‘Jennaissance incoming’: The timing of Jenn Tran’s ‘Dancing With the Stars’ promo photos prove her last-minute addition to the cast

On Wednesday (September 4), Dancing With the Stars fans were thrilled that the season 33 cast was revealed to the public via Good Morning America after weeks and weeks of anticipation. While stars like Anna Delvey and Ilona Maher caused quite a bit of chatter via social media, one star was arguably the most buzzworthy: Jenn Tran.

Just hours before the DWTS cast announcement, Jenn concluded her Bachelorette journey in a not-so glamorous manner. Despite getting engaged to Devin Strader — and becoming the first leading lady to pop the question — she took the stage during the “After The Final Rose” television special to reveal that Devin had recently called off their engagement, breaking up over the phone and telling her that he never actually loved her. To make things even worse, he followed Jenn’s friend-turned-enemy and fellow member of Bachelor Nation, Maria Georgas, on Instagram just moments after their breakup. How cruel is that?

As if things could not get any crueler, Devin took the stage shortly after Jenn’s shocking announcement, where ABC forced the two former lovebirds to have their first face-to-face conversation since their split, and then watch their proposal footage while sitting side-by-side. Some may say that this is “literally the worst thing this show has ever done” — and we seriously could not agree more — with ABC doing some major damage control by throwing Jenn on another one of the network’s most beloved shows: Dancing With the Stars.

Joining former Bachelor Joey Graziadei, season 33 of Dancing With the Stars will make history as the first season to have two members of Bachelor Nation competing for the coveted Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy — who happen to be exes nonetheless — but it looks like things were not always supposed to be that way…

Every contestant and professional dancer got high-quality photos taken to use for the DWTS cast announcement, but given the fact that Jenn did not get any — using a selfie of her and her partner, Sasha Farber, in the parking lot of Good Morning America for the announcement instead — it is safe to say she was a last-minute addition to the show. To help confirm this theory, Jenn is not on the official poster for Dancing With the Stars season 33, ultimately solidifying the fact that she was not supposed to be there in the first place.

It looks like Jenn is finally becoming a true member of the cast, though, finally taking her professional DWTS photos today (September 6).

Sharing three TikTok videos in her Dancing With the Stars attire, it is clear that Jenn did her photoshoot today, which is a stark contrast to the other dancers who shared TikTok videos last week. Finally sharing the high-quality photos of each partnership via Instagram today — as opposed to the day of the actual announcement — it is safe to say that the series was waiting on photos of Jenn and Sasha to reveal the pictures to the public, serving as a third piece of evidence that shows Jenn was a late addition to the cast. ABC, you ain’t slick!

Dancing With the Stars season 33 cast

Apart from Jenn and Sasha, 12 couples will be competing for the coveted Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. The pairings are as follows:

• Danny Amendola and Witney Carson
• Anna Delvey and Ezra Sosa
• Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson
• Dwight Howard and Daniella Karagach
• Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten
• Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko
• Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold
• Eric Roberts and Britt Stewart
• Tori Spelling and Pasha Pashkov
• Reginald VelJohnson and Emma Slater
• Phaedra Parks and Val Chmerkovskiy
• Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong

Despite having less practice than her fellow contestants, will last-minute addition Jenn Tran manage to emerge victorious in the end? To find out for yourself, tune into Dancing With the Stars season 33 this Fall, beginning September 17 at 8pm ET/PT via ABC and Disney Plus.