show in some capacity. I’m not sure if he’s judging or hosting, so I better not see any of you operating on the assumption that I confirmed exactly what he’s doing. All I know is that you will see him on your tv screen when you’re watching DWTSJ. Rejoice.
My thoughts so far? Solid group of kid pros, solid group of mentors. I think the ladies (both junior pros and pro mentors) probably have a bit of an edge – most of the junior girls are cross-trained in multiple styles, and the female pros seems to have more choreographic props than the male pros. It will be interesting to see how the male pros do with some of their juniors – a few of them don’t appear to be cross-trained. Gun to my head, my two favorite kid pros are Rylee (because the Arnold dynasty is mighty) and Artyon (because that kid’s smile is INFECTIOUS 🙂 ).
What are your thoughts so far?
Solid group of kids! I think only 2 of the boy’s are actually trained in ballroom, good for them. And only 1 girl isn’t cross trained, but I am sure Elliana can pull it off! Woohoo!
i’m really excited about this…it’s something new and i think it will be a breath of a fresh air to something we all already love …my favorite is Rylee this girl has amazing talent and for sure a powerhorse esp with her being trained in every style and she has a little star quality and she is an ARNOLD …and i’m more excited for the combo of her being a pro with Lindsay being her mentor or choreographer …but do you think there is a chance that they won’t pair them together??or is it a done deal with Rylee/lindsay hailey/jenna ?
Solid group! I’m excited for all the kids to shine 🙂 Hey Court I am super shocked to not see Sharna’s name involved in the show do you know what happened there? I’m guessing she had prior commitments this summer, but it is definitely weird to not see her name involved with anything dwts related. I’m excited for Hayley I really think she deserves to be a pro soon so maybe this will be her chance to prove it. Also, Jordan is going to be great whether he is a judge or host, he’s awesome with the kids.
@Miro – Haven’t heard who’s paired with who yet, so I’m not sure. I’m leaning toward them maybe not doing the obvious and putting Lindsay with Rylee and Jenna with Hailey, but that’s just me guessing. Only pairing I’m actively hoping to see is Sasha mentoring Artyon & his partner – Artyon’s primarily a tapper and a gymnast, and I think Sasha’s the only male pro with a good gymnastic skill set.
@Anonymous – If I had to guess, I think DWTSJ is probably a lesser-paying gig for the pro mentors than would be a full season of DWTS – so it may just not be worth it for Sharna (or Val, or Peta, or Maks). Or she might just need a break from DWTS. And I don’t know that we won’t see her on DWTSJ in some capacity – maybe helping with choreography, maybe guest-judging – who knows.
I would love to see Cheryl mentor JT and his partner. Something tells me that they would get along really well. Only pro I am slightly worried about is Keo to be honest. Hopefully his energy from the sports season translates well into this role as well
Hello Courtney. I have a question. I know you said you don’t know much on the mentor/pro pairings, but is it true that Makeila had Hayley. I was reading Twitter and someone said that they were matched up together.
Someone named Kami Couch will be on troupe. Her mom confirmed it to someone in the competion dance scene.
Kami Couch is from Project 21. She also has a twin sister that dances.
Ok guys, I say this every season (or Heidi does), but here it is again: “I heard on the internet/Twitter/Instagram/etc” is NOT a valid source. If this Kami’s mom isn’t tweeting it from a verified account, saying it in a video, etc. then sorry, I don’t believe it. I have heard nothing about a troupe. And I don’t know who had Makeila, and I would be careful what you read on Twitter because things tend to get very distorted there – pieces of information get telephoned down the line between stans until they get twisted so far from the original piece of information that it’s basically fake news.
Is Makeilas replacement still in the works? Or did they already find someone and you’re just waiting for confirmation?
Also, now that they’ve canceled the GMA reveal how do you think they plan on announcing the cast? I’m super excited to see which mentor is paired up with which pro (I hope we get some more info soon a lot of people have already come up with pairings based on social media)
Ok, first things first: there are about 3-4 of you currently using the name “Anonymous” and that’s getting really confusing on my end. Either come up with another name or start numbering 1, 2, 3, etc.
