‘Dancing With The Stars’ Likely To Return For 29th Season After “Resurgence” – TCA

Peter White

Dancing With the Stars is likely to return for a 29th season after ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke called the last season “resurgent.”

Burke admitted that it hadn’t made a final decision to renew the BBC Studios-produced show, but told Deadline that she expected it to return.

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“The show had a terrific season, use the word resurgent for a reason,” she said.

The 28th season of the series premiered on September 16 and ran through until November 25 with Bachelorette star Hannah Brown beating out the likes of country music singer Lauren Alaina, actor and Nickelodeon star Kel Mitchell and Fifth Harmony singer Ally Brooke to win the competition.

Last year’s series also caused controversy with the casting of Donald Trump’s former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and progression to the quarterfinals despite his very poor dancing as well as the elimination of fan favorite James Van Der Beek.

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Burke also addressed the Spicer issue. She joked about Spicer’s ability to stay on the show. “It’s a ballroom dancing show, it’s not a political show. The contestants came with the spirit of that. The audience votes,” she added, speaking at the Winter TCA Press Tour.

Burke’s comments come after she said in August that she hoped a number of format changes, as well as the fact the dancing competition would only air once a year, would refresh it for the future.

The show is hosted by Erin Andrews and Tom Bergeron, along with judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba. It is exec produced by Andrew Llinares.

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