Who Is Alek Skarlatos Of ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 21?

The Season 21 Dancing with the Stars cast has been announced, and Alek Skarlatos is one of the contestants on this new fall season. Skarlatos is definitely a big score for the reality TV show, and fans can’t wait to see him on the dance floor. What do viewers need to know about Alek?

Alek Skarlatos joins DWTS just weeks after being involved in an attack on a French train. As the Mirror detailed, Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, and Spencer Stone were all on a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris when an attack began. Moroccan national Ayoub El Khazzani started to open fire on the train, and the trio jumped in and subdued him.

While there were some injuries as a result of the attack, nobody was seriously harmed, and the three men have been hailed as heroes for thwarting what has been considered a terrorist attack. El Khazzani is believed to have connections to ISIS, and without the three men jumping in, many suspect the outcome of the attack could have been quite tragic.

Skarlatos is 22-years-old, and he is an Army National Guard Specialist. As E! Online notes, Alek, Spencer, and Anthony were spending some time vacationing in Europe together when the train incident happened. Skarlatos had been deployed to Afghanistan over the past year, and the train ride was supposed to be a relaxing break from it all.

This new Dancing with the Stars contestant lived in California for a number of years, but he now lives in Oregon. He has been attending a local community college, and he hopes to join the police force once things settle down. He is said to love military history and enjoys painting.

Oregon Live details that Skarlatos has been in the Oregon Army National Guard for the past three years and had been deployed in Afghanistan for nine months. He headed to Europe on August 11 for what was set to be a month-long trip with friends. The decision to take the train to Paris on that eventful day was a spur-the-moment one, as they had intended to stay in Amsterdam another day.

Daily Entertainment News shares that Alek’s father, Emanuel, is a Greek immigrant who arrived in the United States as a child. Alek lived in Oregon when he was little, but he and his brothers moved to California with their dad in 2007. Many DWTS fans will surely be asking whether Alek Skarlatos has a girlfriend as he puts on his dancing shoes. At this point, it would appear that he is single.

Skarlatos will be dancing with Lindsay Arnold. This Dancing with the Stars pro was on So You Think You Can Dance a few seasons ago and was partnered with Victor Ortiz on Season 16 of DWTS. She’s been in the troupe since that season, and Lindsay married her long-time love Sam Cusick in June.

Just how well will Lindsay Arnold and Alek Skarlatos do on Season 21 of Dancing with the Stars? There will be some stiff competition this fall on DWTS, but it sounds like many are quite anxious to see Alek and Lindsay step onto the dance floor and take aim at winning the Mirror Ball Trophy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgymbBS0A6Y

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