They have already found a replacement for Makeila, my source just didn’t have the name. Why is this important?
Where are you hearing that the GMA reveal was cancelled? Where did you hear that there was even a GMA reveal in the first place? Please don’t say “someone on Twitter”.
I have spoiled all the mentors, all but one pro, and one host/judge in a week. And you’re still holding out for more info??? My god, this fandom is greedy. Also (and I can’t believe I actually have to say this) SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWS ARE NOT A RELIABLE MEANS OF FIGURING OUT PARTNERSHIPS. Most of the DWTSJ pros were already following a bunch of the DWTS pros prior to even being cast.
This show isn’t even airing for 2 more months and already I’m regretting offering up spoilers…
Sorry, I didn’t mean to put it like that. I hoped that we would get more info so people would stop making assumptions and would stop creating fake news. I think it is silly that people are guessing partnerships based on who’s following who. (I wasn’t trying to be greedy and I’m actually thankful that you have already provided us with this much info) Also, I was wondering about Makeilas replacement because the mentor and celeb are probably losing a lot of rehearsal time and it’s hard to make it up due to child labor laws. Finally, the GMA news was confirmed by Kristyn Burtt.
Yay!! No wonder why I had seen that little JT Church, on social media, brushing up on his ballroom skills!!???? Sooo happy to see him and Jake Montreal on the roster of junior pros!
I guess we’re to assume that the female mentors will be paired up with the girl junior pros/contestants and so forth? I suppose they could do vice versa tho-that would be cool!!
Ok since I think I might’ve been one of the original ‘Anonymous’ posters on this site????, I’m just gonna start using my real name:)
I don’t know as much about Gleb or Keo’s overall dance history, but Brandon, Sasha, Alan, and Artem either have experience teaching kids or have participated with SYTYCD in some capacity.
Brandon has history with the VIBE crew, too, because I think when he auditioned for S12 of SYTYCD, Jensen Arnold was his partner. I think Jensen was too young by a year to make the show and was told to come back for Vegas rounds for S13, but they switched formats, and she had to do a full audition for S14.
I’m happy to see Brandon as a mentor because the male pro line up need some fresh blood, maybe he will have a pro spot soon on the regular season. I’m also happy for Hayley.
This is me just assuming but Sharna is filming work out videos so maybe she was too busy to be a mentor.
As for the Junior pros, Rylee is very versatile and has a great personality, I’m definetly excited for her. Hailey won the TDA this year I think so I’m sure she will be great. I was surprised to see Jake because I thought he might be “too old” but I’m happy to see him in the line up. My only reservation will be whether the junior pros will be able to hold back enough to not outshine their partner.
Also really happy to see Jordan involved in some way, he was a great contestant and he is a great model for the children.
Tbh I’m more excited for DWTSJr than I was for DWTS Athlete.
Philomene, Hailey won TDA Best dancer last year, as did Brightyn, for contemporary pieces. No doubt they’re amazing dancers, but those titles are associated with every style but ballroom.
@Ella – What makes you think DWTSJ is going to be strictly ballroom? And I think the point Philomène was trying to make (please do correct me if I’m wrong, Philomène) was that Hailey is an accomplished dancer, period, and should be able to handle whatever is thrown her way. The way I see it, any accolades these junior pros have are only going to benefit them…can’t see how this is a negative.
Hi! I just wanted to say I really appreciate all of your spoilers it keeps us hanging tight on the off season! Do u know if there going to do an announcement at all? Kristyn Burtt said that it was canceled! Also, if you hear any other spoilers, would love for Birkin the Bulldog to be involved!! So cute! Not being greedy, just keeps us excited and interested!! Thank you!
Yes thanks Courtney,
I didn’t know about Brighlyn I saw Hailey won because of Jenna’s IG.
Philomene very good point about some of the junior pros outshining their partners-that’s going to be a definite challenge they’re going to have to face. But I guess that’s just one of the reasons why the mentors are there-to make sure the junior pros teach their partners well enough but don’t hog the spotlight lol
This is short but needs to be said again…THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO! Your hard work shows!
