Dancing with the Stars cast for Season 16 announced

The ‘Dancing with the Stars’ cast for Season 16 was revealed today on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ — and this year, it’s all about the athletes.

  • Former Olympic skater and hairstyle icon Dorothy Hamill will pair up with Tristan McManus
  • Former WBC welterweight champ Victor Ortiz will dance with So You Think You Can Dance vet and DWTS newcomer Lindsay Arnold
  • 2012 Olympic gold-medalist gymnast Aly Raisman forms a power team with Mark Ballas, who coached Shawn Johnson to victory in Season 8
  • Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones competes with Karina Smirnoff

A pair of  country-music songbirds also compete:

  • Wynonna Judd will team with last season’s champ Tony Dovolani
  • Former American Idol standout Kellie Pickler could make for another formidable pairing with choreography whiz Derek Hough
Then there’s the funnymen.
  • D.L. Hughley will dance with Cheryl Burke
  • Andy Dick will dance with former featured dancer Sharna Burgess, who is a champion in our book just for giving this a shot
The obligatory soap-star slot is filled by former champ Kelly Monaco’s General Hospital costar Ingo Rademacher who could make a legit run for the mirrorball trophy with partner Kym Johnson.

Rounding out the field are:

  • This season’s Disney Channel entry, Shake It Up star Zendaya Coleman who will be guided by Val Chmerkovskiy — the sole Chmerkovskiy brother to compete in this outing.
  • Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules star Lisa Vanderpump, matched up with newcomer Gleb Savchenko, a veteran of the Australian incarnation of Dancing with the Stars who gives the Chmerkovskiy brothers a run for their money in the good looks and “you pronounce that how?” departments.

Besides Maksim Chmerkovskiy, other fan-favorite pros Anna Trebunskaya, Chelsie Hightower are also absent from Season 16, but all three judges — Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli — return, along with cohosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke-Charvet.

So what say you, DWTS fans? Are you happy to see new blood in the pro roster or sad to there’s no Max, Anna and Chelsie?  Does this season’s cast seem a little lacking in legit star power or are we just fussy? Any obvious showmances in the making? And who’s your vote to go all the way to victory? Sound off in the comments section below.

The two-hour Dancing with the Stars Season 16 premieres Monday, March 18 at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

Photo: ABC

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Lori just hasn't been the same since "thirtysomething" and "Northern Exposure" went off the air.