Jackson Olson is headed to the ballroom. The Savannah Bananas player and viral internet sensation was announced on Tuesday, May 12, as the latest celebrity cast member for Dancing With the Stars season 35 during Disney’s Upfront presentation, and he quickly had one of his biggest supporters cheering him on from Instagram.
Maggie Sajak posted to her Instagram Story that day, writing, “SO PROUD @jacksonolson_ !!!” She followed it with another message alongside a photo of the two together: “Beyond proud of you @jacksonolson_...the dance floor better get ready.” The show’s official Instagram page also leaned into Olson’s playful image, posting, “This banana is hitting the ballroom! 🍌🕺” and saying viewers can catch him on the new season this fall on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu.
Olson’s addition was the latest reveal for season 35, which had already announced Love Island’s Maura Higgins and Summer House star Ciara Miller. It also added fresh attention to a cast list that has been building piece by piece as the network prepares for the show’s return this fall. For fans tracking the lineup, the announcement came with one more layer of personal interest: Sajak is the daughter of former Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, and she and Olson had already made their relationship public by sharing a Disneyland photo together on Instagram.
That romance became part of the story again on May 1, when Olson told Us Weekly they were living on opposite sides of the country but had managed to build “an awesome relationship.” By Wednesday, May 13, he was on Good Morning America explaining that he had “manifested” the casting. Olson said he was “a shy kid that never danced, never put myself out there, never entertained and found a passion for it,” and added that he had posted a couple of TikToks last year joking about joining the show and even pranking his coach that he was going to be on it.
The timing matters because the season 35 cast is still taking shape, and Olson’s arrival gives the show a cross-current of sports, social media and celebrity interest that the series has leaned on for years. It also keeps attention on Sajak and Olson as a couple at the same time his profile rises. In that sense, the casting is not just another name on a list; it is the moment a viral performer turned a joke into a network booking, and the ballroom now has to decide whether the confidence he has been selling online can carry onto live television.
