After "Dancing With The Stars" Cast Introduction, Valerie Harper Shares Her Own Inspirational Message

Dancing with the Stars returns with a slightly revamped cast and a slightly younger target demographic, it would seem. The cast in question was revealed Wednesday on Good Morning America. Some of the plucky young talent that producers have tapped for the show’s seventeenth season includes Jersey Shore diva Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jack Osbourne (aka Ozzy’s kid, who has no endeavours worth mentioning beyond a gig on his father’s VH1 reality program.)

Snooki was one of the surprises of this season's cast.

This isn’t everything the seventeenth cycle has to offer however. In what is probably the most inspirational story to come out of that show in some time, Valerie Harper was also announced as part of the new cast, just a few months after being diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer. After the announcement, the actress gave a brief interview with CNN, during which she seemed as upbeat and excited as ever and particularly thrilled to join the intense reality show competition. On a show, which never quite manages to finish a season without one or two injured contestants, Harper is eager to join in on the fun. She even shared a message for fans of Dancing and her own career.

At the moment, all eyes are on Valerie Harper.

"I hope you dance! I hope you dance," Harper told CNN on Wednesday. " And that's what I'm saying to everybody, that's just my message. Dance."

The seemingly inexhaustible actress pegged her husband as her biggest source of inspiration, saying: "I said, 'Give me one good reason. He said, 'You have cancer! Get up there, and show people that you can dance and do -- and the doctors said it's fine to exercise. Encourage people to move, to exercise, to do all the things that will be good for them, and mainly not to sit in the house and glower and worry and feel sorry for yourself because you have this disease and anything else.'"

With that excellent mentality and curious cast, Dancing with the Stars is likely to have a great season ahead. The show returns to ABC on Monday, September 16 at 8PM.

Harper says her husband was the one, who encouraged her to compete.