Controversy already erupted upon the announcement on Wednesday of the cast of the new season of Dancing with the Stars.  Most intriguing is that a statement from the longtime ABC series, host, Tom Bergeron revealed his hopes to the producers that their celebrity casting choices would be non-political in nature, especially after the ballroom dance competition had been on a year hiatus from the small screens.

Following the celebrity contestant reveal, which included former White House Press Secretary. Sean Spicer (who worked for President Donald Trump), the host released a statement via his Twitter account.  In it, Bergeron noted that he’d had lunch with the show’s new executive producer and had suggested some ideas for the show. Chief among them was that DWTS should avoid casting someone with “ANY party affiliations.”  When he left that lunch, Bergeron says he was convinced that would be the case.

Bergeron expressed: “It was my hope that ‘DWTS,’ in its return from an unprecedented year-long hiatus, would be a joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations.”  Then he said, “Subsequently (and rather obviously) a decision was made to, as they often say in Hollywood, “go in a different direction”.  He went on to say, “It is the prerogative of producers, in partnership with the network, to make whatever decisions they feel are in the best long term interests of the franchise. We can agree to disagree, as we do now, but ultimately it’s their call. I’ll leave it to them to answer any further questions about those decisions.”

DWTS new EP Andrew Llinares, then said in a statement. “We’ve got a great and diverse cast. We are excited about the season,”

You can see Bergeron’s tweet in full below.

Some thoughts about today pic.twitter.com/aCQ4SHrGCI

— Tom Bergeron (@Tom_Bergeron) August 21, 2019

So, what do you think of Bergeron’s hopes for the casting choices of DTWS?  Would you have preferred Sean Spicer to be cut from the cast?  Who would you have liked to have seen cast on the series? Would you want any celeb you like to even go on it any more? Comment below.

This morning on ABC’s Good Morning America the celebrity line-up was announced for the upcoming fall season and 28th edition of Dancing with the Stars.  Within the list of competitors are: The Bachelorette, Hannah Brown, former Dawson’s Creek star, James Van Der Beek, and even disgraced White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, and the “Uptown Girl” herself, supermodel Christie Brinkley 

In addition to the above celebs, showing their best ballroom dance moves will also be: Queer Eye‘s Karamo Brown, The Office‘s Kate Flannery and Kenan & Kel‘s Kel Mitchell, plus The Supremes’ Mary Wilson, Fifth Harmony’s Ally Brooke, and American Idol Season 10 runner-up  and now country/pop star, Lauren Alaina.

As for the former pro athletes in the cast; those slots belong to: former NFL linebacker of the Baltimore Ravens, Ray Lewis, and former NBA player (and former hubby to Khloe Kardashian) Lamar Odom.

On the pro dancer side, this season will mark the return of Peta Murgatroyd who last competed three seasons ago, as well as newcomers Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov. In addition, the cast will include the steps of: Brandon Armstrong, Lindsay Arnold, Alan Bersten, Cheryl Burke, Witney Carson, Val Chmerkovskiy, Sasha Farber, Jenna Johnson, Keo Motsepe, Gleb Savchenko and Emma Slater.

This season viewers will not learn of the celebrity/pro pairings till the night of the premiere.

All the moves kick-off on Monday night, September 26th at 8PMEST/7PMCST on ABC.

So, what do you think of the new cast of DWTS? Who do you think on paper stands the best chance of being a top contender for the Mirror Ball Trophy? Weigh-in below.

This week General Hospital viewers should be on the lookout for a heavenly visit, or vision of Kiki Jerome (Hayley Erin), as her mother, Ava (Maura West) looks to finally make contact with the daughter she so desperately wants to make peace with from the great beyond!

And with that, Daytime Emmy-winner Hayley Erin will reprise her role and share scenes with her former on-screen mom, Maura West.

Erin exited GH in early 2019, when she joined the cast of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists on Freeform in which she currently plays the role of Taylor Hotchkiss.

EW.com broke the news with first look photos of Erin’s return here.

Hayley tweeted a photo of herself in front of the General Hospital sign at their set with the words, “Surprise, Surprise”

Are you glad to know that there will be some heavy emotional payoff and scenes between GH’s Ava and her late daughter Kiki? Comment below.