Film & Television Television

Dancing with the Stars Season 25 Cast and Why I Kind of Care this Time

Photo by Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images

Ever since the show Dancing with the Stars began on ABC in 2005 I have never been a fan of the show. Oh, I’ve shown a passing interest here or there when I know a certain favorite celebrity of mine will be on the show, but never enough interest to get me to watch the series. Even when stars like Stacey Keibler, Brooke Burke, Chris Jericho, Hope Solo, Shawn Johnson, or Laurie Hernandez were featured on a particular season of DWTS I never had much of an inclination to watch it – despite those being stars I usually follow.

However, this new season is a bit different in that I am actually interested in a few stars being featured in Dancing with the Stars Season 25. But before I really get into this, let’s check out this roster for Season 25:

Barbara Corcoran, partnered with Keo Motsepe

Debbie Gibson, partnered with Alan Bersten

Derek Fisher, partnered with Sharna Burgess

Drew Scott, partnered with Emma Slater

Frankie Muniz, partnered with Witney Carson

Jordan Fisher, partnered with Lindsay Arnold

Lindsey Stirling, partnered with Mark Ballas

Nick Lachey, partnered with Peta Murgatroyd

Nikki Bella, partnered with Artem Chigvintsev

Sasha Pieterse, partnered with Gleb Savchenko

Terrell Owens, partnered with Cheryl Burke

Vanessa Lachey, partnered with Maks Chmerkovskiy

Victoria Arlen, partnered with Val Chmerkovskiy

There are several stars on this list that I would consider myself to be a huge fan of: Debbie Gibson, Lindsey Stirling, Nikki Bella, and Victoria Arlen. I have nothing against every other star on this list, including Derek Fisher and Terrell Owens, but those four women there… I would say I am a huge fan of each of those women. So, I find myself interestingly intrigued by DWTS Season 25. Interested and intrigued enough to maybe watch an episode or two – who knows? Maybe? I don’t know. Honestly, if Stacey Keibler or Shawn Johnson didn’t piqué my interest when they were on DWTS, I highly doubt that these four women would either. Then again, I have never seen a season of the show feature so many of my favorite celebrities at one time. So, for now, I will remain “curious” at the very least so long as these four women remain on the show.

Debbie Gibson
August 31, 1970
Singer, songwriter, record producer, actress
DWTS Season 25 Bio

With hit songs like “Only in My Dreams”, “Lost in Your Eyes”, “No More Rhyme”, “We Could Be Together”, “Wishing You Were Here” and others, Debbie Gibson quickly became one of my earliest favorite musical artists throughout my childhood as numerous memories of mine from the 1980s and early 1990s are tied in with her songs. Even some 30 years later, I am still a huge fan of hers and her music as well as her other professional aspirations.

Lindsey Stirling
September 21, 1986
YouTube personality, musician, performance artist, composer, dancer
DWTS Season 25 Bio

I started off as a fan of Lindsey Stirling after coming across her music videos on YouTube back around 2010 and loving the anime, video game and original compositions she was featuring on her channel at the time. Her covers of classic, geek culture songs and her dub-step inspired originals really made an impact on me and I have remained a fan of hers ever since. It is even fair to say that her 2014 song “Shatter Me”, in which she collaborated with Lzzy Hale, is one of my 10 favorite songs of all time.

Nikki Bella
November 21, 1983
Professional wrestler, actress, model, television host, producer
DWTS Season 25 Bio

Part of the tag team known as The Bella Twins (with her real-life twin sister, Brie), Nikki Bella is my favorite of the two and the one that I have remained of fan of consistently throughout the years, whether she is a face or heel in the world of the WWE. Over the years, she has made considerable strides in perfecting her work on the mic and in the ring which eventually led to her attaining the WWE Divas Championship and becoming the longest reigning women’s champion in the WWE.

Victoria Arlen
September 26, 1994
Paralympian swimmer, television personality, actress, speaker, model
DWTS Season 25 Bio

I have never heard of a case of overcoming the odds like that of Victoria Arlen. Stricken with two rare conditions (transverse myelitis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis) at age 11, she soon found herself unable to eat, speak or walk and spent the next several years in a coma. Miraculously coming out of the coma, she was determined to overcome her debilitations, relearning to speak, becoming a Paralympian athlete, and now able to walk again thanks to sheer force of will and an unbreakable spirit. When people say it cannot be done, Victoria Arlen is the living embodiment that it can.

I could easily cheer on either of these four women to win it all this season on DWTS. I am a huge fan of all of them and can actually see each of them ending up in the finals. Victoria Arlen would be the emotional favorite to win because of everything she has gone and struggled through to surpass to get to this point in her life. Nikki Bella has the charm and personality to win over the crowd and easily bring the home audience to her side. But if I was a betting man, I would place even bets on either Lindsey Stirling or Debbie Gibson to either make it to the finals or win the DWTS Season 25. Both have a unique presence about them and both have shown that they know how to dance and perform on this kind of stage. I am leaning more towards Lindsey Stirling as my favorite, but I can never count out someone as iconic as Debbie Gibson.

So, I may end up watching an episode or two of DWTS Season 25 – particularly the first couple of episodes just to see how everyone comes across with the DWTS crowd. I’m curious to see if the show featuring a few of my favorite celebrities will be enough to hold my interest long enough to make me a fan of the show. But I still ain’t holding my breath over it. If it hasn’t done so in the first 24 seasons, why would it now? Still, curiosity did kill the cat, and my curiosity over this season’s cast of stars might just do it.

Oh, on a last and lighter note, though I loathe his personality, I am just a bit jealous of Terrell Owens this year only because he has been partnered up with dancing professional Cheryl Burke, and she has been one of my favorite pros on DWTS since I first became aware of her on it. I mean, she is one of my celebrity crushes after all.

If you are so inclined, check out Dancing with the Stars Season 25 when it premiers on September 18, 2017 on ABC.

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