News

Actions

Reports: Olympic swimmer (and overexaggerator) Ryan Lochte to join 'Dancing With The Stars'

Posted at 1:58 PM, Aug 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-24 19:50:17-04

When you need a public image revamp, what is the best way to go about it? Get in front of as many cameras as possible...again.

It sounds like Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is going to test the waters with a run on Dancing With the Stars, according to reports from Us Weekly and Radar Online.

A source told Us Weekly that Lochte is looking for a way to "show America that he's a good guy who made a mistake" when he embellished his story about being held up at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro.

Neither ABC nor "DWTS" have confirmed the reports, and most likely won't. Earlier this week, the eight professional dancers for the upcoming season were revealed on Good Morning America.

The other pro dancers and 13 contestants will be announced on Aug. 30 on GMA. (GMA airs weekdays at 7 a.m. on ABC15).

Lochte, who has earned 12 medals during his Olympic career, admitted to "over-exaggerating" a story involving him and four other Team USA swimmers apparently being robbed at gunpoint in Brazil after a night of drinking.

Lochte went public with the story right away, but as Brazilian authorities investigated, his claims started drawing suspicions.

The U.S. swimmer went on national television to share his story, then again to apologize and backtrack from his initial retelling of what happened. It's a story that has dominated media coverage, which at the same time, distracted from the Olympic's final events, those athletes competing, and Team USA's overall Olympic successes.

Lochte has lost four of his sponsors -- Speedo, Ralph Lauren, Syneron-Candela, a skin care company, and Airweave, which makes mattresses, according to ABC News.

The U.S. Olympic Committee told ESPN that Lochte and his teammates still face disciplinary action over the entire ordeal. His Olympic future -- Tokyo 2020 -- is uncertain at this point.

So, we'll have to wait until August 30 to see if the DWTS reports and rumors are true.