Last season, former Bachelor star Kaitlyn Bristowe joined the cast of Dancing with the Stars and won the Mirrorball trophy. Now, Matt James has a chance to follow in her footsteps.
While JoJo Fletcher just revealed she has not been invited to compete in Dancing with the Stars Season 30, Us Weekly reports that James will compete on the show this season.
Matt James joining Dancing with the Stars
Matt James made his name when he appeared on Season 25 of The Bachelor.
His season, which aired in 2021, ended in controversy when the woman he chose, Rachael Kirkconnell, ended up in hot water when old social media posts of her attending an Antebellum-themed sorority party arose.
The couple broke up and then reunited in April.
James, the first Black Bachelor, will now take his talents to Dancing with the Stars, where he will follow in the footsteps of last year’s winner, Kaitlyn Bristowe, who won it all with professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev.
James, a former football player and current ABC Food Tours co-founder, will be one of several former athletes to join the competition.
Other Bachelors on DWTS
Kaitlyn Bristowe was one of the most successful members of the Bachelor franchise to appear on Dancing with the Stars.
Melissa Rycroft joins Bristowe as a DWTS winner. The Season 13 Bachelor contestant took 3rd place in Season 8 and then returned and won the all-stars Season 15 in 2012.
Trista Sutter was the first Bachelorette. She partnered with Louis van Amstel for Season 1 of Dancing with the Stars as well, finishing in sixth place.
Jake Pavelka was on Season 14 of The Bachelor and he was the fifth person sent home in Season 10 of DWTS.
Sean Lowe was in Season 17 of The Bachelor and Season 16 of DWTS, where he went home in Week 7.
Chris Soules was in Season 19 of The Bachelor and ended up in fifth place in Season 20 of DWTS with Witney Carson as his partner.
Nick Viall was on two seasons of The Bachelorette, one Bachelor in Paradise and had his own season of The Bachelor, and he ended up taking sixth place in Season 24 of DWTS.
Joe Amabile, also known as Grocery Store Joe, was in The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise and he went home eighth in Season 27 of DWTS.
Hannah Brown was hugely popular in The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and she ended up going to DWTS where she won the Mirrorball trophy.
That makes three winners of the big trophy in the Bachelor franchise, but all by women. Matt James hopes to be the first man to take the honor for his franchise.
Dancing with the Stars premieres on Monday, September 20 at 8/7c on ABC.