Also, how are they going to fit 12 dances into a one hour show?
Court, there are no boy dancers at P21.
Hi! Do u know if the announcement will still take place on GMA? Maybe they will go live from LA?
Then maybe Kami isn’t in the troupe after all. All I was told is that aside from Makeila, the 3 other troupe members are all from the same studio in the L.A. area.
Yes, it’s still on GMA. I was specifically told it would be TAPED.
Kami also attends a ballet studio in Yorba Linda — perhaps the boys on troupe go there as well? Many kids in the competition scene go to the ballet studio in addition to their home competition studio (in Kameron’s case, Project 21). Or, P21 also uses studio space at another studio in Yorba Linda, and maybe the boys on troupe are from that studio.
Also, to clear things up, Hailey and Brightyn won Mini Female Best Dancer in 2017 (Hailey in Orlando and Brightyn in Vegas), and Elliana Walmsley won the title this year in Vegas. And, for some more insight, JT Church won Mini Male Best Dancer last year, Artyon Celestine won Mini Male Best Dancer a couple years ago, Tristan Ianiero won Jr Male Best Dancer last year, and Sage Rosen won Teen Male Best Dancer a couple years ago. You can check out more results on The Dance Awards webpage under the Winners tab. Also, the network of dance conventions now offers ballroom, so most/all the kids have experience with ballroom even if they do not train regularly in ballroom.
SO HAPPY FOR KAMI
Thank you so much!! Wonder when the announcement will take place! Wonder if it’s before the first filming!
Thank you @Jeanette S! 🙂
Thank you so much for everything!! It keeps us so excited and grateful for you!!????????????????
What Jeanette S said!
Hello!! This is all so exciting! When do u predict the cast reveal could be? Also, can’t wait to see who the male pros get paired with like Alan and Keo!!
Not sure if this is the right place for this but Since the show is taped can one assume elimination is based on judges score alone. If this is the case pros like Derek who choreographed for the TV audience and sacrificed judge’s score at times are wasted. All the awards the junior pros have seem to me not be that important since they will dance down to the non pro partner. I doubt the to be named judges will be actual judicators (like Shirley and Len) so how will they hand out scores.
It will certainly e different than DWTS where often judges give same score and let public decided.
Would love other comments on this subject and how it will work.
@Stoli – We don’t yet have the particulars on how it’s going to work, but I guess I don’t really follow your logic of how a lack of viewer votes for DWTS Jr. somehow negates all of the pro’s hard work on regular DWTS. This show is going to be different – you’re dealing with a bunch of young kids, not a bunch of seasoned veteran pros who have been around the block a few times and know what it takes to “play the game” with the viewers. And how is this somehow negating all of the jr. pros awards…? I think you’re being a bit overdramatic, Stoli.
I don’t really care if the judges are going to be licensed adjudicators or not – hell, Bruno & Carrie Ann aren’t. Again, THESE ARE KIDS – not seasoned professionals. And some of them don’t even specialize in ballroom, which makes me think ballroom is not going to be the main focus of this show. No point in having ballroom judges if these kids are going to be doing other non-ballroom styles.
And as for the viewer votes – as we’ve seen on DWTS, sometimes the viewers get sh*t wrong. REALLY wrong. So I’m totally fine if they don’t get a say in DWTS Jr. – like World of Dance, sometimes it’s kind of nice to let the judges who actually know dance make the decisions, and don’t give the audience (who tends to vote on popularity) the power to flip the script.
Hello! Omg yes if you have any more spoilers today, can Birkin please announce them? He is the cutest!!
Oh….well that’s not a surprise ???? I was kinda hoping the producers weren’t going to be so blatantly obvious-would’ve been nice to see Jenna and Lindsay mentor OTHER junior pros and contestants-no? Just my opinion.
