A same-sex "Dancing With the Stars" season is the desire of openly-gay Olympic skater Adam Rippon, who called the idea "so cool." And he's not alone, at least among the show's current all-athletes cast.
Rippon, one of the emerging U.S. stars from February's Winter Olympics in South Korea, has been one of the frontrunners in this season's "DWTS," according to Fox News. On Monday night, after the second week of competition, he said he would be up for a same-sex partner season.
"I think that would be awesome," Rippon said, per Fox News. "Yeah, so cool."
Rippon told People magazine he got to dance with Val Chmerkovskiy, the boyfriend of his DWTS's partner Jenna Johnson and a fellow show competitor.
"I've gotten to dance with Val a little bit, so now that I have the skills, I'm going to dance with literally everybody and anybody," Rippon told People. "When I dance with Val, he's definitely showing me which direction to go. When I dance with Jenna, I'm pretending I am because she's really leading me throughout the whole thing."
The issue came up again when Fox News asked dance pro Gleb Savchenko what other themes he might like to see in the future, with a same-sex season in which the male pros would dance with famous men and the female pros with women celebrities as a possibility.
Savchenko was eliminated Monday with Notre Dame women's basketball star partner Arike Ogunbowale in the current all-athletes edition of “DWTS,” Fox News noted.
Skating Olympian Mirai Nagasu, who is also competing on “DWTS,” told reporters she would also welcome a same-sex season, Fox News said. Nagasu and Rippon were part of the U.S. team that won the bronze medal in team skating competition at the Winter Olympics, NBC Sports reported.
"I would watch that season with a vengeance," Nagasu said, per Fox News. "I would be super into it."
Ditto for pro dancer Sarma Burgess, who is dancing with football player Josh Norman.
"I think that [idea's] incredible," Burgess said, per Fox News. "Same sex ballroom dancing is a very real competition and it's fantastic, what is out there and the talent and I think we're missing out on that and hopefully we're one of the first 'DWTS' of the world to do it 'cause 'DWTS' is in over a hundred countries."
Since March, Twitter users have voiced mixed reactions about same-sex partners on the show.
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