ABC revealed on June 17 that Guillermo Rodriguez will join Dancing with the Stars Season 35, turning Jimmy Kimmel Live! sidekick into the show’s latest celebrity cast member. The 55-year-old dashed onto the stage in salsa attire when Jimmy Kimmel made the announcement, giving the booking the kind of entrance that fit his comic role on late-night TV.
Rodriguez has been a nightly presence on Jimmy Kimmel Live! since 2003, when he joined the show after starting out as a security guard in the parking lot. He now steps into a competition that wrapped Season 34 in November, when Robert Irwin and Witney Carson won the Mirrorball trophy, and ABC is already keeping the season on the move with the next reveal set for Sept. 2 on Good Morning America.
The announcement matters now because Rodriguez is not just another familiar face; he is one of the most recognizable fixtures in ABC’s late-night world, and his move into the ballroom widens the cast before the pros are even named. He also brings a story line that is easy to see on camera, from his Oscars red carpet work to the salsa branding he launched in January.
There was one line in the announcement that sounded like the kind of joke that turns into a reality-show worry. After Kimmel told him not to lose too much weight, Rodriguez replied that if he loses five pounds he is going to gain ten pounds. That is the kind of answer that tells viewers exactly what sort of contestant he may be: playful, self-aware and not especially interested in treating the season like a fitness boot camp.
ABC has not yet said who Rodriguez will be paired with, and that missing piece will shape how far he can go once the season starts. For now, the network has done what matters most: it has given Season 35 a cast member with a built-in audience, a clean comic hook and a reveal that keeps the full competition in view until Sept. 2.
