The cast for the 32nd season of Dancing with the Stars was revealed this week with longtime Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix and Grammy winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz joining the reality dance competition partnering with ballroom professionals Pasha Pashkov and Daniella Karagach, respectively.
They join fellow Dancing with the Stars cast members Marvel Cinematic Universe star Xochitl Gomez (partner Val Chmerkovskiy), How I Met Your Mother actress Alyson Hannigan (partner Sasha Farber), social media and reality TV star Harry Jowsey (partner Rylee Arnold), The Bachelorette’s Charity Lawson (partner Artem Chigvintsev), NFL All-Star Adrian Peterson (partner Britt Stewart), Ssnger and social media star Lele Pons (partner Brandon Armstrong), Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino (partner Gleb Savchenko), actress Jamie Lynn Spears (partner Alan Bersten), real estate mogul and TV star Mauricio Umansky (partner Emma Slater),
comedian and actor Matt Walsh (partner Koko Iwasaki), and last but not least, Brady Bunch icon Barry Williams (partner Peta Murgatroyd).
“I would love to see more and more representation all across the board,” said Madix about representing the bisexual community on Dancing with the Stars. “So to be able to represent my community in that way, I’m really really grateful.”
She later told GLAAD’s Yolanda Lenge, “I feel like the thing with any sexuality — especially with bisexuality — people want to categorize or pigeonhole and assume that like it’s a monolith, everyone’s the same.” She said that there’s individually within the community in how people live their lives. “People don’t understand,” Madix says of people’s criticisms on bisexuality. I think the more that we’re out there, the more people are able to understand.”
Song and dance man (who says he’s more song than dance) Mraz says he feels great a representative of the bisexual community. “I was closeted for my whole life and now coming out of the closet as a dancer as well. So that feels great,” he said.
Joking aside, Mraz said of the importance of representation: “There’s all kinds of people out there in the world and we’re all human and all humans deserve the same love and same life.”
The singer-songwriter, whose Jason Mraz Foundation supports educational arts inclusivity, continued to say that every kid who has a dream deserves to see what it’s like to fulfill that dream.”I was lucky enough to grow up in a system that worked for me and I know that system doesn’t work for everybody so it’s important to build programming and change the system so that it’s more inclusive and easier for every kid to pursue their life’s dream.”
Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough are set to serve as judges on Dancing with the Stars while Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro have stepped into the role as hosts after Tyra Banks left the post earlier this year.
The 32nd season Dancing with the Stars is set to return to ABC on September 26 8pm.