Melissa Katherine Rycroft-Strickland (born March 11, 1983) is an American television personality, host, and dancer. She is a former

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (sometimes initialized as DCC, and officially nicknamed "America's Sweethearts") are the National Football League cheerleading squad representing the Dallas Cowboys team. History 1960s During a game between the C ...

and TV Personality. She has participated as a bachelorette on the thirteenth season of ABC's '' The Bachelor'', on the CMT reality TV series '' Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team'', and on the eighth and

fifteenth In music, a fifteenth or double octave, abbreviated ''15ma'', is the interval between one musical note and another with one-quarter the wavelength or quadruple the frequency. It has also been referred to as the bisdiapason. The fourth harmonic, ...

seasons of ABC's ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

''. Rycroft went on to host reality-TV competition shows such as ''

Bachelor Pad A bachelor pad is a home (''pad'') in which a bachelor or bachelors (single men) live. The exact standards on what constitutes a bachelor pad are often ambiguous and debated but one definition describes it as: "A 'bachelor pad' is a slang term ...

'' and ''Redneck Island''.

Early life

Melissa Katherine Rycroft was born on March 11, 1983, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

. She studied dance from an early age and served as first lieutenant of her high school drill team. She majored in marketing at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

after transferring from the University of Oklahoma, where she was a member of

Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Chi Omega (, also known as Alpha Chi or A Chi O) is a national women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. As of 2018, there are 132 collegiate and 279 alumnae chapters represented across the United States, and the fraternity counts ...

Career

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

After graduating from the University of North Texas, Rycroft auditioned for the

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (sometimes initialized as DCC, and officially nicknamed "America's Sweethearts") are the National Football League cheerleading squad representing the Dallas Cowboys team. History 1960s During a game between the C ...

. She danced for the team from 2006 to 2008. As a cheerleader, she made regular appearances on

Country Music Television Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV cable channel, network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel ...

's reality show '' Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team''. She also appears on the judging panel for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders auditions and is also a showmanship mentor to the training camp candidates ''.

''The Bachelor''

Rycroft appeared on the 13th season of '' The Bachelor'' as one of the 25 bachelorettes competing for bachelor

Jason Mesnick Jason Scott Mesnick is an American television personality, account executive, and realtor. He was the runner-up on season 4 of '' The Bachelorette'' and was featured on season 13 of '' The Bachelor''. Education Mesnick graduated from Lake Wash ...

. In the season finale, Mesnick chose Rycroft over runner-up Molly Malaney, and proposed. Shortly after the proposal, Mesnick left Rycroft, explaining he had feelings for Malaney. Mesnick and Malaney married in 2010.

''Dancing with the Stars''

Rycroft first competed on season eight of ''

'' where she was partnered with

Tony Dovolani Driton Dovolani (born July 17, 1973), commonly known as Tony Dovolani is an Albanian-American professional ballroom dancer, instructor and judge. He is known for his involvement in the American version of ''Dancing with the Stars'' on ABC. Dovola ...

and finished in third place. She and Dovolani once again served as partners in the '' All-Stars'' season and were announced as the winners on the season finale. She later served as the host of the 2015 ''Dancing with the Stars'' live tour. She later returned in season 27 as a trio partner to

Juan Pablo Di Pace Juan Pablo Di Pace (born 25 July 1979) is an Argentine actor and singer. He began his career in the United Kingdom, performing in a number of musicals and appearing in films like ''Survival Island'' (2005) and ''Mamma Mia!'' (2008). He later move ...

and

Cheryl Burke Cheryl Burke (born May 3, 1984) is an American dancer, model, and television host. She is best known for being a professional dancer on ABC's ''Dancing with the Stars''. She was the first female professional to win the show and the first prof ...

. ''Dancing with the Stars'' Performances (Season 15)

''Melissa & Tye''

In 2012, Rycroft and her husband Tye Strickland starred in their own reality show titled ''Melissa & Tye'' on CMT. The show ran for one season (eight episodes), from April 20, 2012, to June 8, 2012.

Logically Irrational

Rycroft and husband Tye Strickland launched a podcast with YEA Networks on November 8, 2018. “Logically Irrational” delves into relationships, family, pop culture and Reality TV. Episodes release each Thursday morning on iTunes.

Other shows

Rycroft is a host of CMT's reality-TV show ''Redneck Island''. Rycroft left the Tribune morning show, Morning Dose, on June 1, 2018.

Personal life

Rycroft was briefly engaged to

, whom she met on '' The Bachelor''. Mesnick called the engagement off after he admitted he was in love with runner-up, Molly Malaney. Rycroft then reunited with a former boyfriend, salesman Tye Strickland. The couple married and have three children: daughter Ava Grace, born February 16, 2011 and sons Beckett Thomas, born April 20, 2014, and Cayson Jack, born May 18, 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rycroft, Melissa Living people 1983 births American cheerleaders American female dancers Dancing with the Stars (American TV series) winners National Football League cheerleaders People from Dallas Reality show winners University of North Texas alumni Bachelor Nation contestants