Dancing With the Stars did not approach Orange is the New Black veteran Taryn Manning to appear on the show, according to a new report.
According to Page Six, Manning said she has been asked many times to appear on the show, but said that it would make her a has-been.
“I’ve been asked to be on [the ABC hit] many times,” she said to the outlet while promoting Gita, a self-rolling robot that carries things for you.
“I have this weird phobia that [competing on the show] means you’re a has-been, and I never want to believe that’s the case. Maybe it’s my own stuff, but, yeah, I’m definitely a good dancer.”
The outlet followed up that the series has declined those claims, saying that her team actually lobbied for her to appear on the ABC juggernaut.
“Taryn claims she’s been asked to join the cast ‘many times,’ however, we have never asked Taryn to be part of the show,” a source close to the show explained.
“Her representation attempted to pitch her to us a while back and we kindly passed. So her claim that she was asked to join ‘DWTS’ once, never mind many times, is completely false.”
The same source also shot down her has-been phobia comment about potentially joining the cast.
“Her thoughts that the contestants consist of ‘has-beens’ seems to be her own projection onto talent that we have asked to cast.”
Manning has not commented on the updated report.
Dancing With the Stars recently kicked off its 29th season with a myriad of changes.
Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews were ousted as co-hosts, and Tyra Banks was drafted in as the sole host in a major shakeup.
While fans have been vocal on Twitter about not liking the changes, the ratings have been up.
Granted, the series had its most-popular cast in some time with names such as Carole Baskin, Jesse Metcalfe, Justina Machado, and Anne Heche.
The ratings have dipped in recent weeks, but the 18-49 demo remains in a good place.
What are your thoughts on Taryn Manning’s claims?
Hit the comments.
Catch DWTS Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.