Normally, news about network reality television tends to fly below our radar. So you can imagine our surprise when we found out that our friend Bill Nye will be competing in this upcoming season of Dancing With The Stars. Bill! What, you couldn’t have called us? You’re our friend, remember?
Just kidding, we know Mr. Nye is busy being the coolest person on the planet. Probably he’ll be even busier now that he’s scheduled to appear on what will be the ABC show’s seventeenth season. In addition to Bill, the “stars” also include The Jersey Shore’s Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, comedian Bill Engvall (AKA that guy who isn’t Jess Foxworthy or Larry the Cable Guy), Glee’s Amber Riley, High School Musical‘s Corbin Bleu and Elizabeth Berkley Lauren from Saved By The Bell. I’m very upset that I know who this many of the contestants are by sight.
Of course Bill probably isn’t going to be the top pick on everybody’s bracket (people do Dancing with the Stars brackets, right? If not, they should).  However, you you should know that he actually has some experience with ballroom dancing, as evidenced by this photo that was taken in June at LindyGroove in Pasadena:
That’s right, Nye might be a ringer — a swinger, even! Or maybe he just got the casting news real early and has been practicing all summer.
Either way, he and dance partner Tyne Stecklein (pictured below) have definitely got my vote. Trust me, tall skinny dudes can be surprisingly graceful sometimes.
You know, when they’re not being total goofballs But that’s why we love ’em, right?
(via The Mary Sue, features image via Ed Schipul; images via ABCÂ and Victoria Chan of LindyGroove)
- Bill Nye is most certainly our friend
- He is also quite good at tying bowties
- And explaining the physics of stopping asteroids
