‘Dancing With The Stars’ to bring back Jewish professional

Max Moline — February 24, 2015 – 10:15 am | Jews In The News Comments (0) Add a comment

ABC hit Dancing With the Stars announced its lineup of contestants for its upcoming twentieth season Tuesday on Good Morning America. Among the returning pros is seven-season veteran Val Chmerkovskiy, the younger brother of former DWTS contestant Maksim.

The Chmerkovskiys’ father, according to a 2011 tweet from Maksim, is Jewish.

The show teams professional dancers (such as the Chmerkovskiys) up with celebrity guest stars, including season 16 contestant and Jewish-American Olympic gymnast Ali Raisman; season 18 contestant, Star Wars’ Lando Calrissian, Billy Dee Williams; and season 12 winner, Super Bowl XL Most Valuable Player, Hines Ward.  

Chmerkovskiy, whose previous celebrity partners include Jewish actress Elizabeth Berkeley, has been paired up with Rumer Willis, the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. Val took bronze on the show last year with his partner Janel Parrish, and also won bronze in season 15 and silver in season 16.

Other contestants on the show’s upcoming season, which is set to premiere Monday, March 16 at 8pm, include singer Patti LaBelle, Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin and NFL free agent Michael Sam, who made headlines last year as the first openly gay player in the NFL.

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