‘DWTS’ Utah Mormons Dominate Cast, How Did That Come To Be?

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All the Dancing With The Stars pros are incredibly talented and share a love of competitive ballroom dance. But several have something else in common — they hail from Utah and belong to the LDS church. On top of that, several are actually childhood friends.

How exactly did this happen?

DWTS Pros Open Up About Their Dance Background

As per Us Weekly, Utah is home to many competitive dance studios. Several DWTS pros knew each other as children and studied at the same dance studios.

“In Utah, there, for some reason, is this massive dance hub,” Jenna Johnson said on Conversations With Olivia Jade. “So I actually grew up dancing with Lindsay [Arnold] and Witney [Carson] and Brandon [Armstrong]. We’re all the same age, and they were my best friends growing up.”

The young dancers appeared to carry their relationships and love of dance into adulthood.

Lindsay Arnold and Brandon Armstrong from Instagram
Brandon Armstrong/Instagram

Now, Lindsay’s youngest sister Rylee Arnold has also earned a spot as a pro dancer. But they’re far from the only Mormons in the ballroom. Derek and Julianne Hough hail from Utah, as do newcomers Ezra and Stephani Sosa.

According to Brandon Armstrong, there’s a reason they all grew up dancing.

“There’s nothing else to do,” Brandon joked during an interview on The Lightweights Podcast. “What else do you do? You talk about our biggest cities, like Salt Lake, ain’t nothing there. … You play sports, go to school, date super young — these guys get married when they’re 19, 20 years old — and then you dance.”

The Utah Dancers Show Off Their Skills For Fans

When the DWTS pros aren’t in the middle of grueling rehearsals, they’re often making fun social media videos to engage with fans.

“Utah gang in the ballroom @dancingwiththestars ❤️‍🔥” Stephani Sosa captioned the Instagram video, featuring all the Utah-based pro dancers, including troupe member Marquet Hill. The Hough siblings weren’t in this one, but Rylee Arnold’s friend Carter Williams can be spotted in the back row.

Ok Utah, now let’s get in formation 🔥” Jenna wrote in the comments. 

“This makes me so happy 👏👏👏” Rylee and Lindsay’s mother added.

Without a doubt, it’s going to be pretty exciting to see what the Season 33 cast has in store for viewers. Each pro dancer brings their own set of skills to the ballroom, but Utah dancers contribute quite a bit to the series.

Were you surprised to realize that so many Dancing With The Stars pros come from Utah? Did you know that several of the dancers were childhood friends? Leave your own thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Keep following TV Shows Ace online for more DWTS news and updates. Catch the 500th episode at 8 PM Eastern time next Tuesday night on ABC.

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