Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson are partnered together for season 19 of Dancing With the Stars . The new season premieres on Monday, September 15 and fans cannot wait to get started. Long-time fans of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air are thrilled to see Ribeiro is doing DWTS 19 , but some other viewers may not be familiar with him. What’s the scoop on Alfonso?
This new dynamic DWTS 19 duo has had a tough time settling on a team name, it seems. The latest one Alfonso shared via Twitter is “Team Witfonso,” which definitely seems to have some potential. The show has shared the team’s first meeting, and it looks like these two could be a very fun duo to watch. Alfonso Ribeiro does have some significant dance experience, and it seems Witney Carson has been quick to utilize it. He is quick to point out, though, that he has never trained in dance professionally and he doesn’t consider himself a “real dancer.”
Though Ribeiro has done a number of things over the years, many know him best as Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alongside Will Smith. DWTS has definitely been on a nostalgia kick, having cast Candace Cameron Bure from Full House and Danica McKellar of The Wonder Years last season. Alfonso also was on the show Silver Spoons with Ricky Schroeder.
Many Dancing With the Stars fans have been hoping to see Alfonso on the show for years, and it was exciting for viewers to see it was finally happening. Will Alfonso and Witney incorporate his iconic “The Carlton” at some point this season? They’ve said it’s a possibility, but they won’t be bringing it out right away.
In addition to those early shows, Ribeiro did Broadway as a child, playing the lead role in The Tap Dance Kid . More recently, in 2006, he competed against fellow DWTS 19 star Lea Thompson in the show Celebrity Dance Duets and he won. In terms of his personal life, Alfonso is a father to two children. He has a daughter named Sienna from his first marriage and a son named Alfonso Jr. with his second wife.
As for Alfonso’s partner Witney Carson, she’s still fairly new as a pro on Dancing With the Stars . She’s a So You Think You Can Dance alum like many others with the show, and she was partnered with Cody Simpson during season 18, her first as a pro. While Cody was a bit of a challenging partner, many loved watching Witney during the switch-up week when she worked with Drew Carey. Fans think this could be a pretty fantastic partnership ahead between Alfonso and Witney.
Could fans look forward to seeing Will Smith in the audience this season? That might be a stretch, but one never knows with this show. There’s a pretty good likelihood, though, that former contestant Joey Fatone will stop by to visit. Joey and Alfonso are good friends, and of course Fatone has done DWTS before. Do you think Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson have a shot at the mirror-ball trophy, especially with others like Sadie Robertson , Janel Parrish and Bethany Mota in the mix? It all gets started on Monday, September 15 when Dancing With the Stars season 19 premieres.
[Image via Craig Sjodin/ABC]