‘dancing with the stars’: ryan lochte, laurie hernandez, rick perry compete this season

Controversial Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is joining ABC‘s _Dancing with the Stars_ for Season 23, the network confirmed this morning when it unveiled the rogues gallery of celebrity

competitors on _Good Morning America._ Presidential politics is bleeding over into ABC’s hoofer competition. Former Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry has signed up to

tap dance on a different stage. Perry was early Donald Trump flotsam, dropping out of the race after just 100 days, insisting “the conservative movement has always been about principles, not

personalities” – which, as it has turned out: not so much. Lochte, this morning told _GMA_ he is now “not sure” if he would call his headline-grabbing pee break at a gas station in Rio a

robbery, an extortion, or just paying up for the damage he caused when he ripped a poster off the wall after pissing in the bushes. Fortunately, Lochte is not the only representative of the

U.S. Olympics team attached to the latest iteration of ABC’s reality series. Laurie Hernandez, the 16-year-old Olympic gymnast who had a much better time in Rio than did Lochte, taking home

gold and silver medals, is making a bid for the Mirror Ball trophy. Other sports figures competing in the fall: former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson and Indy race car driver

James Hinchcliffe. WATCH ON DEADLINE Perry is not the first politician to take a stab at Dancing victory;  House Majority Leader Tom DeLay paired up with Cheryl Burke back in ’09. He had

time on his hands, having left Congress in ’06 after a Texas Grand Jury indicted him on money laundering charges tied to campaign contributions. DeLay did not last long on _Dancing_,

dropping out due to foot stress fracture. Rounding out this year’s crop of celebrity dancers: _Brady Bunch’_s Maureen McCormick, actress Marilu Henner, Amber Rose, rapper/reality star

Vanilla Ice, R&B singer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, _The Fosters’_  alum Jake T. Austin, _Little Women: LA’s_ Terra Jole, and country music singer/actress Jana Kramer. The semi-annual

orgy of _Dancing_ staffing speculation got consumed this month with word Lochte, Olympic gold medalist and Rio Public Enemy No. 1, would join the celebrity dance class. And even that

_Dancing_ storyline topped itself with word last week that Rio authorities had charged Lochte with falsely reporting a crime and the 12-time Olympic medalist would be summoned to Rio where,

if convicted, he could face one to six months in jail. Lochte said this morning the past two weeks have been “the lowest part of my life.” Asked this morning if he would have to actually

return to Rio, Lochte said “I have a great team and they’re dealing with all the legal issues” adding “we’re just trying to get this over with. It’s been dragged out way too long.” On _GMA_,

the thirty-something swimmer blamed “the media” for taking the incident “to a whole new level” and complained he “wants to put this behind” him and “move forward,” assuring viewers “the

rest of the world wants this too.” Lochte’s Rio troubles started when he told “the media” – specifically, NBC’s _Today_ show host Billy Bush – that he and three other U.S. swimmers were

pulled over by robbers, one of whom put a gun to his head. Lochte later amended some details in a subsequent interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer, saying they’d been stopped at a gas station and

the gun wasn’t up against his head, but stuck with the essential point that a man pulled a gun on them and demanded money. Rio cops, however, threw a news conference at which they said their

investigation concluded the U.S. swimmers vandalized the gas station bathroom and a poster, and peed on some bushes, after which a security guard demanded the athletes pay for the damage.

The guard pulled his gun when Lochte in particular became loud and argumentative, authorities said. Video from the station did not back up the bathroom trashing part, however. Lochte gave

yet another interview to Lauer, saying he he had “over-exaggerated” his report because he was still intoxicated when he talked to Bush, and apologized. The flap cost him at least four

endorsement deals. Season 23 will see the return of pros Derek and Julianne Hough, who last appeared in 2015. Derek,  a six-time_ Dancing_ champ, will be back as a dancer, while Julianne

will serve as a judge. Derek took to Instagram in advance of this morning’s _GMA_ unveiling to say he will still participate in NBC’s live musical _Hairspray_ in December, but plans to start

rehearsing _Singin’ in the Rain_ on Broadway got delayed “because there simply isn’t a theater available.” Also returning is pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy, He last appeared in 2014 when he and

Olympic ice dancer Meryl Davis won the mirrorball trophy in Season 18. And Burke is back, after leaving the show in 2014. Julianne Hough, a former pro dancer on the show, is expected to be

joined at the judge’s table by Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman, who judged with Hough the past two iterations of the ballroom dance competition series. Chmerkovskiy broke the

 news of his return on ABC’s _Good Morning America_, which has been ABC’s _Dancing_ news clearinghouse for years. ABC’s been mum on all casting issues with regard to the primetime dance

program, per usual, so as to have a big a reveal as possible on _GMA_. Here are the new season’s dance pairings: Cheryl Burke with Ryan Lochte Maksim Chmerkovskiy with Amber Rose Valentin

Chmerkovskiy with Laurie Hernandez Emma Slater with Rick Perry Derek Hough with Marilu Henner Artem Chigvintsev with Maureen McCormick Sasha Farber with Terra Jole Witney Carson with Vanilla

Ice Lindsay Arnold with Calvin Johnson Jenna Johnson with Jake T. Austin Allison Holker with Babyface Sharna Burgess with James Hinchcliffe Gleb Savchenko with Jana Kramer The new season

of_ Dancing With The Stars_ premieres Monday, September 12.