'Dancing With the Stars' Casting Director Reveals Who Could Compete Next Season
Casting director Deena Katz admitted, "I ask Bill Clinton every time."
— -- The new season of "Dancing With the Stars" starts in about a month, so that means it’s crunch time for Deena Katz, the show’s casting director.
These days, she's busy trying to score names she hopes the country will want to watch for 10 weeks, and she told ABC News that means current Olympians.
But it's too early to tell who will make the final cut, if any of them.
“You know it worked with Shawn Johnson, it worked with Misty May, it worked with Evan Lysacek, and that is our show, that’s America," she said. "I’ve talked to a lot of Olympians but, unfortunately for them, I can’t really lock someone in so it’s kind of like putting that call out and then they’re all just waiting. And yet, they’re a little busy right now, too. So it’s this thing of, 'OK, I’ve talked to you, you guys are great, now let’s wait and see what happens.'”
Model-actor Nyle DiMarco took home the Mirror Ball Trophy this year in the season 22 finale, beating out UFC fighter Paige VanZant, who placed second, and “Good Morning America” meteorologist Ginger Zee, who came in third. Katz said she places a premium on making the ABC reality show "really topical," while at the same time mixing up "a little bit of current with a little bit of nostalgia."
And, of course, there is one person whom Katz asks regularly.
“You know, I ask Bill Clinton every time," she said. "But this time I actually didn’t ask him because I thought he might be a little busy.”
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