Getty Louis van Amstel
“Dancing With the Stars” fans think the return of old-school professional dancer Louis van Amstel signals that season 31 will feature the show’s first male same-sex pair after season 30 featured the first female same-sex partnership in pro dancer Jenna Johnson and pop star JoJo Siwa, who finished in second place.
Here’s what fans are saying:
Fans Think Louis van Amstel Was Brought Back For a Male Same-Sex Pair
On Reddit, fans have been theorizing that the reason old-school professional dancer Louis van Amstel was brought back for season 31 is because he is openly gay and they are going to have the first male same-sex pair with van Amstel and “Bachelor” star Colton Underwood, who came out of the closet in April 2021 and has since appeared on a couple of different reality shows — “Beyond the Edge” on CBS and “Coming Out Colton” on Netflix.
The reason fans think Underwood is on “Dancing With the Stars” is because reality commentator ZacharyReality posted a TikTok saying that he has been getting tips that Underwood is on “Dancing With the Stars” season 31.
Fans are not happy about this potential casting situation because they think Underwood is “a total creep,” as one fan wrote on Reddit.
“I am ‘Bachelor’ fan but not him. He is controversial, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they cast him and paired with Louis,” wrote a second fan.
“Bringing Louis back from retirement to pair [him with] Colton would be next level disrespectful,” wrote a third fan, to which a fourth replied, “Definitely can do better for Louis.”
A fifth fan wrote, “I really hope he’s not in a male/male partnership with Louis. I will RAGE if they do my man Louis dirty this season!! He came back after 10 seasons for crying out loud and if he gets paired with this guy he truly deserves better.”
One fan said that they don’t think Van Amstel would come back to be in the first male same-sex pair because “he hates labels and this would just be such a huge one.”
Van Amstel was a pro on “Dancing With the Stars” in seasons 1-3, six, 9-12, and 15, then he was brought back for season 21. But he hasn’t danced on the show since that season, which aired in the fall of 2015. Van Amstel has never won the Mirrorball trophy; the closest he came was a third-place finish in season nine with Kelly Osbourne.
As far as confirmation of any same-sex couple goes, “Dancing With the Stars” insider Kristyn Burtt tweeted, “I have no news on a same-sex couple so far. But several of us were talking about the lack of diversity just yesterday.”
Underwood Has a Problematic History
In case you were not aware, Underwood made headlines when he ended up with Cassie Randolph after his season of “The Bachelor” wrapped. She was the third-place contestant who left the show of her own free will. They later dated, but when things ended, Randolph was eventually granted a restraining order against Underwood, the filing for which accused him of stalking and harassment, putting a tracking device on her car, and showing up at her home uninvited, according to Us Weekly.
According to Variety, Randolph eventually dropped the restraining order against Underwood, and after he came out as gay, he did publicly apologize to Randolph in the Variety piece and said that he was not using his coming out as a way to change the narrative around himself.
“I never want people to think that I’m coming out to change the narrative, or to brush over and not take responsibility for my actions, and now that I have this gay life that I don’t have to address my past as a straight man,” said Underwood, who could not comment on specifics due to a joint agreement between the two of them.
But he added that his behavior toward her and her family are not who he is “as a human being” and it’s not how he wants to carry himself.
“I’m sorry, and I want her to know that I hope she has the best, most beautiful life,” he concluded.
On Reddit, “Dancing With the Stars” fans are hoping that he has not been invited to compete on the dancing show due to his past behavior.
“This would be really awful. Very bothersome that there is continuous rewards for toxic behaviors (the events prior to Colton coming out),” wrote one fan.
“[H]e would 1000% do the show if offered and I will 1000% be rooting for him to be the first off the show if he’s on,” wrote another fan.
“Dancing With the Stars” returns for its 31st season on Monday, September 19, on Disney Plus.
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