HOLLYWOOD—The new “Dancing With the Stars” cast was revealed on Tuesday, March 4. With the new season premiering less than two weeks away, many eager fans were clamoring to discover who would compete for the mirror ball trophy.

This season’s contestants include Danica McKellar from “The Wonder Years,” pop singer Cody Simpson, Billy Dee Williams, world champion swimmer Diana Nyad, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Nene Leakes, actor James Maslow, hockey star Sean Avery, comedian Drew Carey, “Full House” star Candace Cameron Bure, Olympian Charlie White, Olympian Meryl Davis and Olympian Amy Purder. There a lots of Olympians this season.

I must say this is one of the most underwhelming casts that I have season in quite some time from the series. With so much buzz surrounding each season, I was expecting to have some bigger named stars hitting the dance floor, but season 18 doesn’t appear to be the case. The series is notorious for having at least one soap star and a major NFL player star, but not this year. A nice little twist, which is something I thought, should have happened quite some time ago is that half way through the competition the contestants will switch partners. Very interesting switch that will impact the dynamics this season!

Danica is working alongside Val, Cody is paired with Witney Carson, Billy Dee is working with Emma Slater, Diana is paired with Henry, Nene is working with Tony, James is working with Peta, Sean with Karina, Drew is paired with Cheryl, Candace is teamed with Mark, Charlie’s partner is Sharna, Meryl’s partner is Maksim and Amy is working with multiple champ Derek Hough. At the moment, no actual standouts in my opinion, but who know this season could deliver more twists than we expect.

The new season of “Dancing With the Stars” premieres on Monday, March 17 on ABC, St. Patrick’s Day of all days!

By LaDale Anderson