Despite Dancing with the Stars’s 34th season being packed with celebrities who have gone viral for their social media presence, acting, athletic, or singing abilities, there is one person the show’s executive producer and casting director has not been able to secure.
On Thursday’s inaugural episode of the Dancing with the Stars podcast, host and Season 33 winner Joey Graziadei spoke to the show’s showrunner, Conrad Green, and casting director, Deena Katz.
The two explained how casting for the dancing competition show is a year-long process made even more complicated by the addition of social media, which was not as prevalent when the show began 20 years ago.
“Have you guys ever taken a big swing on a star that you thought there was no way we could get them to go into the ballroom?” Graziadei asked.
“We often go to Deena and say, ‘Can you ask Bill Clinton?’” Green replied. “She’ll be like, ‘he’s not going to say yes. I’ll give it a try.’”
Although she listed other names including former U.K Prime Minister Tony Blair and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Katz admitted that she is not ready to give up on the former president making his way to the ballroom.
“Bill Clinton is one that I will keep asking,” Katz said. “He probably knows or doesn’t know that that’s on my little vision board.”
The podcast episode aired two days after the season premiere of the ABC show on Tuesday, which featured all 14 couples performing their first routines and being critiqued and scored by judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli. The two were without fellow judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who was missing due to illness.
At the end of the night, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt and her partner Mark Ballas were tied atop the leaderboard with wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin and Witney Carson. Each couple scored 15 out of a possible 20 points from the judges.
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The competition will resume Tuesday, September 23, and include a double elimination — the first of the season.
Following the week two performances, Graziadei will return to the podcast to speak to members of this season’s cast, in addition to other special guests, as they discuss that week’s dances and other behind-the-scenes facts from the episode.
The Dancing with the Stars podcast drops every Thursday and is available to watch with video on both Disney+ and Hulu. The competition series airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+ with streaming available the next day on Hulu.
