Olympic Champion Amber Glenn Joins ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Olympic gold medalist Amber Glenn is trading her skates for dancing shoes.

The openly pansexual figure skater will compete on Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars, where she has been paired with professional dancer Pasha Pashkov. The full cast was revealed Wednesday on Good Morning America. From Olympic Ice to the Ballroom DANCING WITH THE STARS – ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars stars Pasha Pashkov and Amber Glenn. (Disney/Andrew Eccles)

Glenn enters the ballroom fresh off a historic run at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. The athlete helped Team USA capture gold in the figure skating team event before finishing fifth in the women’s individual competition.

Although performing on ice and competing in a ballroom are very different challenges, Glenn already knows how to blend athleticism with emotion and storytelling.

Glenn told People that joining the competition was an “easy yes,” though watching Pashkov perform with his wife and fellow DWTS professional Daniella Karagach left her “slightly terrified.”

“It’s incredible and intimidating, but I’m really grateful because he’s been very patient and has been such a positive teacher,” Glenn said.

The skater has reportedly adjusted her competitive schedule to participate in the series, giving her the opportunity to show audiences a different side of herself. She also cited Olympic ice dancing champion Meryl Davis, who won Season 18 of the show, as an inspiration. Bringing Queer Visibility to the Ballroom

Glenn’s casting follows a landmark year for her both on and off the ice. At the Winter Games, she became the first openly queer woman to represent the United States in Olympic singles figure skating.

She also used the international spotlight to speak candidly about the challenges facing LGBTQ+ Americans. Those comments led to what Glenn described as a “scary amount of hate and threats” online, prompting her to limit her social media use to protect her well-being.

Still, Glenn made it clear she had no plans to stop using her voice.

“I’m gonna keep representing what I believe in and what I think all Americans believe in,” she told reporters following her Olympic victory. “Which is freedom and being able to love and do what you want.” Sarah Jane Nader Joins an All-Women Pairing DANCING WITH THE STARS – ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars stars Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills. (Disney/Andrew Eccles)

Season 35 will deliver another meaningful moment for LGBTQ+ representation through Love Thy Nader star Sarah Jane Nader and professional dancer Hailey Bills. They will form the show’s third same-sex partnership and its second all-women pairing, following JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson’s history-making run in 2021.

Nader’s casting was rumored in August following a report from TMZ, but she made the news official on Instagram after Wednesday’s cast announcement.

Nader came out during the first season of Love Thy Nader, which follows four Louisiana-born sisters navigating their lives in New York City. The series explored Nader’s bisexuality after she invited a woman named Eliana to spend Easter with her family.

“It was a huge moment for me because we’ve never talked about my sexuality,” Nader told Variety in August 2025. “I’m very close to my extended family, and I love them, but it has always been sort of something that I felt like was just ignored and even danced around.”

Nader said she had previously been too afraid to bring a girlfriend home because she did not want to place her in a situation where she might experience homophobia.

Now, Nader hopes her time in the ballroom will help younger LGBTQ+ viewers see possibilities she never saw growing up.

“I grew up watching this show, and I obviously never saw a same-sex pairing, and so it’s really cool to imagine young me watching me and feeling seen,” she told E! News. “And I hope that this happens from this experience.” Who Else Is Joining the Ballroom?

The Season 35 celebrity lineup also includes actors Julia Stiles, Tatyana Ali, Jenna Dewan and Harry Shum Jr.; chef Giada De Laurentiis; singer Taylor Hanson; Paralympic champion Ezra Frech; and reality stars Maura Higgins, Ciara Miller and Tyler Cameron.

Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars premieres with a two-night event Sept. 15 and 16 on ABC and Disney+. Episodes will stream on Hulu the following day.

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