@Mary Ann – I’ve seen a lot of people say the same thing, but someone on Twitter brought up a good point: if you were, say, Rylee, how would you feel seeing your sister bond and support a partnership other than yours? Or if you’re Lindsay – can you still truly support the pairing you’re mentoring, and still root for your sibling as well? Given that these are just kids, I’m fine with not putting them in sticky situations like these. Plus, having a few pairings with pre-established chemistry means the audience will likely connect to them more easily. And we need the audience to connect to them, if we want this show to be successful.
#Courtney you make a VERY good point, especially since they’re kids-both the contestants and the junior pros. Curious question: you don’t think the producers would try any funny business like add a switch up week where they, all of a sudden, switch mentors? Or switch junior pros? I mean that would be cruel to these kids….but this is DWTS….
Let’s just hope for the best!
I agree with you Court, I actually like the idea of no audience voting for the kids. A lot of times the audience gets it so wrong. Most people are voting for their favorite pro dancer or the celeb just has a really big fan base that carries them way further than another celeb who is actually more talented or entertaining.
For the judging panel, I would love to see a dwts pro, a previous dwts contestant or winner, then maybe a celeb with some dance background and television experience. I know most of the pros are already mentors, so I doubt that would happen, but I think Sharna who seems to be super busy this summer to mentor, would be a great choice as a judge or guest judge. I saw you mentioned on twitter you weren’t sure, but maybe they would be up in the air for guest judging, that would be fun as well. I just feel like this is such an amazing opportunity for these kids and they are probably so excited, so I hope whoever judges keeps an open mind and stays positive, because at the end of the day they are out there to have fun and enjoy this experience 🙂
Very grateful for all your info!! Any spoilers for tomorrow?????
Hi! Could be anything, but I noticed Gleb began following Kenzie Ziegler. Is she possibly a judge on the show? Also, Honey Boo Boo began following Alan, hope this is not true.
Any idea who Honey Boo Boo’s mentor could be? Or partner?
Carol, you’re using two names. Either be Carol or Dwts5678 – not both.
Sorry about that! I was mixing up my name and email when filling out the boxes!
It’s interesting to see how this is all coming together consider how sceptical the fandom was when it was first announced. Hopefully it’s a great show and everything goes well with it. I’m always wary of shows with kids because sometimes the kids come across bratty and it makes the show not that enjoyable. I did check out all the pros on IG and there are a few I’d be concerned that might be the case with. Since I don’t know them tho I won’t assume and I’ll just wait to see how it all plays out. Hopefully it isn’t the case at all and the show is very enjoyable. Still very curious as to who the celebs with be. Also curious how age differences will play a role since it might be hard for a younger pro to have an older celebrity and show authority. Maybe that’s what the mentors job will be. I know I would be scared at 11 to tell a 13 year old what to do. Just some thoughts I’m having about how the dynamic will work on this show.
Also so sorry for the second comment but court I really wanted to saw how much I appreciate all your work giving us spoilers and info on the show. As some whose really just a fan and doesn’t have much dance background it’s awsome learning from those who do. Thank you so much.
court i have 2 questions:
1/ how is the judging will work?like the adult version exactly?so then how the the eliminations are going to happen?based on what? can’t be the judges scores only
2/ is the mentoring pro of the winner team going to have his/her own MBT? seems only fair to me because it’s not just team of 2 it’s going to be team of 3 esp with the pro helping with teaching the technique and put the choreography and i think make almost all the important decisions so they deserve too to have their MBT and if you don’t know hopefully you could try to ask and find out 🙂 <3
Hey Court, I noticed on ig Kim Kardashian posted a pic of her in the dwts studio! Could maybe one of the Kardashian kids be involved in jrs? Maybe her nephew Mason? Just interesting to see her in the dwts stufio which happens to be around the time of them rehearsing for dwtsjr!
Take a look at emily dobsons insta!
@Music362 – Why am I looking at Emily Dobson’s instagram??? I see nothing of note. Explain.
I think that she may be the other LA girl in the troupe. She posted some pictures with the dwtsjuniors hashtag, also she is mentioned in a lot of posts with this hashtag. I could be wrong… insta isnt a god source anyways… 🙂
Eh while I definitely Rylee and Miles are gonna knock it out the park, I am curious to know who Hailey’s partner is and how they will compare. Hailey is talented and pretty competive, in her own right, and with her own aunt mentoring her and whoever her partner is, I see some pretty healthy competition going on between the two junior couples for sure!
