"Dancing With The Stars" did something a little different than their usual cast announcements this year, releasing the news about one star a day during the week leading up to the annual "Good Morning America" special live reveal. It all started last Monday when Bindi Irwin was announced on "GMA" and from there on, they found fun and interesting ways to reveal each cast member with unique announcements.
Now, less than two weeks before the season 21 premiere on September 14, the full, official cast has been revealed! Nine contestants were revealed before the "GMA" episode aired, and four more were announced during the show. It's bound to be an exciting season, as always! Find out a little about each contestant below and who they're partnered with for this season.
Bindi Irwin
The daughter of the late Steve Irwin, Bindi is determined to follow in her father's footsteps and dedicate her love for animals to all that he did. The 17-year-old is an Australian wildlife conservationist and actress who stars in a few different wildlife shows.
"I am unbelievably thrilled and truly blessed to be part of this season of 'Dancing With The Stars,'" she said during her announcement. "This will be a completely new adventure for me and I'm excited to share my journey. Life is about daring to dream."
Irwin will be dancing with the ever-so-popular Derek Hough.
Victor Espinoza
This 43-year-old jockey won the illustrious Triple Crown earlier this year after he and his horse American Pharaoh won the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and The Belmont Stakes. He is not only the first Hispanic jockey to achieve this, but it was also the first time it had been done in 37 years.
"Time to have some fun #DWTS," he wrote under his announcement video. "Time to learn how to dance."
Espinoza will be dancing with Karina Smirnoff, who is back this season.
Nick Carter
This contestant will be making all 90s dreams come true by showing off some of his former boy-band moves on the dance floor. The former Backstreet Boys member has some personal competition as his younger brother Aaron has previously danced on the show.
He told Us Weekly after the announcement that he wants to "go on and represent the Carter name and maybe even do better than his younger brother did." Although the 35-year-old singer is a little insecure about his dancing skills, he's still excited for this "cool experience."
Carter will be dancing with Sharna Burgess.
Hayes Grier
This Vine star is only 15 years old, and the second youngest contestant to ever compete on the show. While he may be known for his hilarious videos on the social media app, much of which he does with his older brother Nash and his adorable younger sister, he's already proved he's got some moves. "DWTS" posted a photo of him during his first day of training in the studio, jumping super high in the air and showing off his flexibility.
When he made the announcement, he shared a photo of his dancing shoes and explained how he was "excited and nervous" because this is the biggest challenge he's taken on to date.
Grier will be dancing with Emma Slater.
Alexa & Carlos PenaVega
The announcement for this happy couple was an exciting and surprising one as they will be the first married couple to ever compete against each other on the show. It'll be interested to watch the 27-year-old "Spy Kids" actress and the 26-year-old "Big Time Rush" singer go head to head against one another on the dance floor. They made their special announcement while at Disney Land and then took over the "DWTS" Instagram.
"We can't wait to show you what we have in store for you this season," they wrote.
Alexa will be dancing with Mark Ballas while Carlos will be dancing with Witney Carson.
Chaka Khan
The Queen of Funk is an international music icon, and someone who's done it all in the music industry and won ten Grammy's, she's bound to have some moves up her sleeve. The 62-year-old singer has had 22 albums and is mostly known for her hit songs "I'm Every Woman" and "Tell Me Something Good."
"It's official, y'all!" she tweeted along with her announcement video. "Need you to root for me on #DWTS!"
Khan will be dancing with Keo Motsepe.
Andy Grammer
This 31-year-old singer is the one responsible for the hit song "Honey I'm Good" that's most likely been stuck in your head the entire summer. He's been on the show as a performer before, so he's a little used to how things work, and even showed off some of his moves. Many people had suspected that Grammer would be joining the show so when he made his announcement he said, "The rumors are true!" He was supposed to be teamed up with Peta Murgatroyd, but she got hurt after they had just one meeting.
Grammer will be dancing with Allison Holker.
Gary Busey
This 71-year-old actor is the oldest contestant this season, but he may have had the most memorable announcement of the crew. While appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," the "Lethal Weapon" and "The Buddy Holly Story" actor made a grand entrance on a white horse, jokingly admitting that he had nothing else going on, so he decided to give "DWTS" a shot. As an Academy Award nominated actor who is known for his strange and hilarious personality. He's appeared on other competition shows like "Celebrity Apprentice" and "Celebrity Big Brother," so he's no stranger to the reality TV world.
Busey will be dancing with Anna Trebunskaya.
Kim Zolciak
As a former "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star and mother of six, the 37-year-old TV personality is bound to bring some fun to the show. She's married to NFL player Kroy Biermann, who plays defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons, so the two will be both be partaking in some long, hard hours of practices and training during this upcoming season.
Zolciak took to Instagram to make her personal official announcement as she stood next to the Mirrorball trophy on the set of "GMA." "I'm sooooo excited to FINALLY be able to tell you YES!!!! I'm on DWTS!!!," she wrote. "I adore my partner Tony feeling blessed. #ShakeYourMoneyMaker."
Zolciak will be dancing with Tony Dovolani.
Paula Deen
Season after season rumors go around that this former Food Network chef will be joining the "DWTS" cast, and this season, it's finally true. It'll be interesting to watch the 68-year-old controversial cook make her way back on to TV after a rough past few years, but her fans are excited to see what she's got.
"I can't wait to dance my way onto your tv," Deen tweeted following the announcement.
Deen will be dancing with Louis Van Amstel.
Tamar Braxton
Braxton is a Grammy-nominated singer, host of the talk show "The Real," and a reality TV personality who's big sister just so happens to be popular R&B singer Toni Braxton. The 38-year-old singer has a new album, "Calling All Lovers," coming out on September 11 so it'll be interesting to see if she will possibly dance to some of her own, or her sister's, songs.
"...and so Tamar IS on #dwts," she tweeted following to reveal.
Braxton will be dancing with last year's winner, Val Chmerkovskiy.
Alek Skarlatos
This American hero was the last contestant to be revealed, and apparently even host Tom Bergeron had just found out he'd be joining the cast the night before the "GMA" reveal. The 22-year-old Army National Guard specialist recently became a hero when he, and two others, helped avert a massacre aboard a Belgian train. Everyone seemed really excited about having such an influential and heroic icon join the cast.
"Let's give #AlexSkarlatos a hero's welcome," the official "DWTS" Twitter wrote.
Skarlatos will be dancing with Lindsay Arnold.
This may be out of the dancers' comfort zone, but they nailed the Nae Nae! #DWTS is back on Sept 14. https://t.co/QyLBPRPKns
— Official DWTS (@DancingABC) August 29, 2015
