Witney Carson joins 'Dancing with the Stars: Junior' as mentor, says she wants to coach Jenny Ortega
Latin and ballroom dancer, choreographer and actress Witney Carson has joined the all-new, upcoming season of 'Dancing with the Stars: Junior.' The news was announced by Carson herself to Entertainment Tonight's Katie Krause on Friday at the 2018 Radio Disney Music Awards.
Carson will be joining the show as a mentor whose role will be to mentor the underage celebrity contestants. As of now, the identity of the children who will be participating on the show has not been announced, so it is unclear who the 24-year-old will be tutoring.
Speaking to ET of her upcoming role, she said: "I'm gonna be involved, so I'm excited. It's a good change of pace. I think people will like the kid version of it, it's going to be super fun and I hope people will like it," adding that she was going to be a mentor to someone who she did not know yet but that it was 'probably someone Disney, for sure.'
While the contestants' names have not been announced as of yet, Carson already has aspirations of whom she would like to mentor. One amongst them is Jenna Ortega, the 15-year-old best known for her roles in 'Jane the Virgin' on the CW and 'Stuck in the Middle' on the Disney Channel. Carson giddily said: "I think Jenny Ortega would be so cute!" before mentioning internet sensation Mason Ramsey.
Ramsey became infamous on the interwebs after a video of him yodeling to Hank Williams' 'Lovesick Blues' in a Walmart went viral. He subsequently went on to sign with Big Loud Records, and even charted at 62 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with his debut single 'Famous.'
Carson could not contain her excitement when she found out that Ramsey was in attendance at the Radio Disney Music Awards, happily exclaiming: "Is he here? Oh my gosh, I'm gonna attack him," and that her mission for the night would be to ask him to join 'Dancing with the Stars: Junior.'
The 24-year-old first featured as a troupe dancer on seasons 16 and 17 of 'Dancing with the Stars' before sitting out on season 18 and then returning and featuring as a professional for season 19 alongside Alfonso Ribeiro. She and Ribeiro were announced as the winners of that particular season in 2014, making her one of just six professional dancers to win the mirror ball trophy within their first two seasons. She even received a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for that season.
ABC has not announced a premiere date for the show yet but revealed that it will be airing on Sundays at 8 pm beginning this fall.