After a leak of names hit radio airwaves yesterday morning, Channel Ten has been forced to confirm the first three names that will be featured on their reboot of the enduring and very sparkly Dancing With The Stars, which is set to hit screens later this year.
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Samuel Johnson, Cassandra Thorburn, and former West Indian cricketer Sir Curtly Ambrose are the first three official names on the cast list for this year’s iteration, which will Channel Ten’s first attempt at the series after Seven last aired it in 2015.
Of those, Thorburn is simultaneously the most and least surprising inclusion; the journalist-cum-children’s book author has been making constant rounds of the media since divorcing former husband Karl Stefanovic in October 2017, most recently issuing a major complaint via Fairfax Media feature that she was being harassed constantly by paparazzi, despite signing major media deals that have increased her profile exponentially.
Johnson, rather unsurprisingly, is using the appearance on the show to raise further money for his Love Your Sister charity, in honour of his late sister Connie who passed away in September 2017. The charity has thus far raised $7 million for cancer research, and Johnson continues to push his fund-raising efforts towards his ultimate goal of $10 million.
Ambrose, on the other hand, is well known to anyone who recognises the name Tim Zoehrer and remembers a time when cricketers would kill themselves by sliding into stadium fences instead of boundary ropes.
The West Indian cricketing great spent the vast majority of the late 80s and early 90s terrorising Australian batting lineups, and is now set to return here to terrorise Australian dance floors as well.
Ten’s season of Dancing With The Stars has no specific premiere date at this stage, but it is expected to go to air shortly after the current season of I’m A Celebrity wraps up.
Grant Denyer and Amanda Keller have been tapped to host.
