From the “King of Quarantine” to taking on the ballroom! After making a name for himself on Peloton amid the coronavirus pandemic, Cody Rigsby joined the cast of season 30 of Dancing With the Stars.
After being forced to stay home due to the COVID-19 crisis, purchases of Peloton bikes and classes skyrocketed. It didn’t take long for Rigsby to become one of the most popular and known instructors.
“Obviously, Peloton [financially] benefited from this situation. And I got to reap that success, and I’m very, very grateful for that, and it’s also kind of hard [that it happened] while so many people were struggling,” he told The Washington Post in July. “But I think we all, no matter how financially secure you are or what was going on, experienced a heavy amount of stress, anxiety and trauma over the past 15 months.”
He continued, “People hate working out. They want to be distracted. Let’s be honest: I hate working out sometimes, too. So you want to be entertained. You want to forget that you’re doing something that you don’t like.”
News broke in September that Rigsby was joining Olivia Jade Giannulli, Brian Austin Green, JoJo Siwa, Matt James, Suni Lee, Kenya Moore and more stars on the 30th season of the ABC competition.
“Peloton and Dancing with the Stars collaborated to make the perfect schedule for me,” he told Parade ahead of the premiere. “As it stands right now, I fly back on Tuesdays. I have a Tuesday night class, then we’ve got a Thursday or Wednesday class, and a Friday class, and I’ll come back here Friday or Saturday, do rehearsals, and do camera blocking while I am here. But, also, in New York, I’ll be rehearsing with my partner. So, it’s going to be a fully packed schedule. Hopefully, it’ll last two and a half months, 10 weeks, and we’ll make it to the finale.”
While season 30 will mark the first time a contestant is set to compete with a same-sex partner as Siwa takes on the ballroom with a female pro, Rigsby, who is openly gay, is dancing with a woman.
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“When I got the call for Dancing with the Stars, I didn’t even think of having that conversation, and then we get to the show, and see that JoJo Siwa is doing this groundbreaking moment. I’m so proud of her,” he told Parade. “I’m such a big fan of JoJo Siwa. I think what she’s doing is amazing. For her to really be setting the tone, moving forward in Dancing with the Stars or anything that there’s casting, that there is space for same-sex partners to dance with each other. I’m hoping they go far and show America something new and fresh. I think a male partner is definitely in the future soon.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Scroll through for five things to know about Rigsby:
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