During the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, ABC announced that Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee and pop star Jojo Siwa will both be joining the season 30 DWTS cast. Then, the next week, we got the not-so-surprising news that a Bachelor alum would be joining the series, this time being the controversial season 25 bachelor Matt James. The season premiered on Monday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The full cast was announced on Good Morning America on Wednesday, Sept. 8. Here’s everyone competing on Dancing with the Stars season 30. On the season 30 finale, the Dancing with the Stars 2021 winner was revealed to be NBA star Iman Shumpert.
Dancing with the Stars season 30 cast
Iman Shumpert—WINNER
NBA player Iman Shumpert has a championship under his belt with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. Unfortunately, his star has fallen since that time, now currently a free agent. The NBA has a storied history on DWTS, most recently with legendary power forward Charles Oakley.
Jojo Siwa—runner-up
Dancer and singer Jojo Siwa was the first celeb confirmed for DWTS season 30 back on August 26. Not only that, but she will make history as the first person to be paired with a same-sex partner in the series.
Cody Rigsby—3rd place
Peloton has become a big place in the fitness game, especially with everyone exercising from home in the past year. And Cody Rigsby has arguably been the face of the at-home cycling service. However, he may be more than just a pretty face and some toned legs, having been a professional dancer prior to coming to Peloton.
Amanda Kloots—4th place
Former host of The TalkAmanda Kloots faced an incredibly tragic 2020, painfully losing her husband, Tony Award-nominated actor Nick Cordero, to the coronavirus. Considering how much DWTS likes to channel difficult moments from the dancers’ lives, we’ll see if her tragedy comes up during the season.
Stars eliminated on Dancing with the Stars season 30
Martin Kove
Eliminated in Week 2 Before Cobra Kai created a rebirth for The Karate Kid, there was John Kreese. Martin Kove played the intense villainous owner of the Cobra Kai dojo in several of the films in the hit franchise. We shall see if that fast footwork translates to the dance floor.
Christine Chiu
Eliminated in Week 3 Philanthropist and couture collector Christine Chiu made a name for herself earlier this year as part of the hit Netflix series Bling Empire. It seems like the co-founder of Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery will be going from face lifts to dancing lifts on season 30.
Brian Austin Green
Eliminated in Week 4 (double elimination) The Beverly Hills, 90210 star was set to be on last season until he had to pull out last-minute, being replaced by Hallmark star Jesse Metcalfe. But DWTS has still appeared in Brian Austin Green’s life, as he’s been dating pro Sharna Burgess for nearly a year at this point. Though she has a hard and fast rule about not dating her partners, fellow pro Peta Murgatroyd had expressed interest in having Green come onto the show, possibly competing against his girlfriend.
Matt James
Eliminated in Week 4 (double elimination) As mentioned above, season 25 Bachelor was confirmed to be competing on season 30 by Us Weekly on September 1. He will serve as the now-requisite Bachelorverse representation for the season.
Melanie C
Eliminated in Week 5 Brit pop star Melanie C made a name for herself in the ’90s as “Sporty Spice” in the smash group the Spice Girls. Does this mean we’ll get a reunion of the five-some a la the Backstreet Boys last season? Only time will tell.
Kenya Moore
Eliminated in Week 6 Actress, model, and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore was confirmed to be on season 30 by E! News on August 31.
Mike “The Miz” Mizanin
Eliminated in Week 7 Professional wrestler Mike “The Miz” Mizanin started his television career on reality TV as part of The Real World. TMZ reported he’ll be going from the ring to the dancing floor for season 30.
Jimmie Allen
Eliminated in Week 8 (double elimination) Country singer Jimmie Allen made history as the first Black solo performer to win New Male Artist of the Year at the ACM Awards. Chances are he’ll most likely dance to his hit song “Best Shot” at some point.
Olivia Jade
Eliminated in Week 8 (double elimination) Olivia Jade, daughter of actress Lori Loughlin, was a headline catcher back in 2019. The social media star caught fire when it was revealed she and he parents had fabricated her participating in rowing so she could get a scholarship at the University of Southern California. Since then her mom has faced jail time, and she not only lost her admission at USC, but several sponsors. Olivia could be looking at DWTS as a way to save her family name.
Melora Hardin
Eliminated in Week 9 (double elimination) The actress is most well known for her role as Jan Levinson on The Office. She has also played roles on The Bold Type and Transparent, the latter of which earned her an Emmy nomination.
Suni Lee
Eliminated in Week 9 (double elimination) On August 26, the DWTS Twitter account confirmed Suni Lee would be competing. The gymnast rose to prominence in this year’s summer Olympics, winning several gold medals in the wake of Simone Biles pulling out of the majority of her events. Suni hopes to capitalize on the dancing success of Simone, Laurie Hernandez and Shawn Johnson, the latter two having won their respective seasons. Next, Is Derek Hough as Good as Len Goodman on Dancing With the Stars?