One of the DWTS singers, Felicia Barton, has a son on Disney Channel named Malachi. He has a pretty large following on social media (https://www.instagram.com/malachibarton/?hl=en) and the connection to the show, so that could be a pretty obvious choice for the show?!
I watch Hudson on General Hospital. He was up for a Daytime Emmy Award this year for Best Younger Actor. He didn’t win this time. And he is that good folks. I love him so much. He’s a sweet beautiful boy. You will just love him. I can’t wait to see him dance!
I knew Hudson by face but not by name becuase I think I saw him on greys anatomy at some point. But then again what abc/Disney child star hasn’t hit up greys anatomy at some point lol.
@TDI19
Ariana is on the same TV show than Malachi, they play siblings on it I think. I was also thinking they could cast Malachi but since Ariana is already in it, I’m not sure TPTB wonld want to put both celebs on the show. If they did I won’t be mad, he seems like he could be a great contestant.
I’d have to agree that I don’t see Kenzie being a celeb. Talk about a ringer she’s a celebrity for being on a dance show. That would truely be the ringiest ringer of all time . I do see her hosting or judging. Not a huge fan always found her and her sister to be pretty pretentious on dance moms. Maybe she’s grown up though and it won’t be as bad . I’m keeping an open mind for sure. Thanks for all the great updates.
I think I might have to sit this season out. I have no idea who the majority of the celebs are, and of the few I do know, I don’t particularly care to see every week.
It’s a shame because I do enjoy watching older dancers mentoring younger dancers. There’s something positive about passing on your knowledge to a younger generation.
People have been noticing that both Hudson and Kami followed Malene (a former sytycd contestant who’s trained in ballroom) and she also followed them both back. I know a lot of the dwts pros ask other dancers to help choreograph but I’m not sure about this since I don’t think Hayley is that close or even knows her. Also if she were to get help from other people I feel like she has a lot of other friends within the dwts circle that she would go to first. I was wondering if you had any ideas?
Someone already messaged me on Instagram about Malene Ostergaard, and I’ll tell you what I told them: I don’t think she’s terribly important, within the scope of DWTS Junior. I’m not sure what importance people are ascribing to her, with regards to the show, but at most, I’d guess she maybe was helping with choreo; at the least, maybe she just visited the set. She apparently teaches dance at a studio in LA; maybe some of the troupe members are from her studio. Honestly, I think people are reading too far into that follow – I don’t think she’s going to be playing a major role in the show, if at all.
[…] as celebrity & pro spoilers – so if that’s what you’re looking for, go here. If you want to speculate on partnerships, you’ll want to go here; if you’re more […]
I think Malachi Barton, Johnny Orlando, or Nichlas Bechtel.
As for females, Kenzie Ziegler, Maddie Ziegler, or Lauren Orlando.
My look alike (Frankie) is back in the ballroom lol. I’m all for him as the Erin of dwts junior in tje sjy box and whatnot. I’m actually hoping Jordan is a judge but the more I think of it he is probably the main host.
I don’t get this judges!!! Like why Val!!! They want sooo badly for Val to happen and he needs to stop. If anything Artie who is currently teaching kids now or even someone else. It’s sooo biased. Like Jenna is asntor he’s goong to love all her mentor dances!! They Are trying to make this like SYTYCD and it’s botehring me!!! I also don’t get Adam!! Like this will be all about Adam, Jenna, and Val and I’m over it!!
You’ve been building my interest in this show and now the wind has been knocked out by hearing who the judges are. Why stack it with so much bias??! Ugh! Anyway, thanks for all the great info all summer long!
Kenzie as a contestant IS weird, especially when Elianna is a JR. PRO. That said, I’d love to see what Gleb does with her and see if we can get some AMAZING dances rather than the craptastic ones Maks put together for Heather. I imagine Kenzie has more irons in the fire than some of the Jr. Pros and this will give her a little ballroom experience.
