Melissa Rycroft
Encyclopedia
Melissa Katherine Rycroft-Strickland (born March 11, 1983), from Dallas
, Texas
, is a reality television
contestant and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader
. She was a drill team officer at Newman Smith High School
in Carrollton, Texas
where she graduated in 2001. She participated as a contestant on the thirteenth season
of ABC's
The Bachelor, and CMT
reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
. She was also a contestant on the eighth season
of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Rycroft was named to People magazine's list of World's Most Beautiful People 2009 and was also named as #99 on Maxim's list of "Hot 100 of 2009".
reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
. As the first season concluded, Rycroft was selected as one of the 35 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) for the 2006 NFL season
. Rycroft remained on the DCC squad through the 2007 NFL season
.
of The Bachelor as one of the 25 bachelorettes vying for the heart of The Bachelor, Jason Mesnick
. In the season finale, Mesnick chose Rycroft over runner-up, Molly Malaney, and proposed to her. Rycroft said yes. But following the episode, ABC aired the After the Final Rose (Part One) episode, which was taped six weeks after the season finale episode, and it was then that Mesnick revealed that he was breaking up with Rycroft, stating that he was still in love with Molly Malaney.
s Nancy O'Dell on the eighth season
of Dancing with the Stars after O'Dell withdrew from the competition due to an injury sustained during pre-season practice. Rycroft was partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani
, and competed on the season premiere episode having only practiced for two days, the shortest amount of practice time for any contestant in the show's history. Despite this, she tied for second place for week one's performances. On May 19, 2009, Rycroft finished third on the Dancing with the Stars finale.
as a special contributor throughout the summer. She continues to report for the program. She also was a co-host on ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve
on December 31, 2009. Melissa also did features for Entertainment Tonight
and The Insider
.
with Chris Harrison
, which began airing August 9, 2010 on ABC
.
whom she met on The Bachelor. They ended their relationship after Jason admitted to still having feelings for runner-up, Molly. She then began dating Tye Strickland, whom she had dated on and off for two years. In June 2009 she announced via Twitter
that she and Tye were engaged. They married on December 12, 2009, in Mexico
. On October 20, 2010, Rycroft announced on CBS's The Talk
that she will be having a baby girl. On February 16, 2011, Melissa gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Ava Grace Strickland.
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, is a reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
contestant and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is the National Football League cheerleading squad representing the Dallas Cowboys.- 1960s :The original cheerleading squad was a made up of a male-female group called the CowBelles & Beaux. The group made its sidelines debut in 1960 during the Cowboys' inaugural...
. She was a drill team officer at Newman Smith High School
Newman Smith High School
Newman Smith High School is a secondary school in Carrollton, Texas, United States in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District and opened 1975. Smith serves sections of Carrollton and Dallas....
in Carrollton, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
where she graduated in 2001. She participated as a contestant on the thirteenth season
The Bachelor (season 13)
The Bachelor 13 is the thirteenth season of ABC reality television series The Bachelor. The season premiere aired on January 5, 2009. The show features a previous contestant from the ABC show The Bachelorette and the series' first single parent, Jason Mesnick, courting 25...
of ABC's
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
The Bachelor, and CMT
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team is an American reality television series that premiered in 2006 on Country Music Television. The series follows the auditioning process and the making of the annual Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders squad...
. She was also a contestant on the eighth season
Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 8)
The eighth season of Dancing with the Stars premiered on Monday, March 9, 2009, as part of ABC's spring line-up. The show generally followed the format of previous seasons, with 13 couples, although there were some changes, including two new dances , and an occasional dance-off between the bottom...
of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Rycroft was named to People magazine's list of World's Most Beautiful People 2009 and was also named as #99 on Maxim's list of "Hot 100 of 2009".
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
Rycroft was one of the more popular contestant during the first season of the CMTCountry Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team is an American reality television series that premiered in 2006 on Country Music Television. The series follows the auditioning process and the making of the annual Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders squad...
. As the first season concluded, Rycroft was selected as one of the 35 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) for the 2006 NFL season
2006 NFL season
The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
. Rycroft remained on the DCC squad through the 2007 NFL season
2007 NFL season
The 2007 NFL season was the 88th regular season of the National Football League.Regular-season play was held from September 6 to December 30....
