In a world gone mad, here’s one thing people can count on: A “Dancing With the Stars” cast announcement in early September. This time, it’s the balance of the cast of Season 34, and the ballroom-dancing victims list includes influencer Hilaria Baldwin, actor Corey Feldman and gymnast Jordan Chiles.
Baldwin — a formerly accented yoga teacher who with husband Alec Baldwin and their seven baby “Baldwinitos” stars on, not surprisingly, “The Baldwins” — is only part of the cast’s reality TV contingent. “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” also made the cut and will be represented by Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt, who were previously revealed as cast members.
“I’m bringing everybody,” Baldwin, a Manhattan resident, said in a chat with USA Today. “We just decided to do something crazy and that we’d all go to L.A.” Her “30 Rock” veteran husband had been encouraging her for years to reach out to the show, and she’s hoping her lifetime of ballroom experience isn’t too much for the competition.
The vintage Disney star in the cast is veteran actor Elaine Hendrix, who played Meredith Blake, the less-than-calm fiancée and Lindsay Lohan’s potential stepmom in the 1998 version of “The Parent Trap.” “Boy Meets World” star Danielle Fishel will keep her company a year after beating Stage 0 breast cancer. Corey Feldman, known for 1980s films including “The Goonies” and “Stand by Me,” is there as the show’s Gen X former teen idol.
Singers Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony and Scott Hoying, a founding member of the a cappella group Pentatonix, will rep the music industry. Olympic gold medalist and SI Swimsuit model Jordan Chiles, who also flips for UCLA, and former NBA All-Star Baron Davis, who was born in South L.A. and whose career included a stop with the L.A. Clippers, will throw down for athletes.
The balance of the cast includes Conan O’Brien’s former sidekick Andy Richter, “Crocodile Hunter” scion Robert Irwin — previously revealed as a cast member — and one of four winners on the most reason season of “The Traitors,” Dylan Efron, sibling of Zac Efron. Alix Earle, also previously revealed as a competitor, comes in from the world of social media celebrity and hosts the podcast “Hot Mess With Alix Earle.”
Irwin’s sister, Bindi Irwin, won Season 21 of “DWTS” in 2015, setting the bar high for her brother with a dance about the death of their father, wildlife conservationist Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, set to the tune “Footprints in the Sand.” The dance ended with a massive photo of Bindi and her dad. People wept. So, no pressure, Robert.
The 14 amateur dancers will be paired with professional dancers Brandon Armstrong, Rylee Arnold, Mark Ballas, Alan Bersten, Witney Carson, Val Chmerkovskiy, Jenna Johnson, Daniella Karagach, Pasha Pashkov, Jan Ravnik, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater, Ezra Sosa and Britt Stewart.
The announcement came Wednesday courtesy of “Good Morning America,” the ABC morning show in Disney’s package of broadcast-related companies.
“DWTS” Season 34 premieres at 8 p.m. local time Sept. 16 on ABC and Disney+ and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Times freelance writer T.L. Stanley contributed to this report.