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Melissa Katherine Rycroft (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,[1] and CMT reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. She was a contestant on the eighth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars.[2] Rycroft was named to People magazine's list of World's Most Beautiful People 2009[3] and was also named as #99 on Maxim's list of "Hot 100 of 2009".[4]
Rycroft was a contestant during the first season of the CMT reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. As the first season concluded, Rycroft was selected as one of the 36 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) for the 2006 NFL season.[5] Rycroft remained on the DCC squad through the 2007 NFL season.
Rycroft appeared on the 13th 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.
Rycroft replaced Access Hollywood'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,[6] 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.
With professional partner Tony Dovolani:
*Rycroft suffered a hairline fracture in her ribs before the live show of week 8 and, therefore, could not perform her Jive live. Instead, the judges' scores were based on her pre-recorded rehearsal video. Also in that same week, she did not participate in the group dance (Mambo), so professional dancer Lacey Schwimmer filled her spot with partner Dovolani. Despite having the lowest overall score for the week, viewer votes saved Rycroft from being eliminated.
In June 2009, it was reported that Rycroft would be joining morning television news and talk show Good Morning America as a special contributor throughout the summer.[7]
Melissa was previously engaged to Jason Mesnick 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 2 years. In June 2009 she announced via Twitter that she and Tye were engaged. [8] They married on December 12, 2009, in Mexico.[9]
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