The cast of season 33 of Dancing With The Stars has officially been released. One of the thirteen celebrities on the cast is the former Family Matters star Reginald VelJohnson, who will be dancing with the professional dancer Emma Slater.

You’d think, since his former cast mate Jaleel White already competed on the show, that Reginald would have studied and learned a thing or two. Nope!

VelJohnson ‘Didn’t Learn A Thing’ From White

VelJohnson, 72, isn’t the first Family Matters star to compete on Dancing With The Stars. Jaleel White, who played the iconic Steve Urkel on the sitcom, came in eighth place on season 14 of the reality show back in 2012. Despite this, VelJohnson told People Magazine that he “didn’t learn a thing” from his costar’s run.

VelJohnson later explained his reasoning behind this in another interview.

“I haven’t talked to anybody…I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I wanna do my own thing,” he told US Weekly. “If I fall, I fall. If I don’t, I don’t. And it’s on me, not anybody else.”

Brave man, that Reginald!

While some Family Matters stars have publicly bickered with White over the years, VelJohnson had positive things to say about him back in 2023.

“He had a lot to deal with, because we were already established as a family but he had to get into the group and introduce himself,” VelJohnson said at the time. “We love him … he’s a special person.”

However, watch VelJohnson talk about how “difficult” it was to work with White in a 2022 interview in the video below.

Related: ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Season 33 Cast Is Out – Here’s Who’s On It

VelJohnson Is Having Fun On Dancing With The Stars

VelJohnson is already having a blast practicing with his Dancing With The Stars partner Slater. She revealed that she could not help but become emotional when she met him.

“I couldn’t help but cry a little bit when I saw him,” admitted Slater, 35. “Because I’m such a fan and I have watched Die Hard every year … honestly, [for] decades now.”

Slater has found that VelJohnson’s “charisma is off the charts.”

“He’s very, very charming,” she said. “It makes my job easy. I’m teaching him steps, we’re going slow and going over it, and he’ll put his charm and charisma in there and it’s really all you need. It’s really about that personality.”

In this partnership, the feeling is mutual.

“I just looked at her face, [and] fell in love,” VelJohnson gushed. “She’s wonderful.”

Related: Charity Lawson Opens Up About Death Threats She Received While Competing On ‘Dancing With The Stars’, Mental Health Challenges

VelJohnson And Slater Have A Lot Of ‘Trust’

Going into the September 17 premiere of Dancing With The Stars, Slater is feeling good about their chances.

Dancing with the Stars is a lot about trust,” she stated. “You have to have trust in your celebrity partner, and the celebrity partner has to have trust in the pro partner. We established that straight away.”

“And I’m honestly a massive fan,” Slater continued. “I wanted him to know, you can lean on me, I’m going to take care of you. I’m going to make this experience very enjoyable for you.”

After their first rehearsal, Slater was impressed by VelJohnson’s abilities.

“We are slowly getting into the steps,” she explained “And honestly, it’s more about, for Reggie, he has some feeling of some, like, good groove.”

The other celebrities who will be competing on this season of Dancing With The Stars are Stephen Nedoroscik, Ilona Maher, Tori Spelling, Anna Delvey, Joey Graziadei, Phaedra Parks, Chandler Kinney, Dwight Howard, Eric Roberts, Brooks Nader, Jenn Tran, and Danny Amendola.

Watch them talk about the new season in the video below.

Be sure to tune in to the Dancing With The Stars season 33 premiere on ABC and Disney+ at 8pm EST on September 17!

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