'Dancing With the Stars' 2015 Cast: Kym Johnson Returns Among 10 Pros As Karina Smirnoff Quits Show? [VIDEO]
The pro dancers who will be competing on ABC's Dancing With the Stars for season 20 have been revealed, but why are there only 10 of them?
'Dancing With the Stars' Pro Peta Murgatroyd Already Receiving Praise Ahead Of Season 20?
Heading into its 10th anniversary, four pros came to ABC's Good Morning America Wednesday morning to announce that they would be among those competing in the new season. These pros were Val Chmerkovskiy, Artem Chigvintsev, Sharna Burgess and Kym Johnson, who is coming back after a long absence, last appearing in season 16.
With these four locked in, they announced six other pros that they would be competing with in season 20. They are:
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Mark Ballas
Witney Carson
Tony Dovolani
Allison Holker
Peta Murgatroyd
Emma Slater
With only four male pros and six female pros (and only 10 pros altogether), the lineup feels a bit incomplete. The show has not had so few since season 2. They may be waiting to announce a few more pros to round out the cast, particularly to help even up the gender gap.
Missing from this lineup are Cheryl Burke and Derek Hough, who previously announced that they would not be competing in season 20. But one arguably surprising omission is Karina Smirnoff.
As it turns out, Smirnoff is leaving Dancing With the Stars. The dancer broke the news on Tuesday to her Instagram followers. She included a photo of herself on the show and a lengthy caption explaining her departure.
Many of you have been asking if I will be back for season 20 of DWTS and I wanted all of my incredible family to hear it directly from me. After a lot of thought and prayer, I've decided to focus my energies on some other exciting endeavors including adding author to my resume," she wrote. "I have absolutely loved dancing for all of you for all these years and feel blessed to have been given a platform to put my passion for dance, choreography and creativity on display. DWTS has been a huge part of my life for the last 10 years and i will always have a special place in my heart for it. "
She added that her first book We're Just Not That Into You - Dating Disasters From the Trenches was coming out and that fans would be seeing more of her. She concluded by expressing her love and gratitude to all of her fans.
But in the mean time, the show must go on and with the season 20 premiere of Dancing With the Stars a little over a month away, it is crunch time. The show will be announcing the celebrities who will be competing on the new season on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Dancing With the Stars returns for season 20 on Monday, March 16 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.