Frankie and Jordan will be fun hosts.
I’ve got to agree about the judges. Sure it makes sense to have a winning choreographer, DWTS pro (and former ballroom champ), and a DWTS MBT winner as judges IF they had no ties to the cast. But when Adam Val and to some extent Mandy all have ties to the same mentor on the cast? PLEASE Jenna’s fiance, former partner and choreographer ALL on the judges panel??!!
There is no way even the most casual viewer wouldn’t see that as fishy.
And will Mr. C be able to give constructive criticism to kids who might not
look or perform like dancers. I sure hope so for these kids sake.
WOW WOW WOW well I called Vall out as a judge weeks ago and it looks like my hunch was right LOL!! I just knew there’d be a Chmerkovskiy hand in this show show somewhere and all clues pointed to him. I, actually, have faith that he can be fair, objective and constructive to all the contestants; however combining him on a judging panel with Mandy Moore and Adam Rippon? I do believe all 3 judges, together, are going to end up skewing the scores and even audience votes towards Jenna and her team-there’s just way too much favoritism when you combine all 3 of those judges towards Jenna. It’s a no brainer. ????????
Not surprised about Frankie and Jordan hosting together-that was kinda suspected too from their tour experience. They make a great pairing!
VERY SURPRISED about Kenzie Siegler being a contestant on the show-if anything I thought she was practicing to be a troupe member. She does have some ballroom experience already and she’s pretty much a professionally trained, award winning dancer in all other genres-making her a contestant over the others just screams RINGER to me and we know how that goes on DWTS with the adult version LOL Gleb has been given a gift as a mentor-I hope he doesn’t waste it….
I agree about the hosts : I love Jordan and Frankie, they were great on s25 and also on tour so I think they’ll be a great duo to host the show.
I don’t have a problem really with Kenzie as a contestant except for the fact that like @Narice said it’s weird she is a contestant when Elianna is a pro and I believe Kenzie as more ballroom experience, even if it’s not much, than Elianna who has 3 months. Also the Dance Moms fandom is so annoying I’m dreading them acting like they know it all.
I have a big issue with the judges. Mandy being a judge is a good idea imo, I liked her input as a guest judge on s24 BUT she and Jenna have a really close relationship. Jenna also has her fiancé as a judge and if Val is anything like Maks when it comes to judging family it can become a problem. Finally we have Adam who was Jenna’s partner, he was great on the show but honestly he only did 2 or 3 ballroom/latin dances last season. I would have prefer Meryl, Rashad or maybe they could have switched Jordan and Adam spot : Meryl is an ice dancer so obviously she knows stuff, Rashad did much more ballroom dances than Adam and he’s still taking classes and Jordan also did more ballroom and he has great dance knowledge. I also think Kym or Anna would have been better fit than Val.
It’s not against Jenna because I think she could be a great pro but why every TPTB has to try to make the Chmerkovskiys this big thing ? Maybe if they get Jensen in the troupe the Arnold sisterhood will stop this nonsense lol.
Excited for jordan and Frankie as host. They will be a lot of fun together and after hearing who they picked to judge might be the only redeeming thing about DWTS.
Not okay with Kenzie Ziegler being a celeb. That was a completely wrong choice. I’m sorry but choosing someone as a celebrity for a DWTS show that is a celebrity from another dance show not cool. Especially when all these other kids probably have no dance experience. This and having to listen to Val run his mouth every week might be the thing that keeps me from watching.
It’s Adam Rippon as the judge correct? Don’t want to seem dumb but also don’t want to assume. As much as I love him and think he’d be great with kids it does seem like a pretty biased judging panel.
This cast seems fun. The spelling bee kid, Miles, Alana, and the kid from Raven’s House are my favs thus far on paper (obviously lol). Judges seem like two might be a lot of fun (Adam and Val) and Mandy seems like she will be the Len Goodman of the group. Mandla is a big surprise though. I hope that means Stevie Wonder is in the audience since he just makes me happy. That man could be filmed talking all day and I’d watch.