.
The Bachelor
Rycroft appeared on the 13th seasonThe Bachelor (season 13)
The Bachelor 13 is the thirteenth season of ABC reality television series The Bachelor. The season premiere aired on January 5, 2009. The show features a previous contestant from the ABC show The Bachelorette and the series' first single parent, Jason Mesnick, courting 25...
of The Bachelor as one of the 25 bachelorettes vying for the heart of The Bachelor, Jason Mesnick
Jason Mesnick
Jason Scott Mesnick is the runner-up on Season 4 of The Bachelorette and the Bachelor of the 13th season of the reality dating show The Bachelor.-Biography:Mesnick is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, but moved to Washington at the age of eight...
. In the season finale, Mesnick chose Rycroft over runner-up, Molly Malaney, and proposed to her. Rycroft said yes. But following the episode, ABC aired the After the Final Rose (Part One) episode, which was taped six weeks after the season finale episode, and it was then that Mesnick revealed that he was breaking up with Rycroft, stating that he was still in love with Molly Malaney.
Dancing with the Stars
Rycroft replaced Access HollywoodAccess Hollywood
Access Hollywood is a weekday television entertainment news program covering events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently directed by Robert Silverstein. In previous years, Doug Dougherty and...
s Nancy O'Dell on the eighth season
Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 8)
The eighth season of Dancing with the Stars premiered on Monday, March 9, 2009, as part of ABC's spring line-up. The show generally followed the format of previous seasons, with 13 couples, although there were some changes, including two new dances , and an occasional dance-off between the bottom...
of Dancing with the Stars after O'Dell withdrew from the competition due to an injury sustained during pre-season practice. Rycroft was partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani
Tony Dovolani
Driton "Tony" Dovolani is an Albanian-American professional ballroom dancer, instructor and judge based in New York City. He is known for his involvement in the American version of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Dovolani also portrayed a Latin bad boy in the hit film Shall We Dance? and spent time...
, and competed on the season premiere episode having only practiced for two days, the shortest amount of practice time for any contestant in the show's history. Despite this, she tied for second place for week one's performances. On May 19, 2009, Rycroft finished third on the Dancing with the Stars finale.
Good Morning America
In June 2009, it was reported that Rycroft would be joining morning television news and talk show Good Morning AmericaGood Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
as a special contributor throughout the summer. She continues to report for the program. She also was a co-host on ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest is a television program that airs every New Year's Eve on ABC. It has been hosted by Dick Clark since its first airing on Sunday, December 31, 1972. Ryan Seacrest has been the program's co-host since the December 31, 2005 telecast...
on December 31, 2009. Melissa also did features for Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
and The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...
.
Bachelor Pad
Rycroft was the co-host for season one of reality show, Bachelor PadBachelor Pad
Bachelor Pad is an elimination-style two-hour American reality television game show that debuted on August 9, 2010 on ABC. The show features contestants from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, who compete for a final cash prize of $250,000...
with Chris Harrison
Chris Harrison
Christopher Bryan "Chris" Harrison is an American television host, perhaps best known for his role as host of the ABC reality television dating show The Bachelor since 2002 and its spin-offs The Bachelorette since 2003 and Bachelor Pad in 2010...
, which began airing August 9, 2010 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
.
Personal life
Melissa was previously engaged to Jason MesnickJason Mesnick
Jason Scott Mesnick is the runner-up on Season 4 of The Bachelorette and the Bachelor of the 13th season of the reality dating show The Bachelor.-Biography:Mesnick is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, but moved to Washington at the age of eight...
whom she met on The Bachelor. They ended their relationship after Jason admitted to still having feelings for runner-up, Molly. She then began dating Tye Strickland, whom she had dated on and off for two years. In June 2009 she announced via Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
that she and Tye were engaged. They married on December 12, 2009, in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. On October 20, 2010, Rycroft announced on CBS's The Talk
The Talk (U.S. TV series)
The Talk is a talk show created by actress Sara Gilbert, who also serves as the executive producer. The show premiered on October 18, 2010, and airs on CBS as a part of CBS Daytime...
that she will be having a baby girl. On February 16, 2011, Melissa gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Ava Grace Strickland.