Season 33 of Dancing With the Stars is set to premiere this fall. Like previous seasons, viewers will get to see the likes of professional athletes, Bachelor Nation stars, and Hollywood actors put on their dancing shoes and compete for the coveted mirrorball trophy. In over 30 seasons, there have been hundreds of celebrities that have shown they’ve just got two left feet or surprised us with their dynamic dance moves.
DWTS is one of the most popular reality TV shows, so it’s surprising when a celebrity turns down the opportunity to compete. Even the biggest stars, like Kim Kardashian and Zendaya have joined a season of the show, proving that no matter how big a celeb is in Hollywood, it’s a fun way to show another side of yourself.
9 Caitlyn Jenner
It would be shocking to see someone like Kim Kardashian joining a season of Dancing With the Stars today. However, when Kim was just known as a reality TV star on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, she competed in Season 7. Kim was partnered with professional dancer Mark Ballas, but the two were eliminated in Week 11. Kim’s younger brother, Rob Kardashian would later compete in Season 13, and did much better than his older sis. Rob and his partner, Cheryl Burke were runner-ups that season.
DWTS Season 13 finals | Placed |
|---|---|
Hope Solo/Maksim Chmerkovskiy | 4th Place |
Ricki Lake/Derek Hough | 3rd Place |
Rob Kardashian/Cheryl Burke | Runner-Ups |
J.R. Martinez/Karina Smirnoff | Winners |
According to E! News, DWTS host Alfonso Ribeiro shared that Caitlyn Jenner was interested in participating in the show and would join Season 29. It would have been great to see Caitlyn compete, but unfortunately, the Olympian allegedly turned down the offer.
8 Lindsay Lohan
The Mean Girls star was approached by producers to join the Season 16 cast, but the actress had declined. Before the season aired, Lindsay faced several legal troubles and arrests that saw her spending a total of over 250 days in rehab between 2007-2014. As E! News reported, possibly hoping to change her image as Hollywood’s “bad girl,” producers approached Lindsay again for Season 17, but she also declined.
7 Tiffani Thiessen
Tiffani Thiessen is best known for starring as Kelly Kapowski in Saved By the Bell. In fact, some of her TV show cast mates starred in DWTS, including Mario Lopez, who danced in Season 3, and Elizabeth Berkley, who competed in Season 17. Sadly, Tiffani wanted nothing to do with the reality TV dance competition despite her former cast mates bravely hitting the stage.
Speaking to Huffington Post, the actress admitted that producers had approached her a handful of times, but she always declined.
“I’ve been asked a few times, but my response to that is that I am an actor, not a dancer.”
6 Bobby Flay
Famous Southern chef Paula Deen caused an uproar when she was cast in Season 21 of DWTS. The reason for this being that Paula admitted to using racial slurs in the workplace, and believed she could redeem herself by going on the show. However, she wasn’t the only chef asked to join a season. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay was also approached by producers, but he decided it wasn’t quite his style.
As E! News reported, another reason why Bobby did not appear on the show was because his former wife, Stephanie March, was totally opposed to seeing her husband do the Cha-Cha-Cha. “My wife told me she would divorce me if I did it.” Seeing as Bobby is no longer married, it may just be the perfect opportunity for him.
5 Gayle King
It takes a lot of guts to dance in front of a live audience and viewers at home. So, it’s no wonder a lot of celebrities refuse to compete in Dancing With the Stars, despite really enjoying the show. Hey, it’s not for everyone, but the celebs that do compete should get a lot of props, even if they clearly have two left feet.
Oprah’s best friend, Gayle King, was just one star who refused to go on the show to not make a fool of herself. As the aforementioned E! News article stated Gayle was asked three times to join the show, but she refused each one. “I think it’s good to keep my public humiliation to a minimum. I would never want to embarrass my children ever … or myself! I can’t dance. At least, Gayle’s honest.
4 Jamie Lee Curtis
How amazing would it be to see actress Jamie Lee Curtis on the beloved reality TV show? Many of her fans would probably love to see the star on stage, but she’s also one celeb that’s hard to convince. However, she did tell E! News that there was only one way she’d do the Foxtrot—if the show donated $1 million to a charity of her choosing.
“If they gave me a million dollars to give to chartiy…I would only do it if there was a big charity component.”
Surely, the show can pull some strings, because who wouldn’t want to see Jamie show off her brilliant dance moves?
3 Russell Wilson
The NFL quarterback was asked to join DWTS twice, but turned them both down. Instead, Russell was focused on something a lot more important: his NFL career, which was then thriving. As ESPN reported, while speaking to Access Hollywood, he shared, “I need to focus on my football career right now. I’m trying to do as much as I can in terms of winning football games for the Seattle Seahawks and our franchise.”
Still, Russell was for certain he’d join a season of DWTS when he found the time. “I’m going to do it at some point. I’m gonna definitely do it. I love ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ I love watching it. I love dancing myself. So hopefully I can win it.” Russell has still not competed in the show, but when retirement rolls around, he might just find himself lacing up a pair of dancing shoes.
2 Nick Carter
Producers for DWTS seem pretty headstrong because they have approached Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter a handful of times but to no avail.
Speaking to E! News about why he held off DWTS for many years, Nick shared, “Unfortunately, and fortunately, I was on the road with the Backstreet Boys touring and doing album cycles, so now that I have some time, that we’re in between, I could take the advantage of doing it.”
DWTS Season 21 finals | Placed |
|---|---|
Carlos PenaVega/Witney Carson | 4th Place |
Alek Skarlatos/Lindsay Arnold | 3rd Place |
Nick Carter’Sharna Burgess | Runner-ups |
Bindi Irwin/Derke Hough | Winners |
However, he finally was able to showcase his moves in Season 21 when he was partnered with Sharna Burgess. The pair actually went very far in the competition, and became the season’s runner-ups, which is no surprise, seeing as Nick and his Backstreet Boys members are often dancing in their shows.
Honorable Mentions: Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Conrad, John Stamos, and Martha Stewart were all allegedly offered spots on DWTS but declined for various reasons.
1 Demi Moore
Demi Moore was front and center when her daughter Rumer Willis competed in Season 20. Rumer was partnered with Val Chmerkovsiy and the two were incredible on the dance floor. Just watch them perform the salsa, and you’d know Demi was one proud mom rooting for her daughter week after week. Rumer and Val would eventually win Season 20 and take home the mirrorball trophy.
According to E! News, Demi was even asked to join the following season of DWTS. Seeing as Rumer most certainly got her moves from her mama, fans would have loved to see Demi win her very own mirrorball trophy. However, the outlet reported that she had thought about competing but then declined.
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