Sidenote, Alana and her partner getting Artem made me happy. He always seems so quiet but given fun partners he let himself have fun too. And she definitely is fun lol.
So Kenzie Ziegler gets a spot, no Rob Irwin, a biased judging panel, and to top it off I have to deal with Adam Rippon again, ugh… I really hope that Tripp and Hailey do well, but they can’t win. Not because of potential good dance ability, but moreso it would just look like a sham no matter how you spin it. Personally I am hoping for a Miles, Mandla, and Ariana finale, yet my get tells me it’ll be Miles, Kenzie, and Tripp duking it out for the mini mirror ball. *Sigh*
Just a side note/ranting: in what universe does Val or Adam make it as a judge on DWTS Jr.? If anything you should have someone who has kids on the judging panel, like Tony or For my. Secondly if you wanna pull some real experience in with a former contestant of the adult show, two words HEATHER MORRIS!!!
Rant over.
In the above comment For my* autocorrected from Corky.
Ok so I looked up pics of all these kid contestants and their junior pros to get a better picture of who’s paired up with who….I didn’t realize until I saw her pic that Elliana is the girl from Dance Moms!????????♀️ I’ve seen her on that show! She seems awfully immature and young to be a junior pro in my honest opinion. Now that I think about it, if this show gets picked up for another season, maybe they should have an age cutoff or something….
Looking at Kenzie and her junior pro, I can see, physically, maybe why they were paired up? Height? Maybe even age? They seem like they’re gonna be the tallest/oldest couple competing. Maybe the producers had nobody to pair up with him so they’re using her as a last resort? ???? Just me speculating….
@Mary Ann
I actually think tptb wanted Mackenzie on the because she has a big fanbase – 11M followers on IG – and she is pretty relevant in the teens world, it think she has a role on a TV show. It seemed liked at first they were only casting pros between 9 and 13 years old so I guess was added because Mackenzie needed a older pro since she is 14.
*Sage, I forgot to wrote his name.
Not loving the whole Kenzie being a contestant business. Also, I think last night Jason Maybaum might have gotten eliminated (since there was an elimination, correct me if I’m wrong). He is in New York today which I think is for filming an elimination segment on GMA? I’m trying to hold out hope for a non-biased judging panel (especially with Jenna Hailey, and Tripp), but I don’t think it’s going to happen. *sigh*
To Vin #59. Hudson West did have a role on Greys Anatomy. He did such fine work on there playing a child who goes blind. Nicholas Bechtel who plays Spencer Cassadine on General Hospital has also been on Greys.
I’ve seen every Episode of grey’s lol. I vaguely remember the second episode you mentioned. If I’m right he was being a pain and wouldn’t give baily the number for his parents or something.
Not sure about the whole concept of DWTS Jr…HOWEVER it certainly will be hard for the judging panel to put forth unbiased commentary.
And I wonder how much the selection of Val as a judge is related to Derek’s new role as judge on WOD? Mustn’t let Val get behind on his resume credits????
Unlike Mandy, I don’t think Adam has the dance cred to be a judge & am hoping that the 3 of them don’t make their air time all about them instead of the dancers.
I wasn’t interested at all in watching the Junior edition but it’s shaping up to be intriguing. I think I might have to tune in now! I would give Val a chance. He might be fine with the kiddos. As always, thanks Courtney for all your intel!
[…] DWTS also has a ton of cast spoilers. A few of the stars have been revealed: Reality star Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and Miles […]
My thoughts exactly Nancy however I’ve been thinking with all the female mentors but Hayley having an MBT to their credit. Since VAL MAKS & DEREK have been the only MALE winners in recent years.Since Derek (and maybe Mark) are out and Maks and Val seem to have run their course TPTB might be looking at trying to make their OTHER MALE pros happen. IF that is the case my guess it would probably be Gleb followed by Sasha or Alan.
Jason Maybaum as in Levi from Raven’s Home???
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I’m liking those comments about the judges-maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t a bad idea, of the producers, pairing these 3 together….????
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