It’s time to put on your dancing shoes and break out the glitter gun, because Dancing With The Stars is coming to Network 10 very soon and the first contestants have just been confirmed!
The network is rebooting the popular reality series, which was cut by Channel Seven in 2015 after 15 seasons, with new hosts Grant Denyer and Amanda Keller.
10 has just confirmed the first three contestants to be competing on Dancing With The Stars in 2019, with actor Samuel Johnson, children’s author and broadcaster Cassandra Thorburn and cricket legend Sir Curtly Ambrose on board.
Scroll through to meet the contestants and find out why they’ve signed up for the hit show.
Samuel Johnson: “I’m dancing for Connie”
Samuel Johnson once said he wouldn’t return to acting until he raised $10 million for his cancer research charity, Love Your Sister. Now, he’s prepared to dance his way to victory in order to raise more funds for the charity.
“I promised the country I’d raise $10 million for cancer research and I want to dance my way there,” Samuel, 40, says of his decision to join DWTS.
“My sister wanted me to dance my way there. For me I’m not coming back to telly, I’m coming somewhere to dance my way towards this promise that I’ve been trying to fulfil for 7 years. I’d do it whether the cameras were there or not.”
Samuel first hinted he would appear on Dancing With The Stars in an interview with TV WEEK last year.
“I have 16 left feet, so it’d be hilarious!” he said. “I’d like to return to TV, it’s in my bones. But I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardise our fundraising. I’m happy to go back [to TV], but there has to be that community benefit. I’ve got nothing left to prove in showbiz.”
Cassandra Thorburn: “I would regret not doing it”
Cassandra Thorburn is a children’s author, broadcaster, and, of course, she was previously married to Karl Stefanovic.
Cassandra, 47, admits she was hesitant about appearing on the show, but chose to go ahead with it for her father.
“I decided to do it because it was one of the last conversations I had with my Dad before he passed away. It had been offered to me and at first I thought, no that’s crazy. I couldn’t possibly do that,” she says.
“If you don’t do something, an opportunity that you never thought would come up and if you said no… you will regret it one day. And I thought ‘ok so let’s go for it’. Plus learning to dance, you know every girl would love to learn to dance. It is so lovely, what a skill.”
Sir Curtly Ambrose: “I’m taking this seriously”
Legendary West Indies cricketer Sir Curtly Ambrose is the third famous face to be joining the new season of Dancing With The Stars.
“I’m way out of my comfort zone,” Curtly, 55, admits. “But we’ve done a few days of training since I arrived here in Australia. And according to my dance partner I’m doing ok.
“You know I’m very passionate about it. I’m very serious about it, I want to do the best that I can do. And I keep saying to my dance partner Siobhan, I’m not going to let you down. And I’m not going to travel all the way from Antigua to come here to mess it up. So I’m very very serious and things are going well so far.”
Dancing With The Stars is coming soon to Network 10.